Giving Compass Take:

· Writing for The Conversation, Jason Bruner explains how Christian Missionary Media has shaped the global perception of the world and its role in providing information and images of suffering around the globe. 

· How has Christian Missionary Media influenced the public and media?  

· Read more about Christian Missionary Media.

The Christian Broadcasting Network, founded over 50 years ago by evangelist Pat Robertson, has now launched the first 24-hour Christian television news channel.

Robertson said that the channel would help viewers understand how current events both in the United States and abroad affect them. The Christian Broadcasting Network has considerable influence among evangelicals, and President Trump, at times, has used the outlet to reach this support base.

But this is not the first time Christians have shared and shaped the content of world news and information through a distinctly Christian viewpoint.

For much of the 19th century, Christian missionaries served as informal foreign correspondents for a broadly Christian public in the eastern United States and Western Europe.

Missionaries believed that God worked with them through religious conversions, moral reform and material and economic progress, to spread the truth of Christianity. The role of missionary media became foundational in providing information and images of suffering in the world.

Scholars in a wide range of emerging academic disciplines consulted missionary newsletters and updates for knowledge about the world. These networks also established a model for creating public humanitarian campaigns on behalf of those who were suffering on the other side of the globe – one that continues to shape contemporary humanitarian efforts.

Read the full article about Christian missionary media by Jason Bruner at The Conversation.