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Christ and the media
"The media in general, and TV in particular, are incomparably the greatest single influence in our society . This influence is, in my opinion, largely exerted irresponsibly, arbitrarily, and without reference to any moral or intellectual, still less spiritual guidelines whatsoever." Throughout his journalistic career, Malcolm Muggeridge was a commentator. On radio and television, as a lecturer, journalist and author, he fascinated, delighted, provoked-and sometimes infuriated-his audiences. Christ and the Media is a sharp, witty critique of media-oriented culture with such intriguing fantasies as the "the Fourth Temptation," in which Jesus is approached with the offer of a worldwide TV network. "Future historians," wrote Muggeridge, "will surely see us as having created in the media a Frankenstein monster which no one knows how to control or direct, and marvel that we should have so meekly subjected ourselves to its destructive and often malign influence. Born in 1903 started his career as a university lecturer at the university in Cairo before taking up journalism. As a journalist he worked around the world on the Guardian, Calcutta Statesman, the Evening Standard and the Daily Telegraph, and then in 1953 became editor of Punch where he remained for four years. In later years he became best known as a broadcaster both on television and radio for the BBC. His other books include Jesus Rediscovered, Jesus: The Man Who Lives, and A Third Testament. He died in 1990.
127 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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About the author
Malcolm Muggeridge
102 books288 followersThomas Malcolm Muggeridge was an English journalist, author, media personality, and satirist. During World War II, he was a soldier and a spy. In the aftermath of the war, as a hugely influential London journalist, he converted to Christianity and helped bring Mother Teresa to popular attention in the West. He was also a critic of the sexual revolution and of drug use.
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December 20, 2025Not very good, but by a margin the funniest parts of this book were (a) the appendix wherein various executives and professionals from the BBC absolutely rip this man to shreds in the most British way possible and (b) Billy Graham's preface where it is extremely apparent he did not read the book at all
June 6, 2022
Muggeridge masterfully commands the English language once again. He explores the question of whether television is inherently bad for communication, which he answers with a vigorous yes. Prescient thoughts in our age of social media, when the problems he outlined are only exacerbated by means of media.
Originally a series of lectures there is something lost particularly when it comes to the rebuttals and questions that are put in at the end. They were difficult to follow and contextualize.
Originally a series of lectures there is something lost particularly when it comes to the rebuttals and questions that are put in at the end. They were difficult to follow and contextualize.
January 26, 2009
Simply great.
March 21, 2017
Christ and the Media is a lecture series in which BBC media veteran Malcolm Muggeridge confronts the evils of mass media, focusing particularly on television, in light of his Christian faith. Muggeridge began his career as a university lecturer at the university at Cairo before he took up journalism. When the BBC started its first television program (Panorama) he participated regularly, believing then that there was no real difference between TV journalism and that of any other variety. The longer he was involved, he began to question “whether [TV] can be considered a debit or credit item in our popular culture … as a window on the world or a mirror reflecting all too faithfully our world’s absurdities and inanities.” Rather than the inquiries “what does it do to us?” / “what does it do for us?” Muggeridge is concerned with what TV and mass-media is capable of conveying to its audience: truth or fantasy?
In his first lecture, titled The Fourth Temptation, Muggeridge asks whether or not, had Christ been offered one last temptation in the desert, he would have taken the seemingly beneficial offer. Muggeridge’s theoretical fourth temptation for Christ is the offer of networked TV appearances, in prime time, to proclaim and expound his Gospel. The Good News would be able to reach the multitudes, it would be Christ himself speaking – how could he turn it down? Even though the message would be the truth, however, the medium is simply not conducive to truth and reality, only fantasy and images. Muggeridge directly experienced mass-media’s evasion of reality when he wrote a message for the Guardian and the censors returned the note with a comment which read: “you can’t send this because it’s true.” Following the lecture, Muggeridge held a question and answer session in which he made the point that even if television did somehow carry a truthful message, “it is utterly impossible to fill the screen with worthwhile material for the enormous number of hours during which it now has to be filled.” Considering the incredible amount of time the average man or woman spends watching TV, it must be understood that the majority (if not the entirety) of what they consume is falsified and empty.
