Raul Herrera/Staff Writer
NBC’s Charlotte, North Carolina, branch (WCNC) recently ran an exposé on Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church. It pointed out that the pastor was in the process of building a $1.7 million dollar home. Because of this, the pastor fell under scrutiny.
While both local political commentator and business owner Jason ‘Molotov’ Mitchell and a later NBC-WCNC report by Stuart Watson revealed that Pastor Furtick is paying for the house through book sales, the stigma remained. Furtick, a man with a reportedly large social media aura, was portrayed as yet another greedy preacher who cons churchgoers out of money. Those who have sadly confused the making of money with the avaricious adoration of it have condemned him without having even met him
I am pointing to this situation not because I want to weigh in on the debate of the place of money in churches or because I am endorsing Furtick or Elevation Church (I am not), but because there is a larger situation at hand here. Many in the mainstream media look for information that may be damning.
This desire for damning information can sometimes lead to good things. Back in my spring semester How We Know What We Know class, we met whistleblowers that spoke out against evil practices. The media was able to promulgate these messages. On Oct. 28, some whistleblowers that exposed supposed government wrongdoings came to FIU, as reported in a student media article by Jessica Meszaros. All of these people had their exposures of malice enhanced by a media searching for controversy.
This can grow to be destructive. Think of the Furtick case. Hundreds will now have a different image of Pastor Furtick, one that perhaps is not entirely accurate to his character. Think about other cases. Just a year ago, the media created a storm over the opinions of the president of a fast food company. It goes on and on and on.
The mainstream media hungers for controversy. It hungers for damning information that can destroy a person’s career or public image. And we, media consumers, fuel the fire of this lust.
We here at FIU, however, are unique. The fact that you are reading this proves that you are someone who consumes media and information in your daily life. We have the power to take in the information we want.
These cases prove that if we search for information from more than one source, a clearer picture of any particular event is formed. Simply put, look at different sides of an issue. Use more than one news source (it doesn’t have to be every single one in existence), especially if it is over something controversial. Do not let your view of someone be tarnished by a one-sided article.
I sometimes forget to follow these maxims myself, but I believe they are important in this day and age where accuracy is sacrificed for the sake of controversy and edginess.
Is Pastor Furtick a perfect person? No, certainly not. And I am certainly not trying to take a position on the controversy over the building of his new house. What I am getting at here is that the desire the mainstream media has of damaging stories is not always a force of good, and to combat this, we must become more savvy information seekers.
Perhaps the search for truth can be a weapon in an age of slander.
raul.herrera@fiusm.com
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