June 7, 2012

News Flash: Even Christians Hate Christian TV

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-89124160/stock-vector-happy-christian-religion-christianity.html?src=csl_recent_image-1">graphica</a>/shutterstock.com

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Pastor David Wright is the CEO of DOersTV.com, an online Christian reality TV network. He’s been using Facebook to do some research on his audience, and this week sent out a press release revealing his findings. No one who’s ever watched Christian TV will be especially shocked, but Wright declared himself “flabbergasted” to learn that even the vast majority of Christians who responded to his network’s Facebook fan page hate Christian TV. “I kind of expected there would be those Christians who thought Christian TV was too boring or not relevant for the times, but I never would have imagined the disdain thousands of Christians have for Christian TV,” Wright said in his release.

Fortunately, Wright was able to get to the source of the frustration. He says that the vast majority of Christians think that Christian TV is boring and that it features “Too much begging for money and fundraising telethons.” Another problem he identified is that Christians think Christian TV is full of ethically challenged “false prosperity teachers” manipulating people to give money. “Unfortunately, the greed for money has replaced the need for ministry among many of our ministers and Christian TV Networks. People are feed [sic] up with the lust for material things,” said Wright, noting that the overabundance of greedy religious figures on Christian TV was a big turn off for viewers. “We can’t have pastors indulging in sin and expect people not to be turned off.” Wright promises to take the information to heart: he’s declared a moratorium on telethons, so the devout can safely tune in to “Kingdom Building Today” or the oxymoronic “Christian Comedy Television” on his network without hearing that God thinks they should write the network a big check. Praise the lord! 

WE CAME UP SHORT.

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So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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