In a short lecture followed by a question-and-answer session Tuesday afternoon, Deputy Foreign Editor of The Boston Globe Richard Chacn questioned the media's incomplete coverage of religion in the United States and abroad.
Chacn said he believes the media has not covered the growing importance of religion in world affairs accurately, choosing to focus on flash-bulb events and the extremes of the religious right and secular fundamentalism instead of the presence of faith in everyday life. According to Chacn, this uneven style of coverage has undermined the media's credibility.
After the Cold War, the media became confused and directionless with the end of the battle between communism and capitalism, Chacn said. The lack of religious attention created incomplete reports of post-Cold War religious incidents, such as the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"I too belong to the church of the agnostic journalist. We are also known as the congregation of the objective and secular observer. I'm talking of course of how journalists often describe themselves as impartial, balanced and uncompromised chroniclers of events, people and history," Chacn said. "The funny thing is that most of the people we seem to be writing for aren't like that. They have feelings, they have opinions and, most importantly, they have faith."
Chacn also discussed media's role in general religious discussion and disagreed with journalists who present themselves as objective and secular.
"I don't quite believe in the concept of objectivity, I believe in fairness," Chacn said. He said balanced stories are the optimal form of journalism because no one is a blank slate.
Chacn has explored the subject of religion in investigating his own "quilted" religious background, which has suggested a family history of many religious beliefs.
"When it comes to faith, everyone has faith," Chacn said.
Ignoring faith could hurt the credibility of newspapers, one of that medium's last advantages, according to Chacn. He said he worries about the future of newspapers if they continue ignoring the issue of religion and damaging their own credibility as a result.
"It's a real threat to newspapers," Chacn said. "I hate to see [newspapers] die a slow death, and it feels like it sometimes."
The lecture was composed of more adults than college-aged students, but in a Politalk luncheon earlier in the day, Chacn provided undergraduates with an interesting, in-depth look at journalism. Among the many topics he discussed, Chacn described his experiences overseeing The Globe's embedded reporters in Iraq.
