This post about poor news reporting on Pope Francis got me thinking on what has probably occurred to others before: at the very least, news gets it wrong because the format doesn't fit. News reporting goes in for the quick and lasting impression. They work with word count limits. They work for the scoop, so they rush. At worst, they go in with an agenda, so they simply write everything into the story they already had.
The bigger point is this: doctrine is not news. You don't go to a fast food joint for nutrition, so why inform your spirituality from the news? Why not read the encyclical itself? How about that biblical passage? How about that free forum to clarify and go deeper? How about that priest, deacon or prayer meeting group? This is the age when there is practically no excuse for being uninformed.
So don't go for sound bites or news summaries. The whole thing is out there. Just go for it!
[Update: That should teach me not to use the android phone to blog. Too many funny and not so funny mistakes like "Doctrine doors not for the.." That was the original title of this post. I miss my Nokia n900 with the slide out keyboard! ]
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