Coverage by the news media of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members is never very positive. Nearly all of it is slanted. Some of it is downright silly.

It generally follows the same trajectory:
  • Some outlandish event or accusation is trumpeted somewhere in the news.
  • National and even international news organizations will pick up the story where it gets widely disseminated.
  • Coverage always contains obvious and sometimes obviously silly inaccuracies. Things are often spun in ridiculous ways.
  • The sources these news organizations rely on are predictably slanted, usually from disaffected members, excommunicants, or obvious church enemies with multiple axes to grind. That's if they have any sources other than the jaded reporter doing the news piece.
  • The predictable commentary and criticism from all quarters follow.
  • The Church's, or church members', explanations and rationale get little, if any, coverage.
  • This biased and inaccurate news coverage sometimes results in governmental or other action taken against the Church or its members.
  • In time, the issue or event is thoroughly discredited.
  • This only gets scant coverage in local news sources where high concentrations of members reside.
  • The national and international news organizations ignore it and none of them ever retract or explain their prior stories.
  • It's not long before this all happens again.
This has been happening regularly since the early 1800s.

Those of us who live, or have lived, in Utah and other areas of the Mormon Corridor experience this as a matter of course.

It's never a surprise but it's always a disappointment.

Is it any wonder that members have made the small leap in their thinking that news coverage of other issues, especially political issues, is likely going through this same trajectory?

Gee, it results in people doubting the veracity of the news media as a profession.

Should any of us be surprised?

To any reasonable member of the Church, news media looks intentionally biased and intentionally slanted. There can be no other reason for the inaccuracies that crop up.

These aren't mistakes, folks. This IS intentional. Mistakes can be easily forgiven, especially if they are corrected. But they are never corrected.

They can still be forgiven, but they can't be excused.

There is no excuse ...


*Next week's post will be an extension of today's theme.

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