351 - Mass Media Ministry: Understanding Television

Mass Media Ministry:
Understanding Television
By J. W. Gregg Meister

In 1951 as television viewers watched both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge on their small screens, Edward R. Murrow grandly announced, "For the first time in the history of man, we are able to look at both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of this great country at the same time.... No ... age was ever given a weapon for truth with quite the scope of this fledgling television." ¹

The importance of television as a "weapon for truth" has not been lost upon American religious institutions. Religious programming, from Bishop Fulton Sheen to local worship services on cable television, has consistently dotted the television landscape. Nevertheless, no theology of mass communications has yet emerged. As the burgeoning field of television technology continues to make an impact on our culture, the need for such a theology is increasingly felt by religious institutions eager to use this medium effectively to proclaim their messages. We need a theology capable of guiding us through the labyrinth of possible applications of the medium to religious messages.

While it is considerably beyond the scope of this essay to present such a comprehensive theology, the significance of the medium itself should be lifted up as a central component in the theological endeavor. My underlying assumption is that any emerging theology of the mass media must reflect upon both the essential nature of the personal communication of the Divine and the fundamental principles of television production.

Since theologians are generally more familiar with language about God than with the essential ingredients of the television medium, a brief map of the terrain may prove helpful. Herbert Zettl, in his classic textbook on media aesthetics, Sight Sound Motion, ² presents the three functions of the television camera. I will consider the three ways in which the camera looks at an object, looks into an object, or creates a

J. W. Gregg Meister is the pastor of the Lakeside Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, where he broadcasts a weekly thirty-minute radio program. He holds degrees from Williams College and Princeton Theological Seminary, as well as a master's degree in radio and television from San Francisco State University. Prior to entering the parish, he was the executive producer for the television production company, Most Valuable Productions, in which capacity he produced more than two dozen video tapes for Bay Area educational and nonprofit institutions. In 1968 he was a correspondent at the World Council of Churches in Uppsala for CBS-affiliate television station.
¹ Frank A. Reel, The Networks (New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, 1979), p. 96.
² (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1973); see also Zettl's highly regarded Television Production Handbook, third edition (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1976).

352 - Mass Media Ministry: Understanding Television

new screen event, Zettl's "looking at"/"looking into"/"new thing" trilogy will then be applied to both television delivery systems and television programs. Finally, I will consider how the analytical formula of "looking at"/"looking into"/"new thing" can assist religious institutions develop strategies which will enable them to use television creatively and effectively in their pursuit of truth.

I

One of the many jewels which Zettlian aesthetics offers the theological enterprise is the succinct description of the three roles the television camera performs in the communication process. The primary role of the camera is to "look at" an object or event, recording the occasion and transmitting the action without distortion. In this role, the camera has no purpose other than to look with detachment upon the scene. An example of the "looking at" function of the camera would be to place the camera where you now sit and open its lens to look at the chair across the room.

Beyond the ability to record disinterested snapshots of reality for the viewer, the television camera can also "look into" an object or event. Now the camera scrutinizes the scene in order to provide the viewer a more intimate understanding of the item viewed. For the chair across the room, the camera in its "looking into" function explores the contour of the arm, the radiant energy of the light on the legs, the detailed grain of the seat. The camera moves closer to the object, and in its exploration of the object or event, the camera attempts to reveal for the viewer the scene's inner structure.

In addition to "looking at" or "looking into" the scene, the television camera can also create a new event. Through the use of several cameras, or by the electronic manipulation of one camera, the object or event viewed by the camera serves as raw material for the creation of an entirely new set of images. For example, two cameras could focus on the chair, one from the "looking at" position, the other from the "looking into" position. By superimposing these two images on the screen, the television director creates an experience which exists only on the screen and in the mind of the viewer. This "new thing" function of the television camera means the deliberate distortion of space, and sometimes even time, to intensify the experience of the original event.

The television director calls on the three functions of the television camera in order to manipulate the viewer's participation in the communication process. The "looking into" function draws the viewer into the exploration of the chair's intricacy, whereas the "looking at" camera merely states the fact by a long shot of a chair in the corner of the room. The viewer is most involved when the camera performs the "new thing" function. The viewer is encouraged to experience the chair intimately, which happens even if the viewer does not consciously understand the chair's revealed structure as simultaneously an aesthetic and functional object. As the camera moves through its "looking at"/"looking

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into"/"new thing" roles, the viewer's participation in the object or event being visualized increases.

