Jitterbugging for Jesus

As one whose first calling in life was to newspaper reporting, I’m saddened by the demise of newspapers. I spent about 14 years of my life slugging away as a reporter at The Houston Chronicle, where there’s just been a round of layoffs announced. A lot of my dear friends at The Chron were sweating their livelihoods in recent weeks, knowing the layoffs were forthcoming. It’s easy enough to “blame the messenger” for all the problems in this country, and both the political parties engage in it constantly. Anytime things go south for the Republicans or the Democrats, press-bashing ensues. Now mind you, like any other institution–be it government, political parties, big business, The Church and churches, the military or anything else–journalism has its rogues and scoundrels, and doesn’t always get it right, and is not without sin. But the vast majority of reporters I knew in my first career were good people who tried their best to be thorough, fair and even-handed, often in grueling and hostile circumstances. Political reporting is the toughest because politicians and political animals will do anything, and I mean anything, to protect their interests, hide their ulterior and often cynical motives and lie to the press and the public, usually by omission. Reporters don’t look to be loved and don’t expect to be–and aren’t–but they still slug along, day in and day out, under a lot of misguided bashing from all quarters. “Kill the messenger” is an ancient phenomenon. So God bless reporters: they are not the three-headed monsters that so many loud-clown commentators would have you believe they are.