The following lecture, cleverly titled Dead Sea Video Tapes, considers what future archaeologists would think of our culture if they excavated the image-dominated documentation we leave behind. Muggeridge believes that the archaeologists would conclude that we held a “neurotic passion” to increase consumption, the potential for the complete pursuit of happiness but never its realization, and faint traces of a Christian faith with the notion of sin entirely erased. The future-excavators would quickly discover our new doctrine, that of progress, and finally decide that the Western man “decided to abolish himself, creating his own boredom out of his own affluence…” Muggeridge goes on to explain that the reason the Bible cannot become irrelevant or outmoded is that the message is God’s, and that it is the word, rather than the image, of God. The difference between word and image is that significant; Muggeridge hypothesizes that when the Children of Israel fashioned a golden calf, they were essentially televising God. Images and TV are incapable of holding weight, they revert instead to trivialities and fantasy, and soon the majority of we create, consume, and leave behind consists of empty images and untruths.
In the final lecture, Seeing Through the Eye, Muggeridge claims that all the camera can be is an eye; mindless, “an instrument for merely looking.” Instead of using the eye (seeing through and not with), the camera and pictures lack any human participation, judgment, or conscience. Such a use distorts what we are willing to give attention to: “If there is footage available of, say, an air disaster, that takes precedence as news over some other disaster – say, an earthquake – of which there is no available footage.” Human experience becomes irrelevant if there is no image to document it. In the Q&A following this third lecture, Muggeridge defends the medium of the printed word because it, generally, is not under the same centralized control as television, and words are inherently connected with thought and art, whereas images involve “looking but not seeing.” Seeing through the eye, therefore, implies something behind the instrument which is capable of careful thought and evaluation. According to Muggeridge, the camera has taught us to see with the eye, rather than the soul, devoid of a conscience.
This set of lectures certainly caused a few BBC reporters some unrest, judging by the anxious questions raised during the Q&A session. Muggeridge’s opinion was particularly apt as a media-man himself, and many of the issues he brings up are still relevant today, over 30 years later. Daniel Boorstin’s The Image deals with similar problems of the fake, empty image that has nothing to do with reality. Both authors refer to the media world of images as one of “shadows,” highlighting the lack of substance and truth within images. Boorstin even raises an almost identical question in his book on pseudo-events; are images windows or mirrors? Both authors are certain that the camera-produced image creates nothing but a mirror, and thus we are able to view what we already know and love: ourselves. In many ways, Muggeridge set the tone in 1977 for subsequent authors dealing with the relationship between images and fantasy, or, pseudo-events.
The Christ and the Media lectures are well-structured, cogent, and pertinent. Muggeridge appropriately supports his argument with personal experience and well-known examples, occasionally drawing from C.S. Lewis and William Blake and applying their wisdom to the evils presented by the camera. Towards the end of the last lecture, Muggeridge sounds slightly eschatological in his discussion of contemporary culture; if his argument lost credibility at any point, it would be in this instance. He states that he is “convinced that hard and testing days lie ahead; the more so because the prophecy about false shepherds within the fold will be amply fulfilled, indeed, is being fulfilled already.” Muggeridge goes as far as to call modern culture “apocalyptic prospects,” but he claims that he “cannot pretend that [to] wish it were otherwise” for, “how beautiful always is the end of a journey!” It is unsure whether or not Muggeridge believed the end of the world to be immediately imminent, given the state of society, but his argument certainly would seem more credible now had he not begun to point out fulfilled prophecies and apocalyptic prospects. Rather than the signs of the world’s end, advice on how to effectively live a Christian life in an image-dominated society would have been more useful. He does present his audience with a list of five pieces of advice, and while they are wonderful guidance for Christians, they are entirely unrelated to the subject of the lecture. Muggeridge’s lectures in their entirety, however, are a thoughtful, well-presented critique of televised mass-media from a Christian perspective. He successfully stresses that it is the medium of television, and images in general, which is functionally incapable of conveying reality or truth.
