and something not so trivial

Last night I watched the second on Nancy Grace's feature hours concerning the death of a Church of Christ minister in Tennessee. In her first show two days ago she did not have anyone from the church speak, but instead choose a Baptist minister from Finland who seemed ready to entertain and called the church a "cult". (Transcript here.) Finally she allowed Rubel Shelly to speak for the church last night and her methods were less than desirable. She only allowed the man a split second to answer something and she seemed intent on making her point known before he could even finish a sentance. He was composed, calm, and thoughtful. In an hour show she only allowed 5 minutes to talk to Mr. Shelly. Deepak Chopra, a minister from Bob Jones University (who said the Church of Christ was not a cult at all), a minister's wife, and a Rabbi from the new TLC program, "Shalom in the Home" were all feature guests. When a caller had a thoughtful and informative question for Mr. Shelly it was clear that Nancy Grace was not pleased with the question since she had let Mr. Shelly depart the discussion. (Second transcript here.)

When news reporters decide to become entertainers also they truly lose all credibility. I learned an important lesson last night. Never take a capsulized bit of news and assume you know the whole story. I am the face of the Church of Christ... not some fictional story written by Nancy Grace. It's a sad situation all the way around -- three kids have lost their father to death and their mother to the crime.