Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever thingsare pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

1. True not false: “Whatever things are true”
Media lies are found on both the left and the right. Christians will often rightly protest at the bias of the mainstream media, and yet be completely blind to the bias that comes from the more conservative media outlets. But lies are lies regardless of whether they come from the left or the right.

We also have to be careful that we don’t over-expose ourselves to journalists who spend most of their time exposing the lies of “the other team.” Again this over-emphasis on falsehood only breeds cynicism, suspicion, and mistrust.

2. Noble not base: “Whatever things are noble”
The media tend to publicize the vile and sordid side of life. Some of the most popular books over the past years have been childhood memoirs that describe the most horrific abuse and cruelty. 50 Shades of Grey, a trilogy of books that celebrate sadistic sex, has occupied the bestsellers list for months and months, drawing massive media attention and debasing old and young minds alike.

“Don’t do this to yourself!” appealed Paul. Bin the base and nourish the noble in your life. “Noble” means “majestic, awe-inspiring, worthy, and elevating.” It’s the word used to describe deacons in 1 Tim 3:8 and old men in Titus 2:2. It can be translated “gravity” and is the opposite of what is cheap, tawdry, and frivolous.

3. Right not wrong: “Whatever things are just”
“Just” means what conforms to God’s law and standards, and describes right conduct in the whole of life. Does that sound like most sit-coms, soap-operas, and news features? Do the media celebrate right acts? Quite the reverse; they usually focus on sinful acts. Moral people don’t make the news and if they do ever appear in TV or on film, they are caricatured as out-of-touch or irrelevant.

4. Purity not filth: “Whatever things are pure”
When was the last time you saw a film that celebrated chastity and modesty, or showed the beauty of Christian marriage, or that portrayed a normal functioning family. Immorality, abuse, fighting, murder, and weirdness rules the day. Filth floats to the surface while purity sinks without trace.

5. Beautiful not ugly: “Whatever things are lovely”
“Lovely” things call and compel admiration and affection. It’s literally “towards love” and means whatever produces love, whatever moves towards love. Perhaps the best modern word would be “beautiful” or “winsome.” That’s hardly a word that comes to mind when surveying most TV listings or movie premieres. The ugly side of life seems to win the day as so many are fatally drawn to the darkness (John 3:19). Notice how many millions of views that “Fail” videos have on Youtube! See if you can find many viral videos that showcase the beautiful and the lovely.

6. Praise not complaint: “Whatever things are of good report”
Focus on what is constructive rather than destructive, on whatever makes people exclaim, “Well done!” rather than what makes you and others say, “That’s terrible.”

As you sit at your dinner table, do you suggest topics that will show people up in a good light or in a bad light? Do you tell stories that will make your family praise God and others or in a way that will make them doubt God and criticize others.

Whatever x 6
There is much good in everyday life that should be acknowledged and appreciated, regardless of whether it is done or said by a Christian or not. Whether it’s a good product, a helpful service, a wise insight, a superb article, or a beautiful photograph, praise and celebrate it. Don’t look first for what you can critique, look for what you can admire. As Paul summed up: “If there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

And his emphasis is not on the “not.” He’s not saying so much, “Don’t watch that, don’t listen to this, don’t think about that, don’t, don’t, don’t…” Rather it’s positive, “Do think, do focus, do fill your minds with the true, the good, the lovely, etc.” And let’s help our children to do the same. That’s a daily duty and a daily battle for which we need daily grace.

What old and new media sources and resources have you found that help you eat healthy?

See also: A New Diet for a New Year.

That was the cynical summary of a well-known TV journalist who gave me and my fellow Seminary students a day of media training at the BBC’s Edinburgh HQ many years ago.

There’s only bad news or public relations.

When he challenged us to argue against his assertion, we came up with multiple examples of “good news.”

“What about a factory winning a large order that will increase employment by 300?”

“Just PR for the business. Not for TV news.”

