Pilgrim's Progress: Philip Hobday

The news is in the news this week. The BBC Director-General and a senior executive have resigned following disputes about the way some very controversial topics have been covered in broadcasts. Such events and controversies are for others to talk about, but it gets me thinking: why does news matter?

Among the important reasons is that we all live in a community, a society, a single world; and if we are to live together in them we need at least some shared sense of what’s really going on. And that kind of shared sense relies on us having some grasp that a reasonable person might think differently from us.

One of the most worrying things I hear is phrases like ‘Everyone I know agrees about …’ or ‘I don’t know anyone who votes for …’ or ‘I don’t understand why anyone would think …’

Good news should tell us the facts, and expose us to a range of views about how to interpret them. At the same time, if democracies are to work, citizens need to take some responsibility to think about the range of views.

So when did you last read a newspaper, watch a television news bulletin, browse a social media feed, or have a conversation with someone who you knew or thought you might disagree with, which comes from a perspective or approach you don’t share? Just doing that would be a really good start to making our society better informed and therefore more likely to live together well.

Jesus knew that; the friends he gathered round him didn’t agree on much, if anything, but together they found fresh meaning and over time changed the world. If our societies are to flourish, our own efforts, though they might be less dramatic, will be no less important.

Philip Hobday

Wakefield Cathedral