..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

February 28, 2004

Editorial

A NOTE TO MCN READERS
REGARDING THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

by David Poland
Editor-In-Chief, MovieCityNews.com

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There has been a disturbing trend in some e-mail that we have been receiving in recent days. Apparently, our coverage of Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ is being viewed by some as, to quote one e-mail, "having a problem with Mel, the movie, religion or a combination of same."

MCN's choices of stories and tone of headlines are editorial choices, for this movie as for every other one we cover. Every news outlet makes these choices. I hope none of you believe otherwise.

The simple fact of the matter is that the majority of stories in the media about The Passion Of The Christ have been negative. We ran the earliest reviews, whether Ebert's 4-star piece of Denby's dismissal of the film. We have run box office stories, linking to estimates on both sides of the story. And when Franco Zefferelli speaks out about the film, I am sorry, but it is news. I personally spent 2 hours on Friday trying to retrieve, translate and reprint the Corriere della Sera (Milan) story that Fashion Wire Daily quotes, to no avail. But I also spent hours trying to find a day-old story about something quite benign in a major Toronto paper earlier this week and also assumed it existed, even if elusive, since the source was trustworthy.

What MCN has not done is to show unusual reverence to the film or the process because its subject matter is one of great sensitivity to many of our readers on either side of the aisle. Ultimately, whatever the meaning to you, The Passion Of The Christ is a movie and we have left the issue of whether Gibson's pre-release efforts were sincere fear of attack or cynical marketing... whether the movie is "the truth" or something else... and how the media has behaved in this circumstance. That is what MCN is here for, in great part, to give you the power of perspective by giving you access to the whole picture of what's out there.

Perhaps there are those of you who feel we should be linking to WorldNet Daily more often... but like other political outlets, their bias is so clear, there seems little point unless they are actually breaking news. We did, however, link to four Christian movie review sites regarding this movie. On the "other" side, we have not restricted the writings of our staff (including myself) or given into pressure to keep the "Kill Christ" parody trailer out of distribution.

I will write more on the media and this movie in my personal column, The Hot Button, next week. But for the record and for the moment, I will say that I personally feel that the New York Times has been on a bit of a crusade and that I have found the bias overt and unseemly. I have written, in THB and in MCN headlines, about Frank Rich's columns and their excesses, even when I have felt that Mr. Gibson has also done wrong. But more on that issue later.

The reason I am writing this to you all is that I am deeply concerned about the e-mails - which are a minority - that seem confident that MCN has become a biased attack mechanism against The Passion of The Christ and/or Christianity in general. The accusation Is not only insulting and hurtful, but it is exactly the opposite of our true intent and the overall mission of this site.

For better or for worse, The Passion Of The Christ has become a defining moment for many people and certainly for The Media. The white hot heat of the issue has forced almost everyone to show their cards, exposed utterly as the pot continues to grow. I just hope that all of you will remember that the cumulative media attitude should not be blindly foisted on individuals or outlets any more than the biases of a father should be blindly attached to the son.

- David Poland