“What about a policeman rescuing a child that fell in a river?”

“Police PR. No media interest there.”

“House sales doubled last month. Surely that’s good news worth reporting?”

“Nope. Just free advertising for realtors and mortgage brokers.”

No matter what “good news” we suggested, he derided all our ideas as cheap promotional gimmicks, not fit for publication or broadcast.

With such a dismissive approach to anything upbeat and positive, is it any wonder that our media serve us up such an unremitting diet of negativity? It’s just so depressing isn’t it?

But in an age of multiplying and diversifying media sources and resources, we don’t need to accept being force-fed such junk food. Instead we can, and should, feed our minds a diet of words, sounds, and images that’s tilted towards what is good and beautiful rather than bad and ugly. As the Apostle Paul put it:

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things (Phil. 4:8).

Paul was not arguing for unrealistic isolation from the bad news that inevitably fills a fallen world. No, this is not a warrant for monasteries and convents; but it is a warrant, even a demand, that we choose a deliberate imbalance in favor of what is inspirational and wholesome, instead of the media’s general weighting on the side of what is depressing and gross.

Garbage in, garbage out
As Paul explained, our media diet will not only change the way we think, but the way we feel, speak, and act. Hardly surprising, is it? Just as the quality of the food that we put in our mouths affects our thinking, feeling, and doing, so the kinds of words, sounds, and images we put in our ears and eyes will have the same effect. “Garbage in, garbage out, “as they say.

Like the Philippians many of us are habitual worriers (4:6), our minds always racing from one unresolved anxiety to the next. It doesn’t need to be like this. Paul holds out the prospect of an unimaginable and unsurpassable divine peace (4:7) to garrison our hearts and minds, a peace that will patrol the entrances to our emotions and thoughts. But the way to enjoy that peace-patrol is to change our media diet (4:8).

In other words, if we let what is false, offensive, dishonest, filthy, ugly, and loathsome into our minds, we might as well sign up for a course on how to be hyper-anxious. These interlopers drive peace from the garrison, lower the drawbridge, and invite the armies of worry and instability into our citadel.

Good in, good out
On the other hand, if we starve ourselves of that junk, and replace it with what is true, admirable, right, pure, beautiful, and attractive, peace will stand as a sentinel all around our feelings and thoughts, creating an impregnable castle of calm and tranquility. The peace of God and the God of peace will be with you (4:7,9).

Why not start a new diet for a new year and trim the weight of worry and anxiety from your burdened heart and mind?

I’m very keen on Apple…

I’m an Apple fanatic. Hardware, software, accessories. You name it, I love it.

There’s just one fly in the ointment – in fact it’s a tarantula.

iTunes!

I absolutely detest iTunes.

I’ve tried and tried and tried to even like this software/service, but I just can’t do it. I can’t even barely tolerate it.

For long enough I thought that Microsoft must have smuggled someone into Apple’s iTunes department.

Then I blamed myself…surely it must be me…there’s some kind of genius in this I’m just not seeing. But no, I’ve had to admit, Apple has a weak spot, an achilles heel, a chink in their armor, a nightmare piece of software.

How can it be so difficult to sync data, photos, podcasts, and mp3s between my Macbook and my itouch/ipad/iphone? Why can’t I just add an mp3 file to iTunes and find it the next day? Why do backups of my calendar and contacts result in either multiple lost appointments or thousands of entries for my plumber? Why is there a nerve-shredding software update every three days? Why are the software updates so monstrously HYOOOOJE? Why does it take 4,356 steps to turn an mp3 lecture into an Audiobook file that I can then listen to at 1.5x or 2x speed? Why do you need fairies’ fingers to scrub back a few seconds to re-listen to the last sentence? Why does my heart sink every time I try to sync? And how many finger combinations do you need to delete just one file?

But….a few months ago, I read about iOS 5, iCloud, wireless syncing and everything automatically backed up to the cloud from every device, and I thought, “Thank you, Steve, what a priceless legacy.”

