Thomas Jefferson

There is a secular, liberal minority who hold influential positions in the media, hollywood and academia, who seem to want to alienate religious conservatives from the American people by asserting that we off on some far, extreme, right of the political landscape, when in fact we are more representative of mainstream America than they are.

When are the American people going to realize that they are being manipulated by the media?

This trend is becoming frighteningly intense. Consider recent stories about how Christian organizations, including the Christian Coalition, are creating an atmosphere of hate that would allow the killing of a gay young man. (The actual ad that caused the turmoil.) Or how the FBI is investigating religious groups that may create terror to bring on the coming of Christ at the beginning of the next century. These are subtle stories that paint a very inaccurate and unattractive picture of people of faith in the minds of most people. What most don't realize is how deliberate and persistent it is.

The most recent case where the media abused their influential power to make Christians look out of touch comes from the story of Tinky Winky, and Rev. Jerry Falwell's outing of the character. The real story is that Falwell never did out Tinky Winky, and information about this character's overtly symbolic gayness was reported in gay publications. Yet I heard radio commentators ridiculing Falwell over this. The media went ballistic over nothing. The whole story.

Actual scientific content analysis studies by the Media Research Center (which has a library of all the major network news coverage dating to 1987), clearly demonstrates that comparative coverage strongly favors liberals. There are too many examples to list, but consider: 500 reports on abortion clinic violence vs. 3 on the violence of abortion; convention coverage that 70 times used harsh negative words to describe Republicans, not one for Democrats; military avoidance stories on Quayle - 51 +158 mentions in prime time convention coverage, vs. 13 on Clinton's draft flap, What isn't covered is equally revealing. A White House memo listed 39 scandals that might be a liability this election. In all the recent impeachment proceedings, did the media ever look at the broad picture of corruption? Or did they do all they could to reduce the matter to a private sexual matter.

The media was given the responsibility to inform and educate the public, but they have an agenda - to keep and if the news doesn't fit their agenda, it won't air or go to print. "All the news that fits our views!"

Our recent Letter to the Editor of the Press was edited. This is what was edited OUT:

"Current public policy is encroaching on our freedoms and is increasingly insensitive to our sensibilities and convictions. As shareholders in the American dream, and partakers in the democratic process, even those who have faith in God, should have no less opportunity to affect the policies that affect them, and elect the candidates that represent them, be they Democrats or Republicans.

Educating voters is important since the media has an interesting, but not quite constitutional sense of responsibility when it comes to covering politics. Was not freedom of the press granted so that we could have an informed electorate? Yet ABC's NightLine left the Republican Convention because it was not newsworthy.

Christian Coalition volunteers are sincere…They are motivated by conviction and conscience. .....

.....The sexual revolution, the "me-first" mentality, the devaluation of life, increased drug use, the lack of a work ethic, and the thought that relativism somehow replaces truth, were not part of the American culture that contributed to making this a powerful and free nation. These social ills are bankrupting us and causing us to lose our freedoms. Getting back to traditional moral values is worth working for if you have children and want them to have a future."

Analyzing what was edited out, supports our contention that the secular media does not acknowledge:

1. public policies might offend or oppose Christians;
2. Christians have a right to be involved in politics;
3. the media is failing in their constitutional responsibility to inform the electorate; and
4. continued secular progress and negation of our Judeo Christian values is bad;
5. our cause is right and will preserve the future of this country for our children.

The important thing to realize is that there actually is a deliberate, persistent misrepresentation of believers that is intensifying.

Recently Ted Turner made very disparaging remarks about the Ten Commandments.

It is time that people of faith should express their outrage at these negative comments, and boycott CNN! Ted Turner's network.

It is little wonder that the main network news programs are losing viewers by the thousands. No one is believing them. How can anyone not see their agenda? When will believers react to being made to look ridiculous?

-------- snipped from a email that circulated the web -----------

DATE: February 12, 1999

FROM: Jerry Falwell

TELETUBBIES TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT:

By now, I am confident that most of you have heard about the Teletubbies controversy that has been raging since the publication of the February issue of my National Liberty Journal newspaper. In that issue, Senior Editor J.M. Smith wrote an insightful "Parents Alert" in which he informed pastors and parents of three related news stories that were pertinent to them. In that "Alert" was a trio of articles. One story alerted parents to trading cards of the animated series "South Park," that feature adolescent children who habitually curse and take the Lord's name in vain - in the series and in the trading cards. Another story informed parents about the Disney recall of "The Rescuers" animated video because it contained covert images of a nude woman. The third article was the one that caused the national uproar. However, this article never called for a boycott of the Teletubbies series. It was simply a "parents alert" referring to stories that had already appeared in the media.

(To read this "Parents Alert," please visit my website … http://www.falwell.com.) Once the media received this issue, the media frenzy quickly developed. The surprising part of this story, however, is that the Journal was far from the first national paper to report on the Teletubbies controversy. Time, People, the Washington Post, CNN, E-Online, and other national media outlets, over the past several months, had referred to the growing homosexual obsession of the Teletubbies character known as Tinky Winky. This harmless-looking character carries a red patent leather purse and has a triangle, the recognized symbol of the homosexual-rights community, on his head.

In an article on "Gayness" on television, the Washington Blade - a homosexual newspaper, quoted Village Voice columnist Michael Musto, who proclaimed, "It's a great message to kids - not only that it's OK to be Gay, but the importance of being well-accessorized." However, when the Journal mentioned the show's possible hidden homosexual themes and its publicized allure to gays, the media went ballistic. Amazingly, the whole situation transpired after David Reed, a Roanoke, Va.,-based Associated Press writer, had deceptively insinuated that I had "outed Tinky Winky." ("Outed" refers to an individual who comes out of the proverbial homosexual closet.) Well, Tinky Winky was "outed" long before the Journal story. In fact, the Washington Blade quote above was printed on April 17, 1998 - nearly a year ago!

Where was the media uproar then? During the last few days, I have received an overwhelming number of critical E- mails from admitted homosexuals who have disparaged me. (J.M. Smith, who has also read many of these E-mails, told me today that he's learned that gays can cuss out an individual in far more creative ways than he had ever seen.)

Nevertheless, through this controversy and unfair portrayal of me as the "outer" of Tinky Winky, I have been afforded a wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ on all of the network morning news shows, many of the cable news broadcasts, and on all of our local media outlets. Who would have ever predicted that the little parental warning in the February issue of the Journal would open such a world of opportunity to share the eternal Hope of Christ. I'll gladly allow my name to be soiled by the secular press in order to have the occasion to share my relationship with Christ any time!