April 24, 2015

Photo: Henry Louis Gates Jr., executive producer of "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates Jr.," addresses reporters during the PBS Summer 2013 TCA press tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2013 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Megan Garvey

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A moment in Larry Mantle’s recent conversation with Steve Inskeep has stuck with me.

The NPR Morning Edition co-host was in our Pasadena studios to talk about his latest book, Imperfect Union. Asked how he approaches his day job, Inskeep told a story about the time he dispassionately called a heartbreaking loss for his high school football team. That “straight call” earned praise from a veteran broadcaster he admired. It’s a lesson, he said, that stayed with him.

“I may have a personal opinion; it doesn’t matter,” Inskeep told Mantle. “My job as a journalist is to get the facts right, that are in front of me, and you can do that even if you have a personal opinion.”

Mantle, who has hosted KPCC’s AirTalk for decades, responded: 

“You can’t do this work if you’re wired like an activist. I sort of see my wiring as more how a teacher would be, wired where you’re amassing information. You’re leading people through a story, and the joy is in people coming to their own conclusions.”

“If you’re an activist at all, you’re an activist for the truth,” Inskeep replied. 

Activists for truth. Finding joy in people reaching their own conclusions.

What a compelling description of what our newsroom strives to deliver every day to Southern Californians.

These were my thoughts even before my colleague at NPR came under attack for doing her job.

If you haven't been following the story, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo angrily objected to being questioned about Ukraine during an interview with All Things Considered co-host Mary Louise Kelly. Pompeo didn't care for Kelly's questions on air and the conversation grew even more contentious behind closed doors.

The next day he accused Kelly of lying about the topic of the interview and then reporting a conversation he claimed was off the record. [Including his odd demand she locate Ukraine on unmarked world map.]  Kelly has denied both claims and media outlets have reported on emails between her and Pompeo's staff that back up her assertion she told them the interview would go beyond questions about Iran.

Then, this week, the State Department denied credentials to NPR's Michele Kelemen, who'd been scheduled to cover Pompeo's trip to Europe.

NPR President and CEO John Lansing and Nancy Barnes, who heads news, are rightfully demanding answers.

Why does it matter? Because as Lansing notes having access to people in power is fundamental to "the role of journalism in America.

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I want to take a few minutes to tell you more about how our newsroom works and why you’ll be hearing more from us about our mission and ambition.

Listeners may have noticed a new phrase on our air: “Democracy needs to be heard.” It’s a statement you’ll also start seeing on billboards and bus benches around Los Angeles.

It’s part of the first marketing campaign for our station in many years. The goal is to make more people aware of what we do and why we do it. We also want to grow our audience and our supporters, so we can do even more original journalism.

Southern California Public Radio — home to 89.3 KPCC, LAist Studios, and LAist.com — turns 20 this year. SCPR was born out of a belief that the region would embrace and support a news-focused NPR station serving Southern California with original programming and reporting.

In the two decades since, our members stepped up and helped us build what is now one of the biggest newsrooms in the region. We’ve gone from cramped quarters in the library of Pasadena City College, to a new headquarters in 2010, to today, when we have to scramble for desks for our growing operation.

If you’ve ever heard me on-air during a pledge drive, you’ve heard me talk about how remarkable it is that your support has fueled our ambition and growth. We’re the most listened to NPR station in Southern California. The public media model depends on people donating their hard-earned money because they believe in what we are doing. You don’t have to pay a dime to listen to us on your radio, or stream us on your smart speaker or our app. You’ll never hit a paywall when you visit our website.

Our relationship with you isn’t transactional — that’s one of the ways nonprofit member-supported newsrooms are different. Instead, we make a case that what we do matters, that it’s valuable to you — so valuable that you voluntarily support us (even though you can still listen and read if you don’t). 

That’s a powerful relationship.

It’s why we take community engagement so seriously. That means listening closely to your concerns, answering your questions, meeting you in person, thinking about how our coverage can be both for and about Southern Californians.

In September, we were awarded the first-ever Gather Award for engaged journalism from the Online News Association. In December, we won our second-in-a-row Champion of Curiosity Award for our breaking news coverage of the wildfires.