In his first lecture, titled The Fourth Temptation, Muggeridge asks whether or not, had Christ been offered one last temptation in the desert, he would have taken the seemingly beneficial offer. Muggeridge’s theoretical fourth temptation for Christ is the offer of networked TV appearances, in prime time, to proclaim and expound his Gospel. The Good News would be able to reach the multitudes, it would be Christ himself speaking – how could he turn it down? Even though the message would be the truth, however, the medium is simply not conducive to truth and reality, only fantasy and images. Muggeridge directly experienced mass-media’s evasion of reality when he wrote a message for the Guardian and the censors returned the note with a comment which read: “you can’t send this because it’s true.” Following the lecture, Muggeridge held a question and answer session in which he made the point that even if television did somehow carry a truthful message, “it is utterly impossible to fill the screen with worthwhile material for the enormous number of hours during which it now has to be filled.” Considering the incredible amount of time the average man or woman spends watching TV, it must be understood that the majority (if not the entirety) of what they consume is falsified and empty.
The following lecture, cleverly titled Dead Sea Video Tapes, considers what future archaeologists would think of our culture if they excavated the image-dominated documentation we leave behind. Muggeridge believes that the archaeologists would conclude that we held a “neurotic passion” to increase consumption, the potential for the complete pursuit of happiness but never its realization, and faint traces of a Christian faith with the notion of sin entirely erased. The future-excavators would quickly discover our new doctrine, that of progress, and finally decide that the Western man “decided to abolish himself, creating his own boredom out of his own affluence…” Muggeridge goes on to explain that the reason the Bible cannot become irrelevant or outmoded is that the message is God’s, and that it is the word, rather than the image, of God. The difference between word and image is that significant; Muggeridge hypothesizes that when the Children of Israel fashioned a golden calf, they were essentially televising God. Images and TV are incapable of holding weight, they revert instead to trivialities and fantasy, and soon the majority of we create, consume, and leave behind consists of empty images and untruths.
In the final lecture, Seeing Through the Eye, Muggeridge claims that all the camera can be is an eye; mindless, “an instrument for merely looking.” Instead of using the eye (seeing through and not with), the camera and pictures lack any human participation, judgment, or conscience. Such a use distorts what we are willing to give attention to: “If there is footage available of, say, an air disaster, that takes precedence as news over some other disaster – say, an earthquake – of which there is no available footage.” Human experience becomes irrelevant if there is no image to document it. In the Q&A following this third lecture, Muggeridge defends the medium of the printed word because it, generally, is not under the same centralized control as television, and words are inherently connected with thought and art, whereas images involve “looking but not seeing.” Seeing through the eye, therefore, implies something behind the instrument which is capable of careful thought and evaluation. According to Muggeridge, the camera has taught us to see with the eye, rather than the soul, devoid of a conscience.
This set of lectures certainly caused a few BBC reporters some unrest, judging by the anxious questions raised during the Q&A session. Muggeridge’s opinion was particularly apt as a media-man himself, and many of the issues he brings up are still relevant today, over 30 years later. Daniel Boorstin’s The Image deals with similar problems of the fake, empty image that has nothing to do with reality. Both authors refer to the media world of images as one of “shadows,” highlighting the lack of substance and truth within images. Boorstin even raises an almost identical question in his book on pseudo-events; are images windows or mirrors? Both authors are certain that the camera-produced image creates nothing but a mirror, and thus we are able to view what we already know and love: ourselves. In many ways, Muggeridge set the tone in 1977 for subsequent authors dealing with the relationship between images and fantasy, or, pseudo-events.
