The Pope and Bad Press

I have to be honest. It feels like integrity is dwindling in the news. Quotes are taken out of context and blown out of proportion. Stories are twisted and rephrased to feed the trolls and tribes of social media. Plus, there's kitsch and hoaxes everywhere. Ironically, in this "information age," I have to accept the fact that there's so much I don't know about a certain incident across the country, no matter how much others read into it.

This happened with the Pope in the past few days. (I don't want to start a creation-evolution debate here). TIME Magazine noted how much people got it wrong.

In grad school, I was taught about a disturbing new trend. In past times, when an archaeological find was uncovered, its validity and legitimacy was thoroughly reviewed by a circle of scholarship. If it passed, then it made it to the press and the rest of the world. That's not the case now. In our Twitter sound-byte culture, rumors, half-truths and even falsehoods get published everyday. For example, the "lost tomb of Jesus" and the "Gospel of Jesus's Wife" weren't legitimate (the former's research was even laughable), but they were good news that got a lot of clicks.

So yeah, the Truth of the Bible and a lot of good truths about what the Church is doing in the world today are not getting good press, but I know these aren't the only victims of mass media. And here's one perspective on what to do about it.

Thoughts?