Like the television director, the religious leader who seeks to use the television medium effectively needs to understand these functions of the television camera. Television camera techniques can transform the viewer from being spectator to an event to being a participant in the event. "Looking into" and "new thing" camera functions help to draw the viewer into an active engagement with the program viewed. If they are used with sufficient skill and intentionality, camera techniques can even transform the values and belief structures of the viewer.

II

Before considering the implications of camera manipulation for religious institutions concerned with conveying religious messages through the television medium, it will be helpful to broaden the scope of the "looking at"/"looking into"/"new thing" trilogy. We can also apply this formula to the ways television programs are transmitted and to the types of programs themselves. Most television images are conveyed through the airwaves, as in broadcast television; closed circuit television, which includes cable television and satellite communication, are becoming increasingly popular; and videocassettes and videodiscs are now being widely marketed. These three basic means of transmitting television signals roughly correspond to the trilogy of "looking at"/looking into"/"new thing."

Broadcast television corresponds to the "looking at" function in that broadcast television basically records and transmits programs. With the possible exception of certain commercials, broadcast programming is not intended to transform the viewer-his or her values and priorities-through the program. Studies have shown that most viewers will watch something, no matter what. Before the advent of television, people gathered around the fireplace; people now gather around the television set. A desire to gaze upon flickering lights-whether stars, sparks, or electronic images-seems indigenous to human nature. Broadcast television provides that flickering.

If broadcast television corresponds to the "looking at" function of the television camera, the various forms of closed circuit television correspond to the "looking into" function of the camera. Closed circuit television-when it is used to distribute nonbroadcast programming-attempts to influence the life of a community or an institution. Local access cable channels, for example, provide insights into a community which, by virtue of its small size, would be ignored by the broadcast industry. By poking into the local high school basketball game or city council meeting, cable television gives the television viewer a glance into community life not provided by "60 Minutes" or "Loveboat." Corporations use closed circuit television for in-house news programs. Physicians and nurses keep abreast of current research through closed circuit television, and in northern Ohio there is a consortium of 200 hospitals

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which receive patient education programs via satellite. When closed circuit television corresponds to the "looking into" function of the camera, then the television medium increases the participation of the viewer in the life of the institution, or in some specific manner affects a change in the viewer.

Videodisc and videocassettes comprise the "new thing" in the area of television transmission. If they are used only to record and playback over-the-air programming, then of course they would in those instances be disqualified from the "new thing" category. But when these recent additions to the television field are used to record the first steps of a child, a twelfth birthday party, or a training tape for employees in a corporation, then they move into the "new thing" framework. They are being used to create television images which could not, or would not, be created by more sizable production companies.

The "looking at"/"looking into"/"new thing" trilogy cannot only carve into manageable segments the various elements of television transmission, but the framework can also be used to analyze the various types of television programming. Programming which is intended for mass audiences is admittedly geared for the lowest common denominator and as such can be labelled "looking at" programming. "All in the Family" may indeed influence the ways in which family members may decide to behave toward each other, but such is not the expressed intention of the program's creators. Their intention is to hold an audience, not transform the viewer. Programming which seeks to lure the viewer into a deeper consideration of the human situation can be categorized as "looking into" programming. "Roots" and "The American Short Story" are just two of many examples which could be cited. The orientation of such dramas is to reveal something of the inner, hidden structure of the human personality. "New thing" programming is more difficult to describe, not only because it is so rare but because much of it would, by its very nature, not have been viewed by sizable audiences. It would have been created for specific groups and specific institutions, not subject to the constraints of consumer broadcasting models and not having access to those transmission devices required to reach large audiences. One exception to this, however, would be Jacob Bronowski's "The Ascent of Man," a remarkable series which utilized the finest features of the television medium. The format itself was new; many of the images created on the screen were "new thing" images; the ideas presented were new. And the subsequent distribution of the series to colleges on videocassette was the piéce de résistance of this extraordinary achievement.

