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TV Reporter Thinks Media Lack Understanding of Religion
By Craig Pinley
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (August 20, 2002) - Craig Heaps of Hillside Covenant Church in
Walnut Creek has done it all as a news reporter - he's a "jack of all
trades" in his field.
Heaps fills a variety of roles at KTVU television in Oakland. In addition
to his reporting duties, Heaps serves as a backup producer and a news
writer. Major contributions to the Ten O'clock News include an
award-winning series from Bosnia (co-sponsored by World Vision) in 1996 and
a rare American television look inside Cuba in 1997. He recently reported
from Ugan
da for World Vision in a report called "Children of War."
Heaps began working at KTVU in 1985 as a freelance reporter. During his
first 12 years with Fox 2, he also worked as a part-time reporter for CNN
working out of its San Francisco bureau. During his time with CNN, Heaps
broadcast live reports during the first hours following the 1989 Loma
Prieta earthquake. He also reported live on the East Bay Hills firestorm as
the flames raged behind him. And he covered the first days of the O.J.
Simpson story, including the funeral of Nicole Brown Simpson.
In rating the media's coverage of religion, Heaps noted that time
constraints can limit one's effectiveness in helping others grasp the
subject, especially in television reporting. But he also believes that many
in the media simply do not understand the subject.
"I think one of the problems is that most reporters don't have much
religious background," Heaps said. "Their world view often defines
everything in terms of politics or sociology. So, when they report on
religion, many reporters don't understand what their subjects are saying
from a religious world view, one that defines people, events and
motivations in response to a higher power. As a result, much reporting on
religion is off-base, condescending or hostile, as is often the reaction of
fallen, sinful humans to things we do not understand. I believe in the
current atmosphere, most journalists who are not
religious consider matters of faith to be highly personal, highly
subjective and somewhat foreign."
Raised in Los Angeles, Heaps earned a bachelor's degree in communications
from Stanford University. He has worked for television stations in Oakland
and Salinas, California; Medford, Oregon; and Wichita, Kansas. His work has
won recognition from the prestigious National Headliner Awards, the Radio
Television News Directors Association, United Press International and the
American College of Emergency
Physicians. He also won an award from the American Institute of Physics for
technical reporting and from Lincoln University's "Unity in Media" Award
for reporting on the difficulty African-Americans have in reaching top
corporate positions.
Throughout his news career, Heaps has encountered many whose spiritual bent
on life differs from his. But he believes that most are open to a dialogue
on spiritual matters. "I daily converse - and sometimes argue with - my
colleagues over issues of faith," Heaps said. "I have witnessed the
anti-religious bias of some, the genuine interest that leads to faith in
others and the willingness of all to engage in a rousing debate.
"But the older I get, the more I am convinced by everything I've seen of
the Bible's account (and implicit explanation) of the human condition and
its hope in Jesus," he added. "I see that when I cover tragedies as well as
when I cover celebrations."
Heaps has a close-knit family, with two children and a wife, Patti, who is
heavily involved in social ministry programs at Hillside Covenant. Heaps
identified a previous pastor, Ray Stedman, as a key person in his faith
journey, but says he appreciates the words of authors like Francis
Schaeffer, Philip Yancey and C.S. Lewis. He believes that his work lies as
much in how he does his job as the effectiveness of the way he communicates
the news he sees.
"I think I probably have a softer heart for people in the stories I cover
than I used to," said Heaps in describing how his faith has changed how he
covers the news. "I'm probably more willing to hug a woman whose son has
just been killed by gang members or to express my sorrow. But I also have
to remember that I'm conveying information, not
conclusions. I'm giving people information so they can come to their own
conclusions. And I have to be careful that I do that fairly, in a balanced
fashion and thoroughly, and that I not try to shade the information to
influence what conclusions they come to.
"God gives us all free will and rational minds," Heaps continued. "I have
the freedom to conclude wrongly, and so do my viewers. But my prime
directives are always the same: Love God and love my neighbors as I do
myself."
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
