Journalistic Responsibility

As expected, the Baptist Press ran the one-sided account of the Missouri Baptist Convention's The Pathway for their piece today on the MBC losing its lawsuit against Windermere Baptist Conference Center. Why would a news organization solely rely on an account written by one party in a lawsuit? Their journalistic--and Christian--responsibility to get the facts correct means they should check with both sides. They were even sent Windermere's statement but ignored it as they do each time they run one of The Pathway's biased pieces. Even after The Pathway admitted last November that they do not even try to talk to Windermere for their side, the Baptist Press keeps running the one-side accounts. The Baptist Press should not run stories that are admittedly only one-sided and biased. They cannot hide behind the lawsuits to cover for their journalistic failures (as The Pathway attempts) since the Baptist Press is not a litigant in the case.

Showing how real journalism is done, the Springfield News-Leader's article today offered both sides a chance to give their opinion on the dismissal. What a novel thought! Christian publications should hold themselves to even higher standards than secular journalists. The Baptist Press, however, continues to fail their journalistic and Christian responsibility.