On Monday night, The ABC provided an important contribution to the ongoing debate about same-sex marriage.
The Media Watch program highlighted the reluctance across the media to give fair and equal coverage to those defending the traditional view of marriage.
As the program noted, “the overall media coverage of the debate has also been skewed,” and, “as we’re constantly being reminded, this is a conscience issue and an important change that’s being proposed, and surely both sides of the debate have an equal right to be heard.”
Whilst I am confident that legalising same-sex marriage will be a bad thing for our society, I am even more concerned to see the narrow and biased journalism that seeks to gag this important debate.
Nonetheless, it is encouraging to see many people stand up for protecting the traditional view of marriage, even though this ends up being a lightening rod for criticism and attack.
If the proponents of same-sex marriage believe that it is morally right to change marriage, and they believe that the majority of citizens support this change, then they and the media should be prepared to provide space for fair and balanced coverage of the issues.
Let us pray that as this issue is debated and discussed, that people would be attracted to the truth of the gospel of Jesus and that they would delight in him and his word.