Who’s watching whom?

I doubt that anyone reading this will also have read the entire Leveson report, which was published this week.  Fortunately, the BBC News website gives this helpful summary of its central recommendation: “A tougher form of self-regulation backed by legislation should be introduced to uphold press standards.”  To my mind, the issue comes down to this: Who’s watching whom?

The press has an important role in investigating and exposing wrongdoing of all kinds in public life, including in the government.  Clearly, at the same time, there are those who would rather keep such things hidden from the public gaze.  The problem is, as Lord Justice Leveson say, that some of the press has “wreaked havoc in the lives of innocent people” for decades.  So the press themselves need watching.  But by whom?

None of this should surprise those of us who are Christians.  The Bible teaches us that, “The heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9, NIV).  We know that we are capable of deceiving others when it suits us.  We are even adept in deceiving ourselves, not least concerning the deceitfulness of our own hearts.  The truth is, we all need watching; we need to watch ourselves and, since we cannot totally trust ourselves, we need others to watch us as well.  Fortunately, there is a cure for the human heart: when we give ourselves to Christ, God sends his Spirit into our hearts to change us.