Our approach to engaged journalism has been transformational for coverage, and we’ve emerged as a clear leader in the industry — sharing what we’ve learned with other newsrooms.

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We talk a lot about our public-service mission in this newsroom. It permeates how we approach stories. It’s why our reporters, producers, hosts and editors choose to work here. 

And we’ve made this promise to you:

“You deserve great local news — and we need your help to find those stories. We listen to what you’re curious about, what keeps you up at night, and who you want held accountable. We’re inviting you to be part of the conversation.”

We do this work because of you. We do it for you and with you. 

We’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about how we’re finding and telling stories, and how we can do an even better job of delivering reporting that you won’t find anywhere else. We want our reporters to spend their energy on original stories (and not get stuck echoing information that everyone else is reporting). 

To that end, each reporter has their own individual mission statement to reflect their goals in covering communities and crucial issues. 

The free press is a cornerstone of democracy. That’s why in 1786 Thomas Jefferson wrote:

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." 

More than 200 years later, Nelson Mandela said: “A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy.”

Activists for truth. That means scrutinizing the information we receive from our sources or uncover through our reporting. It means giving you the context you need to consider what is fact and what is spin.

It’s truly an exciting time to work in our newsroom.

We have ambitious plans for coverage of the upcoming California primary and presidential election.

We have so much great work in progress — including three in-depth investigations scheduled to publish in the coming weeks.

Those stories took months to report, involving thousands of public documents, hundreds of miles of travel, and data analysis that no one else has done.

And it was only possible because of your support.  

Thank you.

Megan Garvey, Executive Editor

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Maxwell: Central Florida leaders spend more time berating Lynx than supporting the bus system. And state officials come clean on license status for school connected to Carolina Amesty

“Fox NFL Sunday” analyst Michael Strahan has apologized following the volcanic outrage he unleashed by appearing to disrespect the national anthem during a ceremony honoring veterans, saying it was an […]

The post 'So Far From the Truth': Michael Strahan Addresses National Anthem Controversy That Left Many Viewers Furious appeared first on The Western Journal.

Fr. Barnabas returns to his program with an interview with Hank Hanegraaff, the president and Chairman of the Christian Research Institute and the author of Truth Matters, Life Matters More: The Unexpected Beauty of an Authentic Christian Life.

An OMer and her friend share the message of the gospel with a receptive Turkish shopkeeper.

A new partner ministry broadcasting Urdu-speaking programmes to 360+ million who speak it, is giving them hope for eternity.

Taina Moisander, a 26-year-old student from Finland shares some of the lessons she learnt while serving with a Transform team in Sicily, Italy.

Welcome to the new Contending for Truth website! We are excited to have an opportunity to streamline the site, focusing more on the content and delivering the teachings to you. God Bless you, Dr. Scott Johnson.

Welcome to the new Contending for Truth website! We are excited to have an opportunity to streamline the site, focusing more on the content and delivering the teachings to you. God Bless you, Dr. Scott Johnson.

Welcome to the new Contending for Truth website! We are excited to have an opportunity to streamline the site, focusing more on the content and delivering the teachings to you. God Bless you, Dr. Scott Johnson.

Welcome to the new Contending for Truth website! We are excited to have an opportunity to streamline the site, focusing more on the content and delivering the teachings to you. God Bless you, Dr. Scott Johnson.

Christian apologist and talk show host Chris Rosebrough (Fighting For The Faith) was recently the featured guest on Stand Up For The Truth radio show. From the Stand Up For The Truth website: "We know that the God of the Bible is not the same god of the Qur'an. Yahweh of the Bible became flesh 2,000 years ago to be that perfect lamb, the Son, the atonement for our sins. The Jesus we believe in is God. But Allah of the Qur'an did not have a son. There was no atonement, no hope of a Messiah, and no grace for sinners. The Christian God and the Muslim Allah cannot be one and the same. And yet there are a growing number of Christians and Muslims who are combining the faith-syncretizing the two into one. That's called Chrislam, and it is heresy. -- This week the Orange County Register reported in an article that leadership of Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church believe that Muslims and Christians believe in the same God. Is the article accurate? Is that truly what these leaders believe? Our guest today has communicated with Rick Warren twice in the past few days, and it's as close as anyone has gotten to America's Pastor to hear in his own words what is going on. -- Chris Rosebrough is host of a daily two-hour internet radio program, Fighting For The Faith, heard around the world on Pirate Christian Radio, a broadcast group he started in his hometown of Indianapolis. Chris is at the forefront of those contending for the truth of God's Word."

