Several years ago, on his blog John Piper wrote a post called “The Importance of News”. While the post has been since removed, it contained a statement that challenged me. He said;
“I determined that for me, news is important to the extent that it (1) affects me or those I care about (from my family in Florida to wider areas of social justice), (2) applies to ideas I care or should care about, and (3) allows me to take action on it. With that in mind, I can seek out journals, magazines, blogs, etc. that filter news close to my criteria.”
There is so much junk reported, some for political reasons, some to “sell papers”, and some to just fill up space. This isn’t simply a moral concern because there is enough immoral junk reporting out there as well, but I also see it as a practical concern. Why should I spend my time reading something that has no purpose?
So what is my purpose with the news? My reading focus is somewhat different from Pipers due to the different types of interests. I tend to read world news and Army news because there are concerns there that may affect me directly one day, but also because I have a burden to pray for different parts of the world. I also read some current celebrity news so that I can know what soldiers are watching and listening to. And, I am reading more and more technology and social media news, because I believe social media is impacting our world more and more. And, I still enjoy reading different sections of the newspaper, such as the books and the features. I agree that there must be a purpose to my reading of the news, I am not interested in reading the junk that is out there. But, I also believe that there is a level of quality that needs to be applied to the actual writing I read as well. I want to make sure that what I am reading is the highest quality possible if I can help it.
There is a lot of junk being reported for many different reasons, but there are some very good stories reported and should be read. And, honestly, I am almost to the point that I would much rather read it than watch it repeated for several hours on the news networks.
I would be interested in hearing what type of news that you enjoy reading? If you enjoy reading the news, please leave me a comment below!
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Photo from NewOldStock
This post is a fresh rewrite of a post title “The Important News” from October 17, 2007