But what a mess! Seven weeks and multiple experiments later, I gave up.

Downcast, I discovered Downcast.

Now this $1.99 App is not a complete answer to the syncing idiosyncracies of iTunes, but it’s a huge step forward for syncing podcasts, lectures, sermons, etc.

• Quick iPhone installation with a tiny footprint
• Simple, oh-so-very-simple, podcast subscriptions
• Categorized podcast choices
• Automatic downloading and syncing
• Single tap for listen speeds of 1.25x, 1.5, 2x, and even 3x (good for American ears listening to Scottish preachers)
• Single tap scrub back 15 secs and 30 secs
• Single click social media sharing
• Easy access to previous podcast episodes
• No wires!
• No need to sync with iTunes!!!!

But what about those audio files of sermons and lectures that you come across from time to time on various blogs and websites? Downcast is working on a way to incorporate these into the App, but, until then, Huffduffer is a good workaround:

1. Open free Huffduffer account
2. Set up a podcast feed in Huffduffer
3. Subscribe to your Huffduffer podcast feed in Downcast

Then, when you see an mp3 you want to listen to, add the link to your Huffduffer account or use Chrome/Safari bookmarklet. It’s relatively painless and, unlike iTunes, does not feel like self-torture.

And at last, I am regularly listening to some of the great audio podcasts out there. Two of my favorites so far are Freakonomics and This American Life. I’ve also enjoyed some episodes of The Entreleadership Podcast, and Thinking in Public. Any others you’d recommend?

Unless I’m missing something however, I don’t think Reformed Christians have yet mastered this media opportunity. Our “podcasts” tend to be either sermons or long-form, high-level discussions of theology/philosophy (e.g. Thinking in Public, White Horse Inn). There’s definitely a place for that, but there’s also got to be some way of utilizing the podcast format in a more effective and “popular” way.

Any ideas? What would be your ideal Christian podcast?

However, despite the usually negative context to media interest, despite their general hostility towards us, and despite their frequent misrepresentation of us, I’d like to encourage pastors (and other well-educated Christians) to engage more with the media, as opportunity arises. I’m afraid that if sane Christian voices remain silent, there’s no shortage of “Christian” ego-maniacs to fill the journalistic void.

One of the most useful days I spent in Seminary was a day of “media training” at a studio in Edinburgh, where a BBC TV journalist came and put a group of us students through the media wringer. After a tutorial from him, we did mock-up TV and radio interviews, followed by a debate, and practice runs at a 3-minute “Thought for the day” slots. Well, it was a bruising day, with some students reduced to tears and others to quivering wrecks. Most of us concluded that the journalist must have been trained by the Gestapo! However, as my own contact with the media increased over the years, I realized more and more that he was the norm, and he was just preparing us for reality.

Many a day I thanked God for the verbal and psychological brutality of that experience. Because for one reason or another I ended up doing a number of newspaper, radio, and TV interviews over the years. As I’d like to see more pastors venturing into this intimidating arena, I’ve listed a few tips I’ve learned along the way, most of them through making painful mistakes myself.

1. Pick your targets
Don’t shoot at every issue but save your bullets for the most important ones. Because so few pastors are willing to speak to the media, those who are willing tend to get contacted quite frequently. Journalists don’t want to have to make ten phone calls when they can make one! The temptation is to speak every time. However, you will rarely have the requisite expertise on every issue, and you may also become known as a “Christian rent-a-quote.”

2. Ask for time
I rarely did an interview right away, but usually asked for at least 30 minutes to get prepared. I often asked for an indication of the kind of questions that were likely to be asked, and then spent some time organizing my thoughts, composing myself, and praying for help to be clear in thought and expression. One journalist told me that I should prepare three points to get across in every interview and try to get them across no matter what questions are asked! Although that’s exactly what politicians do, and I’ve tried to do it sometimes in a limited way, I think we have to be careful that we don’t become “spin-doctors.” But as long as we do answer the question, we can feel free to add some of our own main points too.