WHAT IS IMPLIED IN EVANGELICAL FAITH:

1. It implies an intellectual perception of the things, facts, and truths believed. No one can believe that which he does not understand.
2. Evangelical faith implies the appropriation of the truths of the Gospel to ourselves. It implies an acceptance of Christ as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The soul that truly believes in Christ, believes that He tasted death for every man, and of course for it. It apprehends Christ as the Saviour of the world, as offered to all, and embraces and receives Him for itself. It appropriates His atonement, and His resurrection and His intercession, and His promises to itself. Christ is thus presented in the Gospel not only as the Saviour of the world, but also to the individual acceptance of men. He saves the world no further than He saves individuals. Evangelical faith implies a personal acceptance and appropriation of Christ to meet the necessities of the individual soul.
3. Faith is a state of committal to Christ, and of course it implies that the soul will be unreseveredly yielded up to Him, in all His relations to it, so far and so fast as these are apprehended by the intellect.
4. Evangelical faith implies an evangelical life. This would not be true if faith were merely an intellectual state or exercise. But since, as we have seen, faith is of the heart, since it consists in the committal of the will to Christ, it follows, by a law of necessity, that the life will correspond with faith. Let this be kept in perpetual remembrance.
5. Evangelical faith implies repentance towards God, that is, a turning from sin to God.
6. Evangelical faith implies a renunciation of self-righteousness. It is impossible for one to embrace Christ as the Saviour of the soul, any further than he renounces all hope or expectation of being saved by his own works, or righteousness.
7. Of course it implies peace of mind. In Christ the soul finds its full and present salvation. It has found its resting-place in Christ, and rests in profound peace under the shadow of the Almighty.
8. It implies hope, as soon as the believing soul considers what is conveyed by the Gospel, that is, a hope of eternal life in and through Christ.
9. It implies joy in God and in Christ. St. Peter speaks of joy as the unfailing accompaniment of faith, as resulting from it.
10. Present evangelical faith implies a state of present sinlessness [covered by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7)]. Observe: faith is the yielding and committal of the whole will, and of the whole being to Christ. This, and nothing short of this, is evangelical faith. But this comprehends and implies the whole of present, true obedience to Christ. This is the reason why faith is spoken of as the condition, and as it were, the only condition, of salvation. It really implies all virtue.

When contemplated as an attribute of love, it is only a branch of sanctification. When contemplated in the wider sense of universal conformity of will to the will of God, it is then synonymous with entire present sanctification. Contemplated in either light, its existence in the heart must be inconsistent with present sin there. Faith is an attitude of the will, and is wholly incompatible with present rebellion of will against Christ. This must be true, or what is faith? -- REVIVAL TRUTHS by Charles G. Finney

The Minister of Truth and Other Information (MOTOI), Alan Bladder, has announced the Department of Social Scrutiny's new 5 year plan for education, following the acquisition of the Ministry for Indoctrination (mFi) in a back street knife fight in Peckham last week.

MOTOI will now...

Asking the right question, accepting the right answer.

Print a coupon for $1.50 off one Nature's Truth Vitamin product

[IPS] New York -- On the day following the US election, UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres issued a brief statement commending the people of the United States for their active participation in the democratic process. He wisely omitted to mention that the election of Donald J. Trump - who attempted to overturn the people's mandate by inciting an insurrection in 2020 - is a major setback for the UN's worldwide quest to advance human rights and the rule of law.

Fr. Stephen looks at the Orthodox connection made between truth and our existence and what it means for our life.

Fr. Stephen looks at last week's podcast on truth and existence and the impact it should have on how we live.

Fr. Stephen looks at how it is possible to distort an icon and how the distortions within our own hearts affect what we see.

What do the Scriptures ask of us when they speak of "believing?" Fr. Stephen looks at the nature of true believing and its importance for our lives.

Fr. Stephen looks at telling the truth as a matter that goes to the heart of our true existence.