The Christ and the Media lectures are well-structured, cogent, and pertinent. Muggeridge appropriately supports his argument with personal experience and well-known examples, occasionally drawing from C.S. Lewis and William Blake and applying their wisdom to the evils presented by the camera. Towards the end of the last lecture, Muggeridge sounds slightly eschatological in his discussion of contemporary culture; if his argument lost credibility at any point, it would be in this instance. He states that he is “convinced that hard and testing days lie ahead; the more so because the prophecy about false shepherds within the fold will be amply fulfilled, indeed, is being fulfilled already.” Muggeridge goes as far as to call modern culture “apocalyptic prospects,” but he claims that he “cannot pretend that [to] wish it were otherwise” for, “how beautiful always is the end of a journey!” It is unsure whether or not Muggeridge believed the end of the world to be immediately imminent, given the state of society, but his argument certainly would seem more credible now had he not begun to point out fulfilled prophecies and apocalyptic prospects. Rather than the signs of the world’s end, advice on how to effectively live a Christian life in an image-dominated society would have been more useful. He does present his audience with a list of five pieces of advice, and while they are wonderful guidance for Christians, they are entirely unrelated to the subject of the lecture. Muggeridge’s lectures in their entirety, however, are a thoughtful, well-presented critique of televised mass-media from a Christian perspective. He successfully stresses that it is the medium of television, and images in general, which is functionally incapable of conveying reality or truth.
February 28, 2022
This book is a series of short lectures by Muggeridge, a media insider, in 1976. Rather than criticising prominent individuals in the media as liars driven by agendas (although he does offer a couple brief anonymous anecdotes of this) his main critique is that the medium of televised media itself is slanted to fantasy rather than reality. He attributes this mostly to editing processes and consumer demand.
Some of Muggeridge's assertions seem prophetic considering the media landscape today. I had just recently watched a video where a media member was interviewing individuals at the protests in Ottawa. The video is clearly heavily edited and is made to make the protesters look like absolute morons. While the people are real, the heavy editing and selective footage portrays more fantasy than reality. It's all meticulously put together to garner views and solidify opinions people already have. Thats just one example, but I think we all know both sides do this sort of thing, and do it often.
There's a series of Q and A's after each lecture which were intersting to read. You can tell the audience respects Muggeridge, but disagrees with his bold conclusions, and they are bold for sure. He speculates that Christ himself would refuse an interview for the news, despite the capability to preach to millions at once. I don't think I agree with him at length, but his strong stance and rhetoric makes you think for sure. Also there's no doubt his lectures would get much more support today then back then.
You can tell Muggeridge was very gifted with words. I would sometimes read portions over and over again because they were incredibly insightful and poetic...
I also sometimes got completely lost due to the generational and cultural gap, he makes references to some things that I just have no idea about.
It was an interesting read. I read it mostly because I often hear people say media has changed so much over the decades and it used to be just about reading the news, with no bias or trickery. I've always had doubts about that.
Some of Muggeridge's assertions seem prophetic considering the media landscape today. I had just recently watched a video where a media member was interviewing individuals at the protests in Ottawa. The video is clearly heavily edited and is made to make the protesters look like absolute morons. While the people are real, the heavy editing and selective footage portrays more fantasy than reality. It's all meticulously put together to garner views and solidify opinions people already have. Thats just one example, but I think we all know both sides do this sort of thing, and do it often.
There's a series of Q and A's after each lecture which were intersting to read. You can tell the audience respects Muggeridge, but disagrees with his bold conclusions, and they are bold for sure. He speculates that Christ himself would refuse an interview for the news, despite the capability to preach to millions at once. I don't think I agree with him at length, but his strong stance and rhetoric makes you think for sure. Also there's no doubt his lectures would get much more support today then back then.
You can tell Muggeridge was very gifted with words. I would sometimes read portions over and over again because they were incredibly insightful and poetic...
I also sometimes got completely lost due to the generational and cultural gap, he makes references to some things that I just have no idea about.
It was an interesting read. I read it mostly because I often hear people say media has changed so much over the decades and it used to be just about reading the news, with no bias or trickery. I've always had doubts about that.
November 12, 2016
This book is basically a transcription of a series of three lectures along with their corresponding question and answer sessions. The author explains some of his beliefs and problems about television as a source of media, especially in terms of news. I think his main point could be summarized up in the fact that television tries to portray reality, but cannot, and ends up portraying fantasy in all cases.
Overall, I found the book interesting at first, but it seemed that similar points were made after the first lecture. The Q&A sections were not enlightening as it seemed the people who asked questions basically missed the points the author was making, but it was interesting to read his response to their uninformed questions. The book was recommended to me years ago, and I am glad I read it, but wouldn't classify it as necessary reading for others.
