Displaying items by tag: Media

Since January there have been constant murders, looting, rape and abductions of Christians in Southern Kaduna. On 9 August a series of short videos entitled ‘Stop the Killings in Southern Kaduna’ was released as part of a campaign calling for an end to targeting Christian communities. The videos feature high-profile celebrities, actors, comedians, music artists and business executives. The president of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union said, ‘There is no greater lie than the narrative that the killings in southern Kaduna are between farmers and herders. 75% of the victims were women and children’. CSW has called for effective action to address the situation and echoes the Nigerian entertainment industry which has spoken out about the relentless loss of life. CSW says, ‘We continue to call for urgent international interventions, including the convening of a special session of the UN human rights council, with particular focus on the current crisis in southern Kaduna and Plateau State.’

A pro-life filmmaker is claiming censorship after his documentary was removed from Amazon Prime video ‘because of poor customer reviews’ despite the film receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews. Marcus Pittman’s movie, ‘Babies are Still Murdered Here,’ goes into the deep underpinnings of major national lobbyist groups. It asks why after 46 years babies are still being murdered. Amazon categorises reviews based on keywords: some keywords were pro-life, end abortion and pro-life movement. This may be why the film was removed. Amazon has faced allegations of censorship before. Last year it pulled books describing how a relationship with Jesus Christ helped people out of same-sex attractions, saying it was in ‘violation of our content guidelines’, but did not point out which parts were objectionable.

California ordered a ban on indoor singing in places of worship, so a worship leader and an outreach ministry leader have proclaimed that ‘the Church has left the building.’ Sean Feucht, who recently led a crowd of nearly 1,000 in worship songs facing the ocean in Huntington Beach, said they were going out on the bridge between church and community: ‘We’re going to meet in parks. We’re not restricted to the four walls. We can still be the church even if we’re not in our buildings.’ A newspaper article supports the claim of ‘revival’ with its headline, In Huntington Beach, a revival with church at the ocean’s edge, photos of baptism, and testimony from attenders. An Instagram video post captured by this reporter shows Feucht leading the crowd at the event: see

In just over a fortnight 33,000 people have used the crowdfunding website GoFundMe to donate to Black Lives Matter UK, known as @BLMUK and formally ‘verified’ by Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other sites carrying its content. BLMUK is influential and suddenly rich, having raised almost a million pounds in two weeks. Donors assume BLMUK exists to lobby against racism, but it can use its finances to pursue extreme aims which have nothing to do with racial equality. Their GoFundMe statement explains their commitment to dismantle imperialism, capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and more. Those crowdfunding BLMUK are probably unaware that their donations could be spent in pursuit of abolishing capitalism or disbanding the police. BLMUK uses social networking to support BDS which calls for a boycott of Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.

The URC has said Dominic Cummings should ‘consider his position’ following his account of his 260-mile trip to his parents’ farm when he and his wife were ill, despite government advice to stay at home, especially if you had coronavirus. It said his actions were a blow to trust and integrity. ‘Dominic Cummings’ explanation of his actions shows how important it is to maintain a clear sense of what is right and wrong, along with the ability to be sorry for mistakes made; none of which he displayed. Trust is built on integrity and his actions have been a blow to both.’ Some bishops have received death threats after commenting on Cummings. The Bishop of Worcester was warned, ‘Stay out of politics or we’ll kill you’. The Bishop of Ripon was told, ‘Stay out of politics or it will be the death of you’. The Bishops of Newcastle and Liverpool also received hate mail. See

YouTube has decided to reintroduce John Piper's audiobook 'Coronavirus and Christ' after initially banning it. The audiobook saw a sudden uptick in views after being re-uploaded, jumping from 187,000 to over 200,000 and growing. It hit the spotlight after an atheist group urged the US secretary of defence to punish a military chaplain for sharing a copy of the publication with his colleagues. The book was written both to call for repentance and to bring people into a transformation of thinking, feeling and living in alignment with the infinite values of Jesus Christ.

During these days of isolation, United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) is now offering an alternative to the negative news bombarding us 24/7 by bringing a new radio programme, ‘Hope For Every Home’. Their vision is to spread God’s Word far and wide with real-life stories of what God is doing in people’s lives. Prayers of thanksgiving for all the good things happening right now, and celebration as they welcome the many new listeners receiving hope directly into their homes by listening to UCB Radio. They hope to reach more people than ever before with an hour of life-changing messages. To listen now, click the ‘More’ button.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) stated recently, ‘Some of the most active centres of Covid-19 infection, such as China and Iran, are countries where the media have been unable to fulfil their role of informing the public. There is an urgent need to render an exhaustive and honest account of the obstacles to press freedom and the attempts to manipulate information during this unprecedented epidemic. And we must offer solutions that enable journalists now and tomorrow to provide reliable information and combat rumours.’ With this in mind, RSF has launched Tracker-19 to monitor and evaluate the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on journalism, and to offer recommendations on how to defend the right to information. The tool will monitor not only coronavirus but any unprecedented global crisis. It will document state censorship and deliberate disinformation, and their impact on the right to reliable news and information. It will also make recommendations on how to defend journalism.

Did you know that COVID-19 is caused by 5G networks, and that you can cure it with a hairdryer or with a drug that isn't FDA-approved? None of this is true. Yet millions around the world believe this as part of a vast storm of conspiracy theories, scams, and virus disinformation on the internet and social media. In this season of fear and danger there is an enormous need by the public for information that is comforting and reassuring. irrespective of whether it's true. The UN and WHO call this an ‘infodemic,’ which is spreading alongside the pandemic, complicating efforts to slow and treat COVID-19. They have even published a handy myth-buster - for example, drinking alcohol doesn't kill the virus, no matter what the President of Belarus says.

We are all at risk from false information. For instance, a photo was circulated of a busy mosque supposedly in lockdown, but it was taken before lockdown. Another image showed trucks said to be carrying bodies of Covid-19 victims - but this was untrue, and the picture had been taken in Italy. We can pray that the waves of fear generated by similar scams are prevented by astute reporting and investigating. More serious than false news is fraudulent information and theft when members of the public are texted and told to share their bank card details in order to receive a supposed Covid-19 relief payment from the government. Similarly-worded emails have been sent from a website named ‘uk-covid-relieve.com.’ The true government’s website has a ‘gov.uk’ URL, not a ‘.com’. The authors of the email are thieves.