By Claudia S. Gold
ALTADENA, California — I overheard my cousin Karen, on the phone, welcoming her dog Flegel, who just was brought in the door from a walk. Karen shouted with such enthusiasm, joy, and warmth. “Fliegel!!!!”
I had an odd thought that when God needs a distraction, He/She tunes to people talking to their dogs and cats, rats or chickens, because it’s just the most refreshing thing to hear, after listening to the human news: It is depressing. Where is justice? Why are people misrepresented? God, I imagine, shuts off the news (or what’s left of it) for a while to take a break.
Someone, besides me, has thoughts about what God wants to hear. Because about ten days ago, while working on a coming-of-age story in a writing collective called “A Writing Room,” I fell asleep and heard the words:
Where is God in the news industry?
That was surprising. This morning, I thought I heard the question. It sounds important. Perhaps I was given a prompt to write a larger coming-of-age story than the one about myself. About the evolution of ethics in the news. I should broach the subject.
I asked a young relative, “
“Nowhere,” she said.
Next, I asked a retired reporter who had worked at NPR and had been Director of Voice of America, Southeast Asia. She answered, “That’s a good question.” She paused for a while, then said, “Wherever truth is told.”
I will ask you the same question below.
While this topic is a weighty one, I will add humor where I can, because we have enough seriousness in the world now. I hear coyotes howling right now, in a burn zone next to my apartment in Altadena, California. It could be that they are urging me to get on with it.
Here are my questions in response, using we/us/our pronouns:
Could the Sacred Mystery’s texts be referred to in the media where relevant, especially when universal, common-to-all religions and spiritual paths for their truth, mercy, gentleness, and faith heighten our ethical pens?
When we address local or world events, are we seeing through the lens of wisdom and understanding from our meditations, prayers, yoga sleep poses, worship services, or plant medicine experiences – recent or from the 60s and 70s??
In our times, (and I’m not referring to the dating app) when the hearts and bodies of so many are broken, might the news industry lift those who have barely a hope left, while the world has not evolved yet to reflect the oneness of all people on the planet, and the love that inspires? Can we anticipate human needs, be early adapters, light-bearers?
Can we, by the focus of our writing, bring in a sense of belonging, like we give our pets, instead of reflecting the harshness of division?
Can some of the way we talk to our dogs, cats, and guinea pigs be channeled into our news—the generosity of heart, enthusiasm, authenticity, and humor? Will our readers and viewers (and Higher Powers) then say to us as Rilke said to a young poet, “I am so glad you are here. It helps me realize how beautiful my world is.”
To you, truth tellers and potential truth-tellers everywhere, can we continue to write with truth and justice, and represent people fairly so that our news might delight the heart of our loving Creator, who will surely be inspired to stop tuning into people loving their pets and want to tune into news of us loving humanity.
I warmly invite your thoughts: Where is God in the news industry?
*
Claudia S. Gold is an author, poet, and blogger on Substack and Medium who appreciates people of integrity in the news industry.
Dear Claudia,
Thank you for opening a space for a question that rarely finds room in public discourse: Where is God in the news industry? Your reflection gently surfaces a tension that many of us feel but struggle to articulate, the widening gap between information and meaning, and the quiet absence of language that holds space for wisdom, dignity, or shared humanity.
As someone who has spent decades studying language, cognition, and communication systems, I believe the question is not simply theological or poetic; it is structural. When language in the public sphere becomes reactive, transactional, or performative, something fundamental is lost. Not only do we risk misrepresenting people, but we also risk misrepresenting what it means to be human.
Your insight about how we speak to our pets compared to how we report on one another is striking. It may sound lighthearted, but it reveals something important: we are often more generous, patient, and joyful in private acts of care than we are in our professional or public narratives. What might shift if that tone, rooted in affection and recognition, entered how we write, report, and inform?
Perhaps the role of ethical communication today is not only to present facts, but to steward attention toward wholeness. This is not a call for neutrality, but for clarity that includes complexity, truth that includes tenderness, and justice that includes imagination.
After reading many of your insightful and inspiring stories on Medium, Substack, and Digitalmehmet Content Ecosystem for years, this story in a publication new to me inspired me. Serendipity always knocks on my door and I open it graciously.
Thank you, dear Claudia, for inviting us into this conversation with both depth and humility. I hope more writers, across genres, media, and institutions, pause to consider what it would mean for their work to be worthy not only of public trust but of private reverence.
Best Regards,
Dr Mehmet Yildiz
Chief Editor of ILLUMINATION publications on Medium and Substack
https://digitalmehmet.com/
Excellent reflections that point to the old story. The problem is not with the religion. The religion gives kindly advice. The problem is with those who don’t practice the advice that they’re given.
Delightfully said. A fleeting thought was He’s out back looking in the want ads for a new residence. My ten year old self would ha, we hPeve said that. God, an Unknowable Essence, and a trillion other titles given to this Force, perhaps has given us this earth, this poil of a goil place to tend to on our own. What if this was a matrix, and this is practice only boys and girls? We are all here on this darkling plane, with myriad views as to our purpose, our Maker, our destiny. I would suggest a perusing deeply of all of the Holy Scriptures thus far entering our minds. Look for the common themes. To love. To serve. To pray. To see beyond literal dimensions. To look within. I suggest in this era, we are coming of age, entering a path of maturity, whose vestibules only seems to beckon violence. If we look back at the beginnings, we have gone from family, tribe, city state, nation, and now, the forces of light and darkness are duking it out on the planet. Time for more conversations. Kudos to Claudia.
No coincidence…my daily post (except for Shabbat) for today touched on a similar theme
#MantellPoints2Ponder
#Here2Help
What would life be like if we lived, not just read, the teachings of ancient wisdom?
1. Love Your Neighbor Radically
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
(Leviticus 19:18)
This isn’t a mere suggestion for friendliness. It’s a call to see the humanity in others, to treat them with the same depth of care we want for ourselves. In a polarized world, this urges us to lead with compassion, not comparison, and build your social connections. It’s good for your own mortality, too.
2. Don’t Just Avoid Violence, Root Out Inner Hate
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart.”
(Leviticus 19:17)
Hate often hides in silence, avoidance, or aggression. An antidote? Honest, respectful conversation. Engage. Talk. Listen. Heal the rift, rather than nursing the wound.
3. Remember: We’re All Family
“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?” (Malachi 2:10)
When we recall our shared divine origin, it often becomes harder to demonize one another.
4. Peace Isn’t Passive, Pursue It
“Seek peace and pursue it.”
( Psalms 34:15)
Peace is not the absence of conflict, it’s the active pursuit of understanding. Our sages teach to go out of our way to reconcile, to bridge, to bring people together.
5. Empathy Grows from Memory
“Do not oppress the stranger… for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
(Exodus 22:20)
We’re reminded again and again that our pain can become our source of compassion. When we remember what it’s like to be excluded, overlooked, or mistreated, we are better positioned to embrace “the other” with open arms, not with closed hearts and fists.
So next time you’re faced with division – political, religious, generational, racial, or interpersonal – ponder
“What am I called on to do here? What wisdom an I ignoring? Am I contributing to or healing the wound in our world?”
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What great examples and commentary that complement the OpEd! Thank you, Michael Mantell! Awesome work. The examples you give lead to Tikkum Olam, healing the world.