SENTINEL WATCH April 20, 2009 Issue

A LEAVEN TO JOURNALISM

TOM BLACK

FORMAT CHANGES in The Christian Science Monitor prompt some to think more broadly than they ever have before about news sources in general.

Is it possible that news media are much more than print or electronic means for sharing daily events? Are they more even than guardians of the public interests? To some they are means for helping mankind resolve its problems. Through their writers, editors, and managers, they enter the struggle of human life and try to make it better. They are more than tellers of woe or sellers of goods through ads. At their best, they grasp the natural nobility of mankind and nature, and labor to help lift the evils of fear and elements of human nature that would keep us from realizing it.

Some news companies are better than others at this calling. None is perfect. Their stock in trade is ideas. They are successful to the degree they help uplift the race by advancing ideas that are visionary, practical, wise, compassionate.

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