WCCO sold out to Christian right -- for a half-hour, anyway
A wild thing happened here a week ago when an entire day passed and there was no news worth reporting. At least that was the conclusion of a premier television station, owned by CBS, that decided to cancel its 6 p.m. news so a fundamentalist Christian organization could broadcast a special about Jesus. Here in the Twin Cities, news has always been a treasured part of our day. But on the day after Christmas, WCCO-TV sold out a half-hour of news to a fundamentalist Christian group for a sum of money with ``enormous value.'' That fundamentalist group, the Coral Ridge Ministries in Florida, then spent an hour trying to sell Jesus to the masses. Of course, the ratings for WCCO-TV fell dramatically, and the Jesus special was viewed by only 9 percent of households -- a fairly meager rating when one considers the amount of money the fundamentalists must have spent. The real question is: How much money does it take to buy out a news organization? The answer should be that there is not enough money in the world to corrupt the gathering of news. But if WCCO-TV or CBS drop the news in favor of paid programming, is it fair to ask station bosses how much it would take to twist just one little story? Let's say you had a neat story about salespeople stealing money from a department store. The ringleader is a management fellow who collected a percentage of everyone's take. How much would it take for the ringleader to keep his name off the list of culprits? The truth is, in the past, no amount of money could have kept that name off the list. Further truth tells us that if a news-gathering organization gives away just one little tuft of respectability, the possibilities for corruption are endless. How much money do you think it would take to buy out a newspaper for an entire day? What if you wanted to buy the New York Times but instead of finding news, you found every page filled with a particular religious message? How much do you think that would cost? Millions, if not more. No, there is not enough money to buy out a respected newspaper. In this process, every television station that accepted the Coral Ridge money sold out its own credibility. Why would anyone watch a news organization that sells out to big money? It doesn't make sense. Either a news-gathering organization can be trusted, or it is not worth our time. Coral Ridge Ministries is run by James Kennedy, a Presbyterian minister with a megalomania for restructuring the morality of America. Kennedy wants to ``restore America's lost virtue'' which on the surface may seem honorable. But in this case it has become a crusade to deny people their divine rights as human beings. When we talk about human rights, who is most vulnerable? Children are the easiest to reform, and so Kennedy wants to control the education system. Teachers, some conservative Christians believe, should not have the right to build the content and methods of schools, but rather parents should decide how and what children learn. Kennedy believes women should have no right to abortion. And he crusades against civil rights for gay men and lesbians. Watch the fundamentalists come on strong in the next few years with big pots of money and flawless crusades trying to buy the loyalty of America. When that is accomplished, human rights will dissolve because all of this fits neatly into the conservative political agenda. Kennedy and his Coral Ridge cronies bought into the campaign of George W. Bush. Along with Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and every conservative Christian group in the nation, they believe Bush will finally launch an attack on liberal politicians and moralists. This is serious business -- perhaps the biggest battle of the cultural wars. And conservative Christians are banking on George W. to emerge as their commander-in-chief. Ronald Reagan could not accomplish the conservative dream. George Bush the elder didn't have the stuff. Now the Christian conservatives are calling upon Bush the younger to set the nation square. This has nothing to do with Jesus. This is about a clash between two groups of people that has been getting hotter through every election. Our only concern should be that vulnerable people are not denied their human rights. Beyond that, let the games begin. Clark D. Morphew 1/06/2001