Do you feel overwhelmed by the barrage of news? Here’s a wonderful column on regulating our exposure to news from today’s Oregonian by Peter Laufer, professor of journalism at the University of Oregon. Laufer doesn’t say ignore the news, but he suggests keeping the flow appropriate, and making choices. This is important for church leaders. I want us to keep perspective on events, global and local. I want us to keep the big picture and the long term in mind. When terrible things happen such as the recent shootings, remembering our spiritual roots and resources can help keep us grounded. Taking in news 24 hours can have the opposite effect.
I love Laufer’s closing words, “for most news events, some time to ruminate is valuable for both the journalist in the field covering the story and the news consumer back home.”
How do you handle your relationship with breaking news?
Margaret Marcuson
Great comments. I do think the self-monitoring is key. It may not be the amount of news we take in but the anxious focus we place on it that is critical.
Eugene R. Widrick
Reminds me of the story of the teacher, a tutor at the Imperial Court in Rome, who fled to the Egyptian desert to become a “Desert Father.” Many years later a former student located him, introduced himself, was welcomed and the hermit, living a life of prayer an simplicity in a hut, asked “Who now rules the world? What cities have risen and fallen over the years?”
Who rules the world? What cities have risen and fallen?
Paul Brassey
I like that he confesses listening to Fox and NPR, without condemning one or the other. Still, I know lots of people who don’t pay any attention to news at all. By comparison, he’s a news junkie.
Bud Brown
The day after the elections I went on a “news fast.” Went a whole month without reading any newspapers or news websites and watched no news on TV. I now monitor myself very carefully; when I start to experience negative thoughts and feelings after reading the news, I’ll go several days without reading it.
I do not want all the negativity in my life.
Margaret Marcuson
Thanks, Heather. Good for you!
heather entrekin
Thanks for passing this along, Margaret. Addiction is the right term for our obsession with both junk food and news. I am already practicing what Laufer preaches but now I’ll feel less guilty about it.