Working as a political journalist in Parliament House can be very exciting at times, with rumours of leadership challenges, high-stakes political battles and major policy announcements. But it can also be a challenging place to work - especially as a Christian.
Like many workplaces, being a Christian means you are in the minority. That’s true of Parliament House as well. It’s a work environment that draws to it some very driven and highly competitive people. Add to that the normal deadline pressures of a newsroom, and it makes for a potentially combustible mix of personalities.
I’m fairly competitive, and the temptation often is to play on their turf. But I’ve realised over the years that it’s not wise. Engaging in competitive, albeit unspoken, battles with your colleagues will only fuel feelings of jealousy when they ‘win’. More significantly, it leads you to relate to your colleagues in a way that views them primarily as potential obstacles to your own success, instead of viewing them as people who need to hear the gospel. It’s a pretty significant attitude change, and not one I’m claiming to have fully come to grips with. I need to be reminded constantly that my workplace is my main mission field - I’m there to love and serve my colleagues to point them to Christ, not to compete against them in the race to career ‘success’.
That leads me on to my next point - that being a Christian in the workplace involves sacrifice. I’ve made a conscious decision wherever I’ve worked to be committed to a church and regular fellowship - whether that be a Bible study, or whatever. It all takes up precious time - which obviously means less time for other things. In my work context, a lot of good stories come from having “background” chats with politicians outside of work hours. But there have been many times I’ve had to decline dinner invitations because it clashes with my bible study. Sure, there’s a temptation to skip Bible study one week... but it would soon turn into two weeks, then three. You get the idea, and it’s not a good one.
Being committed to a church also involves sacrifice in terms of saying ‘no’ to some job opportunities. Within the ABC, there are often opportunities to “back-fill” in different positions in different locations. It’s a great way to get experience, but it has the downside of taking you away from your church and your immediate fellowship. Sometimes it will be worthwhile to take a four month stint in another city, but it needs to be carefully considered in light of being committed to a church, and how it would impact on your spiritual growth. Often, I think the spiritual risks outweigh the work benefits. Obviously, the longer the posting, the more likely it is that you could settle into a church at your new location. My overarching point is that being committed to a church and being in regular Christian fellowship is essential, and that should be a major factor in weighing up whether to take a job - be it short term or long term.
But being committed to a church can sometimes be hard - even when living in one place. Because the news never stops, nor do newsrooms. I work shift work, meaning I start work as early as 6am on some shifts, while other shifts will have me working through until the early hours of the next day. It’s physically hard, and makes routine almost impossible. Obviously that throws up some challenges in terms of making time for regular Bible reading and prayer, and making church services. I try to schedule in some devotional time regardless of what shift I’m on. Sometimes it means reading the Bible before work, sometimes after work. Sometimes I’m successful, other times not. I’m also required to work Sundays - about one a month. This means I can’t make it to my church’s morning service that week, but I do finish in time to make it to a night service at a different church. Even if you don’t feel like going (which I sometimes don’t after a long shift), it’s often worth it.
Like most workplaces, newsrooms are places of great gossip. I mean ‘great’ in the sense of volume, not quality! And some news stories legitimately start out as pieces of “gossip” that your hear on the grapevine. It’s been a challenge for me to make a clear and good distinction between gossiping and doing my job - which is to sift fact from rumour. That aside, there’s also the gossip that is definitely not part of work. It often involves talking about other colleagues, politicians private lives, etc. It’s easy to fall into the trap of doing this because we all like to be in the know - journalists especially! But it shows great integrity if you don’t engage in gossip (which often involves a degree of slander). It may mean you’re “out of the loop” on some things, but that’s life.
Living with integrity in the workplace throws up lots of challenges beyond just gossiping. For example, there are often opportunities to mis-use workplace resources, do tasks half-heartedly, and say things we shouldn’t. Most workplaces involve a lot of swearing. Mine too. I chose not to do that, simply because the Bible tells us not to. And I agree that it’s not easy sometimes. On one occasion I had to report some unsavoury comments made by a politician. To report the comments would have involved swearing on the radio. I didn’t want to do that, and explained the situation to a colleague who was only to happy to do the story instead. But even without that example, colleagues do notice when you don’t swear. I had one colleague pull up another workmate for swearing because “Simon doesn’t like it” - even though I’d never said that.
Being a Christian and a reporter, people often ask me how I manage it? The simple answer is trying to work with integrity. There is always the temptation to “beat-up” a story beyond its true value, or to selectively quote people, or to emphasise one side of the story over another. But it’s possible to resist these temptations. I always try to be balanced, fair and honest in my reporting. It often involves spending a few extra minutes just considering whether the story is a fair reflection of what happened or what was said. I’m blessed to have a boss and a workplace that puts no pressure on me to write stories a certain way or embellish aspects of stories. Being a journalist can sometimes mean airing points of view that I personally disagree with. That’s part of any political debate, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing that both sides of any argument have a chance to put their views forward. What I try to do is make sure the airtime both sides receive is fair and balanced.
I know I’ve outlined some of the hard things about being a Christian in a non-Christian work environment. But we have been called by God to work, and not be idle. And work can be great fun too - I love my job (most of the time). The challenge for me, and all of us, is to live with integrity at work, love my colleagues, and prioritise Christ above any career success I may seek.
Written by Simon Cullen, March 2012. Simon works as a journalist for the ABC in Canberra.
