Television news generally features subjects that have visual appeal. The head of a major television broadcasting firm, as reported in TV Guide magazine, “declared he wanted ‘moments’ on the broadcasts​—gut-wrenching, sensational moments to lure the viewer in every story.” Indeed, attracting viewers is usually of greater concern than is educating the public.

The way events are portrayed may fail to provide the whole picture. As an example, a weekly supplement to the French daily Le Monde told of “three television sets exploding [in France] in just fifteen days.” Although this was presented as something unusual, the number of explosions of television sets for that 15-day period was actually smaller than normal.

Also, important news may sometimes be presented in a biased way. Parade Magazine reports that officials and politicians often “channel their deceptions through the media, distorting the news in order to influence your thinking. They deal in selective facts instead of the whole truth.”

This bothers many news commentators. French Encyclopædia Universalis states: “Since the end of the 1980’s, the important media, and especially television, have been condemned on all sides, by professionals and laymen, by the man on the street, and by public figures, for what is said and what is left unsaid, for the way it is said and for various insinuations.”

Influence on the Public

There is no question that the news media have also contributed to the molding of social values. This is done by presenting as acceptable, moral standards and life-styles that would have been rejected only a few years ago.

For example, in the early 1980’s, a middle-aged man, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, had a discussion on homosexuality with his father, who then lived not far from San Francisco, California. Earlier in his life, the father had conveyed to his son his view that homosexual behavior was shocking. But then, decades later, influenced by the news media, the elderly father defended homosexuality as an acceptable alternative life-style.

The Encyclopedia of Sociology (French) asserts: “Radio and television may very well . . . inculcate new ideas, encourage innovatory or troublemaking trends. Because of a taste for sensational news, such media boost them from the start and exaggerate their importance.”

If we do not want our values to be molded by the media, what can we do? We should follow the wise counsel found in the Bible. This is because its standards and principles remain valid for any society at any time in history. Moreover, they help us understand how important it is to be fashioned by God’s standards and not by popular ideas of the modern world.​—Isaiah 48:17; Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:22-24.