Displaying items by tag: Media

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.

The BBC has announced that it will focus more programmes on the coronavirus outbreak, offering more education, fitness, religion and recipes for those stuck at home. A dedicated coronavirus podcast will be released daily, and local radio stations will provide support phone-ins to communities around the country. ITV will broadcast news specials and suspend some planned entertainment shows; others will go ahead without a live audience. There will be further developments and challenges filling the gaps left by the suspension of sporting events - weekly prime-time coronavirus specials on BBC One, podcasts filmed for BBC’s News Channel, crisis phone-ins, programmes for health and wellbeing advice, education programming for school children, and virtual church services on Sunday mornings. A daytime programme on BBC One will address concerns of viewers in isolation, and ITV has a new weekly coronavirus report to ‘give viewers in-depth insights into issues affecting them during the crisis’.

Zabbai, son of a Jamaican pastor, used the name of God for his personal benefit. ‘I was a phony Christian, living in sin, knowing I could ask forgiveness.’ At seventeen he came to terms with the Jesus he avoided while he was smoking marijuana and chasing girls. ‘I realised that truth is not a thing but a person.’ He struggled with fitting in with his peers instead of standing out as a church goody-goody. ‘I found my identity within a love for playing the saxophone.’ One day while alone he closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, everyone was frozen. He felt a warmth from God, who said, ‘This is what my love feels like.’ ‘And with the snap of a finger, time began again. I had just encountered the Lord, and it scared me. With reckless abandon, I began pursuing the Lord.’

A recent report has looked at different aspects of belief and belonging in London. It finds that inaccurate, sensationalised and simplistic coverage by the media reinforces negative stereotypes of religious groups, increasing the potential for suspicion, fear and communal violence. The report recommends that journalists and editors improve their religious literacy and engagement with local faith groups to understand how religion works in practice. It calls on newsrooms to provide better access to religious and ethnic minority journalists, and more spaces for local faith and belief groups to represent themselves. It also urges organisations to train more local faith/belief groups, and individuals to share their own stories. Government regulators need to improve directives and enforcement for media companies who regularly print false stories. Pray for those in the media to work with integrity and grace, and for God to use them to celebrate His Church.

Conservative peer Charles Moore, as a guest editor on Radio 4's Today programme, said the BBC has a liberal bias: ‘What I am objecting to is preaching.’ He said the BBC is a secular church which tells us what we ought to think about things. Mr Moore had difficulty trying to get information about climate change onto the programme, even though he was the guest editor and should have had a free rein. He said the obstacles came because of bureaucracy and the fact that Roger Harabin, the environment editor, is ‘so biased’. Nick Robinson defended his colleague, stating the BBC is regulated by Ofcom. The director of Affinity, a network of UK churches, said that he has ‘a lot of sympathy’ with Mr Moore; BBC intolerance of any other view causes questioning and framing of questions to be based on a number of presumptions.

Dr Maged presents The Coach, an Arabic TV programme on SAT-7. He said there’s a lack of awareness of how to raise children in a healthy way in North Africa. Many cultures are based on a patriarchal model where women and children are not encouraged to speak up, share an opinion, or disagree with the male head of the family. Many parents use parenting techniques of beating, shouting and intimidation. This is where The Coach steps in, discussing the parenting issues that many families face. The programme encourages healthy, open conversations between parents and children, preparing them to cope with the world and helping them feel safe within the home environment. Children can express themselves or admit to a mistake without the fear of being beaten or belittled. It is clear that the programme is making a real-life impact in Arab families. Dr Maged’s end goal is for healthy parenting to become the norm for parents.