Even a cursory consideration of the history of religious broadcasting would indicate that religious personalities and religious institutions who utilize the media have consistently produced "looking at" programming with "looking at" broadcasting means and "looking at" camera techniques.

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Religious drama, while seeking to portray the inner life which finds fulfillment in Christ, falls prey to the constraints of the broadcasting industry by providing neat answers at the end of thirty minutes. Thirty-second television spots, even the professionally polished spots produced by Stan Freburg and the United Presbyterian Church in the late 1960s, ultimately "sell" the church product alongside other American products of beer, cereal, and toilet paper. Such spots may well have their place within an overall church strategy or theology, but they should be recognized as "looking at" in every respect: programming content, camera technique, and broadcast distribution.

Religious personalities such as Billy Graham, Robert Schuller and Pat Robertson take pride in their "at-ness" and consciously copy network programming and techniques. This is not the place to critique their theology, their effectiveness, or their decision to proclaim their beliefs in the manner they do. The purpose in mentioning these stalwarts of the electronic church is to observe that, without exception, they fall within the category of "looking at" programming. You look "at" Walter Cronkite, "at" Rex Hubbard, "at" Johnny Carson. The viewer undergoes virtually identical visual experiences in each instance and probably very similar emotional experiences. Each of the three men functions as an entertainer for a mass audience, and in doing so each one serves as a fund raiser for the corporate institution he represents.

"Looking at" programming fails to transform the viewer. Instead, it reinforces whatever values and beliefs he or she brings to the visual experience. Consequently, television evangelists do not genuinely convert any more than news broadcasters genuinely inform or entertainers genuinely produce happiness. Whether the viewer is looking at the phenomenon of religion, news, or entertainment, the viewer is not thereby changed by the experience.

IV

"Looking into" programming distributed through closed circuit television systems offers untapped opportunities for imaginative and creative forms of ministry. Probably every church located within an area served by cable television could, with a little initiative, produce programming over the local access channel. If religious groups consider this medium as an avenue for ministry rather than an additional outlet for advertising, they will design "looking into" programming to meet the needs of the community. Such programs might include simply reading current novels to those with eyesight problems, conducting Bible studies, or providing current information about nutrition and health care. "Looking into" television, in other words, becomes a means of furnishing pastoral care to the community.

More elaborate efforts of ministering to the community through "looking into" television might include televising the Special Olympics, or even the fellowship gathering of older church members. Where closed circuit systems already exist within institutions, such as hospitals,

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nursing homes, and prisons, there are unique opportunities to develop programming which will make a healing impression upon the viewer and thereby assist in the transformation from illness to health. These "looking into" programs are ministering to individuals and groups which are consistently disenfranchised from media exposure by the "looking at" broadcast industry. Yet these small and specific audiences-whether Native Americans, senior citizens, the physically handicapped, or the mentally retarded-have needs which religious institutions can address through closed circuit television. Religious institutions will be aided in developing these media ministries by applying the analytical tool of "looking at"/"looking into"/"new thing" to their media decisions.

V

Perhaps the greatest media challenge for religious institutions lies in using television to summon the viewer to an inner awareness of the sacredness of life. We hear echoes of this sacredness when we acknowledge the human venture's ultimate dependence upon God as the author of life, and appreciate the truth that each individual must experience God personally. "Taste and see" God, the psalmist said. The psalmist understood an experience with God as both a possibility and an invitation. Can "new thing" television help the viewer to "taste and see" what it means to be grounded in the Divine as the source of life itself? Can "new thing" television feed the soul as well as nourish the intellect? Can "new thing" television assist in the ultimate transformation by which a person is made new in Jesus Christ?

With the advent of the videocassette, it may now be possible to answer these questions in the affirmative. Now it is possible to design and distribute programming which may enable a person to develop a deeper devotional life. No broadcast station, and probably few cable stations, would program six hours of the waves timelessly crashing against the shore. But images like these, which could help some people in their search for God, can be readily programmed for videocassette distribution. For the camera to explore the internal structure of a flower, or for a documentary unhindered by network constraints to probe the causes of world hunger, are illustrations of using television in a new way. In the final analysis, it will probably be more exciting for the television medium to equip a person to "see" the polarities within the human psyche than it was to view the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at the same time.