Tuesday, March 30, 2010

CSM

I took a little flack in the Twittersphere yesterday for linking to an article published by the Christian Science Monitor (CSM). The griefing came not from the content of the article but rather because it was published by CSM.

For those who don't know, the Christian Science Monitor is an international news organization. It publishes a weekly magazine and a news website covering not only U.S. news but also world news. It also happens to be owned by the Church of Christian Science. These are the folks who believe in the healing power of prayer and refuse necessary medical treatment. Not to be confused with Scientology, which is another cult founded by Science Fiction author L. Ron Hubbard and boasts actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta as prominent figures (what a strange world we live in).

Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy founded the Christian Science Monitor in the early 1900s (what did we do before Wikipedia?) as a non-religious news agency. The stated CSM principles include a rejection of sensationalism, unbiased fairness, and the idea that news should "bless" and not "injure". The paper is known for its even-handed reporting of major, divisive conflicts such as the Iraq war.

It's this even-handedness that I enjoy most when reading CSM. I find it very difficult to watch CNN and Fox News, for example, because of their pro-American, if-you're-not-with-us, republican biases. Despite being an American news agency, CSM reports on all sides of a story in an unbiased fashion. And that's why it is right under Reuters and CBC in my RSS feed ;-)

1 comment:

Michael Kernahan said...

Interesting article. Definitely something I've thought about. Would I take 20% less pay for 4 day work weeks? If my wife let me. :-)

The fact that you got flak both amuses and saddens me.