In the world of the media there are 'the good, the bad and the ugly' and you can never really be sure who you are going to get if one wants to interview you. In a survey done on Norwegian newspaper and magazine reporters done a few years ago the shocking revelation that over 70% of them had far left political leanings (which are 99% of the time anti-religious) served to highlight the gross bias in the media. We do not have many dealings with the media because of this fact and experience has shown that reporters are not always honest. I was once interviewed in Norway by a tabloid newspaper and I was totally misquoted out of context even though I went over the points twice to make sure I was clearly understood. I did not do a newspaper interview for some years after that experience.

 

A couple of years ago we were interviewed by a Swedish reporter from a county newspaper who gave an accurate report of what we said and drew his own very fair, impartial conclusions, reporting accurately the views of others who did not agree with us. He also sent me a proof of what he was going to write so that I could correct any inaccuracies or misperceptions he may have had. We also questioned him as to his own beliefs. He represents what I consider to be the best in journalism.

 

Not so the most recent reporter who asked for an interview - he was aggressive, unfriendly, and tried to twist what we said. Because of his clearly biased attitude I declined to do a formal interview and instead said he could write in his questions and I would give him a full reply. Basically I wanted something on paper with a signature so that there was accountability. When he refused and said he would do a story on NCCG from "other sources" it was clear what his agenda was.

 

Our policy is, quite rightly I believe, to carefully vet all journalists who want to write articles on us. We want to know what they believe, what their agenda is, whether they are honest and fair, or whether they are just muck-raking. If we're not sure about one, then we want their questions in writing with a signature to which we can answer in the manner we want to. We also want to see a proof copy of the article they intend to print before hand so that we can correct any errors.

 

We do not acknowledge that reporters have some superior "right" to get or do whatever they want or necessary respresent truth or hold moral ground. We expect them to treat us as humans on an equal footing in a fair and democratic way. We refuse to come to them as prisoners being interrogated by some arbitrary court with them as the self-appointed judges. We, moreoever, expect to be able to question them in the same manner in which they question us. And we will, as we once did in Norway, take to higher authorities anyone who deliberately misrepresents us. Finally, we always make a detailed report ourselves of any interviews and publish them at our discretion.