Overall, I found the book interesting at first, but it seemed that similar points were made after the first lecture. The Q&A sections were not enlightening as it seemed the people who asked questions basically missed the points the author was making, but it was interesting to read his response to their uninformed questions. The book was recommended to me years ago, and I am glad I read it, but wouldn't classify it as necessary reading for others.
August 25, 2018
In this book, Muggeridge comes across as cantankerous at best. This book is based on speeches he delivered in the mid-1970s, when mass media such as television were still relatively new, so many of his criticisms boil down to the newness of the medium and the public's misunderstanding of how media represented truth. To be sure, he has some valid criticisms that we can still learn from today, particularly as media expands deeper and deeper into social media and continual, global interconnectivity, but the reader of this book has to do some work to derive those useful elements from Muggeridge's arguments.
December 23, 2019
These are a series of essays and some Q and A at the end. Overall, I enjoyed reading from his point of view from one who spent decades in journalism and other forms of media. It is an important topic I dont believe enough christians take seriously. I can only imagine how more solidified Mr. Muggeridge would be on his stance, seeing the continual downward plummet television and journalism have taken.
April 22, 2023
I first encountered Muggeridge on television as a teenager. His wit and accent and Christian profession attracted my attention. I found out that his Christianity was different from mine, so I haven’t thought much about him for forty years.
A friend lent me this book. Despite our theological differences, I found his take on the media very refreshing. He hits the nail on the head when it comes to discerning the central problem with the media.
The book is well worth reading.
A friend lent me this book. Despite our theological differences, I found his take on the media very refreshing. He hits the nail on the head when it comes to discerning the central problem with the media.
The book is well worth reading.
May 6, 2019
It isn't a perfect analysis, but has amazing insights. Ones that I had never heard anyone voice before. Useful material for the church in the twenty-first century, when we live before the screen as much if not more than before people. His concepts of fantasy vs. reality is sobering (and he had only seen the television yet!).
(Final Questions section missing reading.)
(Final Questions section missing reading.)
May 29, 2019
Is he overly pessimistic? Yes. But dang if I’m not easily convinced by a Postman, Huxley-esque doomsaying technophobe (being a bit of one myself). Tech isn’t all bad, but it’s impacting me more then I know or like. Too bad I’m not doing anything about it.
March 31, 2020
Very prophetic in his assessment of the media and its future. I am sure Malcolm wouldn't be surprised to see what has become of our media : print, television and radio.
May 6, 2013
Muggeridge (a prominent British journalist and media personality who became a believer towards the end of his life) lectures on whether Christ and the media can be compatible. He generally takes a fairly negative view of media/television and sees it as the "world of shadows" which presents a different reality from what is true.
The book is a short read, and takes the form of three separate lectures that Muggeridge gave which each center around different thought experiments which are quite fascinating. The first lecture imagines if Jesus had faced a fourth temptation by the devil to go on television to proclaim his message - would Jesus have accepted? The second lecture wonders what would happen if many years from now people dug up what he calls "the dead sea videotapes" of our culture and tried to extrapolate what our core values are based on what they find in our media. And finally, his last lecture speaks about looking "through the eye," or how television and media can paint a different picture of reality based upon whoever is controlling the "eye" wants you to see.
Overall, because of his life-long experience in working in popular media, this is a very insightful and interesting look at media in light of Christianity.
The book is a short read, and takes the form of three separate lectures that Muggeridge gave which each center around different thought experiments which are quite fascinating. The first lecture imagines if Jesus had faced a fourth temptation by the devil to go on television to proclaim his message - would Jesus have accepted? The second lecture wonders what would happen if many years from now people dug up what he calls "the dead sea videotapes" of our culture and tried to extrapolate what our core values are based on what they find in our media. And finally, his last lecture speaks about looking "through the eye," or how television and media can paint a different picture of reality based upon whoever is controlling the "eye" wants you to see.
Overall, because of his life-long experience in working in popular media, this is a very insightful and interesting look at media in light of Christianity.
