ANY CATHOLICS have already commented on the bias and prejudice of the media, and much of what they say is true. What they often forget, however, is that many reporters and media figures are not ideologues … they’re just lazy. Others are evil. Others are sloppy. Others are greedy, and therefore embrace sensationalism beyond belief.
I’m a person who has been interviewed on film, in print, and over the phone (but I no longer accept such invitations). One learns very quickly that 99.9% of reporters could care less about accuracy or truth. This is one of the major reasons we at CCW have no interest in spending hours each day talking about, analyzing, and “spinning” the news … and I use the term “news” loosely (as Fearless Leader would say on the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show).
When I glance at today’s typical news reports, I can’t get the words of Ron Paul out of my head:
* * Ron Paul speaking about the media • Very Short Video
If you can’t watch that short video, I’ll spoil it for you. Ron Paul responds to a (dumb) question with the following brilliant and hilarious answer:
“No, insignificant, uh, silly things … we don’t waste a whole lot of time on things like that.”
BEARING THIS IN MIND, HOWEVER, I would like to comment on something I came across in the Associated Press:
The Rev. Thomas Rosica, who helps with Vatican media relations, later said the interview didn’t reflect Francis’ real words. He said Scalfari [an atheist] neither recorded the conversation nor took notes, reconstructing the conversation from memory and printing it as a verbatim interview. The Vatican doesn’t dispute the overall thrust of the interview, which Scalfari said he submitted to Francis for review and which the Vatican newspaper reprinted verbatim.
Folks, did you catch that? I only have one thing to say, if that’s true … and here it is:
Are you kidding me???!!!