In my work in the media space I had a couple of friends who work with news stories, that commented to me recently on the latest video that has come from ISIS. It’s the one that depicts the brutal killing of more men in Libya. This time the victims are reported to be Ethiopian Christians. In the past I’ve chatted with friends who had to watch footage of things like bodies lining the streets in Gaza during the last onslaught there, or the dead bodies when the Christchurch earthquake hit. What those friends have expressed is a tiredness.

You see, it’s easy to spot the headlines, watch the news, and read the stories without giving a thought to the fact that what we’re seeing has often been edited because some people on the front-line of the news did us the service of watching the raw stuff and sparing us from the really gory detail that would sit with us forever and shake us to the core if we saw it. We usually never see who those people are as they quietly work away. We also never hear about what it does to them.

It’s easy to spot what we don’t like in the media and voice that, but there are real people behind what we see in our papers, on our screens, and what we hear on the radio. They’re having to process this stuff that comes across their path day in and day out. On the whole, they do a great job and most of the time it goes unnoticed by us, the consuming public.

Imagine what it must be like having to watch gruesome footage of people being slaughtered and then having to move onto the next story once you’ve got that one through. No time to process, no time to grieve what you’ve just witnessed, just on to the next story. I don’t care how tough someone is, over time that’s going to have an effect. I’m sure people have their different coping mechanisms, ways to detach from what they’re seeing so it doesn’t eat deeply into their soul, but I often wonder how many aren’t coping well and would benefit from someone jumping into the mix with them with the sole intent of being a space where they can offload it all.

When you see the horrible stories come up – murders, suicides, war, domestic abuse, child abuse, rapes, and all the ways the worst of our humanity plays out in our headlines, stop and take a moment to reflect on the people filtering those stories for us. If you’re the praying kind, say a prayer for them. I offer this not as some condescending call for those in the media, but as someone with a huge respect for what they do and who wants to see everyone in the game do well, and maintain a healthy life.

If this is something you support, please consider helping the entity that has been set up to do exactly this – NewsLeads Charitable Trust. NewsLeads exists to step into the mess of this space; into the grit and rawness of what it means to be human in today’s news media and to offer food for the soul for those in the middle of it, much like a chaplaincy service. Deciding to give something like $20 a month, which is about the equivalent of just one cup of coffee each week, (or whatever works for you) can go a long way. NewsLeads can’t happen without your support. There’s a strong vision at work, but that vision requires a community to make it happen.

I’m throwing my life at this because I truly believe the Christian community, when we engage the best of who we are, has something extremely valuable to bring into the media space. I’ll push hard to make that happen. I need you with me. Let’s not be Christians who simply complain about the media. let’s be a community that builds a bridge between the media and the Christian community by being the best of who we are, reflecting Jesus, the one who stepped into the middle of the human mess and who went to the cross for all of us.