Fr. Stephen examines the association between existence and truth as set forth in the work of a number of modern Orthodox writers, as well as the Fathers.

There is a distinction between our personality and what it means to be person. Fr. Stephen Freeman explains this in terms of the soul and offers very helpful thoughts on what awaits us in heaven.

Fr. Stephen observes that the real truth of our lives before God is best found in our weaknesses rather than in our strengths.

Fr. Stephen looks at Orthodoxy and our lives as a matter of the "whole" truth, rather than a "one-sidedness." He urges us to press forward into the whole truth of Christ.

During the Paschal season, on the Sunday of the Paralytic, Fr Joseph was at St Paul/Tupelo, Mississippi. Here's excerpts from that Sunday's sermon which claims we don't always want the truth. (But we do need to be healed.)

Fr. Thomas Hopko begins a brand new series taking us through the Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church.

Fr. John shares his homily from the Sunday of All Saints.

Fr. John Whiteford preaches from John 18:38.

Fr. John Whiteford commemorates the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. (1 John 3:18-24)

Fr. John Whiteford speaks about our need to know and love the truth so that we can stand firm in the faith. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-17)

Michael says all deep and lasting stories, truth or mythical, are echoes or reflections of the true story of The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Making extensive use of the Scriptures, join Michael Haldas as he teaches an in-depth Bible lesson on the truth about truth; the truth about the real gravity and depravity of lies and lying; and what Christ means when He talks about the “father of lies” and “the ruler of this world” who was “a murderer from the beginning.”

What would happen if we were all martyred for the Truth of Christ?

Discussing the famous verses John 3:16-17, Fr. Andrew talks about the relationship between love and truth—which one will win?

We need both truth and love to row through the fog of this world.

Jesus does not say he will show us Truth. He claims to BE Truth. He is full of Truth, full of Grace, and the very definition of Truth.

The girls saw the new children’s movie, Smallfoot. They discuss the complex nature of truth, how important it is to ask questions, and how we can use technology to create false images of ourselves. They close with their Top 5 Mythical Creatures.

The girls take on the highly anticipated Disney movie, Frozen II, and (spoiler alert) they weren't impressed. They discuss how we ought to gauge the next right thing, whether newness of knowledge equates with wisdom, and how we should acquire a spirit of service. They end with their Top 5 Sequels (That Were Actually Good).

We have all had experiences in which we have learned uncomfortable truths about ourselves. When that happens, we have a choice about what to do next. It is possible to recognize a weakness or failing and then to do what we can to overcome it. Too often, however, we give up hope and fall into despair due to our hurt pride. That is precisely what the man in today’s gospel lesson did when Jesus Christ gave him a commandment that he lacked the strength to obey: “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

The path to eternal life runs through our neighbors, especially those we are inclined to overlook, disregard, and even despise. How we treat the hungry and thirsty, the stranger and the naked, the sick and the prisoner reveals the true state of our souls. How we serve our suffering and inconvenient neighbors, whoever they are, is how we serve our Lord.

There is no point in pretending that all is well when it obviously is not; that was true for the bleeding woman and for Jairus, and it is also true for us. We must face the reality of our own brokenness with brutal honesty, if we are ever to acquire the humble faith necessary to enter into the joy of those who hear the Lord say, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace” and “Do not fear; only believe, and she shall be well.” The question is not whether the Savior wants to fulfill His gracious purposes for us, but whether we will open ourselves to receive His healing mercy.

How we treat the hungry and thirsty, the stranger and the naked, the sick and the prisoner, manifests whether we serve a Kingdom not of this world in which the last shall be first or whether we have become conformed to corruption.

We look to the gospel and epistle readings for this feastday, in order to give us wisdom and courage in meeting the challenges of our own. Luke 1: 1-80, 3:16-20, Malachi 4, Romans 13:11-14:4

Fr. Ted explains why the Orthodox Church has never modernized—and never will!

Fr. Ted reminds us that while the worldly spirit changes with time, the truth of the Church endures forever.

Fr. Ted discusses the importance of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council and St. Justin, the Philosopher and Martyr.

Fr. Ted addresses the staff at the headquarters of World Vision Canada on the Orthodox view of charity as it relates to Great Lent.