September 5, 2023
“This Life's dim windows of the soul
Distorts the Heavens from Pole to Pole,
And leads you to believe a lie
When you see with, not through, the eye.”
—William Blake
“Christ shows us reality, what life really is, what it is really about, and our true destiny in belonging to it.”
“…the effect of the media at all levels is to draw people away from reality, which means away from Christ, and into fantasy, whether it be at the lowest possible level, in appeals to our cupidity, our vanity, our carnality in overtly pornographic publications and spectacles, or, in more sophisticated terms, by displaying in words or in pictures, in one context or another, the degeneracy and depravity, the divorcement from any concept of good and evil, the leaning towards perversion and violence and the sheer chaos of a society that has lost its bearings, and so is materially, morally and spiritually, adrift.”
Distorts the Heavens from Pole to Pole,
And leads you to believe a lie
When you see with, not through, the eye.”
—William Blake
“Christ shows us reality, what life really is, what it is really about, and our true destiny in belonging to it.”
“…the effect of the media at all levels is to draw people away from reality, which means away from Christ, and into fantasy, whether it be at the lowest possible level, in appeals to our cupidity, our vanity, our carnality in overtly pornographic publications and spectacles, or, in more sophisticated terms, by displaying in words or in pictures, in one context or another, the degeneracy and depravity, the divorcement from any concept of good and evil, the leaning towards perversion and violence and the sheer chaos of a society that has lost its bearings, and so is materially, morally and spiritually, adrift.”
February 3, 2013
This is a short book, but not necessarily an easy read. The language and vocabulary made it at points hard to follow. BUT it is a GREAT message. Muggeridge pulls back the veil on the media in a way that only a man of his experience and knolwedge could. He shows hoe the media in every field, but especially in television amd film, portrays fantasy as reality. Muggerige encourages us to take the media and change it but also preaches that it is unsavable. I can understand his turmoil. Since his death things have only gotten worse. If he could see todays media, I feel his rebuke would be even stronger.
March 29, 2016
Muggeridge makes a very forceful point about Western media, one that remains generally true today:
"There is something, to me, very sinister about this emergence of a weird kind of conformity, or orthodoxy, particularly among the people who operate the media, so that you can tell in advance exactly what they will say and think about anything. It is true that so far they have not got an Inquisition to enforce their orthodoxy, but they have ways of enforcing it which makes the old thumbscrews and racks seem quite paltry." (p. 91)
"There is something, to me, very sinister about this emergence of a weird kind of conformity, or orthodoxy, particularly among the people who operate the media, so that you can tell in advance exactly what they will say and think about anything. It is true that so far they have not got an Inquisition to enforce their orthodoxy, but they have ways of enforcing it which makes the old thumbscrews and racks seem quite paltry." (p. 91)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 2, 2010
Fantastic structure: Muggeridge writes an essay relating to his life with Christ versus the media's inherent evil, followed by a public Q&A session. He does this with 3 different essays: one in which the 4th temptation of Christ is a TV program; one in which the future world finds news footage from the past and must make a conclusion of society at the time; and one in which he speaks to the different of looking with the eye instead of through the eye (derived from a Blake poem).
January 30, 2008
Transcript of three lectures given by Malcolm Muggeridge about the dangers of the media, and television in general. Questions and answers at the end, plus chairman speeches.
I didn't agree with all he said, but it was well-written and quite thought-provoking, albeit a little out of date now (30 years after it was written).
I didn't agree with all he said, but it was well-written and quite thought-provoking, albeit a little out of date now (30 years after it was written).
August 12, 2012
It could be the odd English style he has in writing, I just couldn't really understand what kind of programs he was against on TV. Yes, it's much easier to create a fantasy world on TV,manipulate watchers and control the output, but this outdated now as the media today is free from the clutches of media moguls.
February 28, 2015
Malcolm Muggeridge offers an insider's view of the media. He points out that the media often distort reality through editing and depriving certain segments of the population from voicing their perspective. The context of the lectures is very British-centric and being a product of the 1970s, somewhat dated. As another reviewer noted, the structure is great.
October 14, 2009
So enlightening
November 15, 2016
Unapologetically prophetic for our time.
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