3. Keep your target in view
Some journalists will try to draw you into secondary issues that complicate and confuse. Keep the main issue in view and keep returning to it. If you feel that a journalist is simply trying to trip you up, ask him if he’s really interested in providing his hearers or viewers with helpful information or if he’s just in the business of humiliation.

4. Get your facts right
Say nothing that you cannot back up with Scripture or other reliable sources. It can be very tempting to overstate your case, or to just say something that gets you out of a tight corner, especially if you know the interviewer is not able to check what you say there and then. That will almost always backfire, and you’ll lose credibility and future opportunity. If you don’t know the answer to a question, admit it rather than trying to waffle.

5. Be respectful
One of the best ways to lose an argument, especially on TV, is to lose your temper. Some journalists are expert at provoking this. However, on the other hand, if you can maintain a calm and gentle demeanor in the face of hostility or scorn, many listeners and viewers will sympathize with you and give you a better hearing. It’s very easy to get frustrated with journalists. There are some that you may eventually decide are simply too biased to work with. There was one newspaper journalist who I tried to work with, despite the numerous times he misrepresented me. Eventually I started emailing him my answers thinking, “Well, he can’t misquote me with that.” When he still did it, I told him that I could not trust him again. On the other hand, if a journalist gives you fair treatment, follow that up with a note of appreciation.

6. Listen carefully to the question
When you are nervous, you can easily lose concentration. This is especially true if there’s a camera in your face, and a lighting guy and an audio specialist in the background. In these circumstances, it can be very easy to miss or misunderstand the question. Work at shutting out all distractions and really listening to the question. If you miss it ask for it to be repeated. It looks very bad when a journalist says, “Well you didn’t answer my question.”

7. Keep your most important answers short
In fact, keep everything as short as possible. This is not easy for pastors! But however much we detest the soundbite culture, if you want your words reported you have to work really hard at simplifying and summarizing your thoughts into short sentences. Whatever you say will be edited down and news editors will almost always go with the shorter answers. So whatever is your most important point, keep it short or it will not be broadcast. And the more you speak, the more likely it becomes that secondary material will be broadcast or printed instead of your main point. Most TV interviews I did were about 5-7 minutes long in the filming. But usually only 20-30 seconds were broadcast! Radio interviews usually give more time.

8. Don’t insist on the last word
Some Christians seem to think that unless they get the last word, they’ve lost the argument. However, if you’ve stated your case well, you don’t need to have the last word. In a debate setting, don’t interrupt people or make faces as other people are speaking. And be careful what you say when cameras and mics are around. There’s no such thing as “off-camera” today.

9. Learn from your mistakes
As I said before, most of these tips were learned the hard way. Especially at the beginning, you are going to make some verbal blunders. However, as with everything, you will grow in ability and confidence if you persevere. I sometimes asked journalists for a critique afterward – what went well or what could I do or say better. And we have to trust the Lord to use our feeble efforts. Just as the Lord uses less than perfect preaching, so He is also pleased to use our stumbling interviews.

10. Love the journalist
Although they may be enemies of Christ and His people, journalists are also lost sinners who need to hear the Gospel and be saved. Although it’s unlikely to be reported, do try to get the Gospel into your interview. At least the journalist will hear it. Ask if you can send them a book or a sermon. And show an interest in them as people. They are not used to people asking them questions about their job, or their family. In fact they are used to people ignoring them or treating them quite badly. Why not contact some local journalists and ask to meet them. Take the initiative and indicate your willingness to speak or write on certain issues.

One of the greatest benefits of giving media interviews is that the Lord’s people are usually greatly encouraged when they hear a pastor doing his best to speak God’s Word in the public arena. They will pray for you and appreciate your efforts to stand up for truth in a day when lies and falsehood abound.

PS. O yes, and smile more than normal on TV, and talk faster than usual on the radio!