Dr. Jessica Peck: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection and the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword BABY or visit preborn.com/AFR hello.

 : And welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show prescribing Hope for Healthy Families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there friends, and welcome to my favorite time of day, getting to spend time with you, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. And listen, we've got some great information coming to you today. I am really excited to talk to you about this topic. We're actually going to talk about the news, but not about what's in the news, but how to consume the news. The news seems like it has moved so much even in my lifetime. I remember when I was growing up, I lived with my grandparents for a period of time while I was going to college. And every night we would watch the nightly news. It was the same anchors. And if there's any of you from the Houston area, you will remember Marvin Zindler, Eyewitness News talking about slime in the ice machine. This was the news I grew up on. Of course, they grew up on an anchor with Walter Cronkite and looking the news was very slow and very curated and it came to you really late. Honestly, things had already happened by the time that they got to you and the images that you saw were maybe grainy, unclear. Now it feels like we live in a new cycle that is 24 7. And you look at all of the headlines and it gives us this underlying anxiety, like we want to open our phone, but we don't want to open our phone. We're afraid we've missed something, but we really want to miss something. And the news is coming to us so quickly. I really was struck at how fast the news moves and how social media really has usurped legacy media and other more traditional forms of media. I'll share with you that the day that Charlie Kirk was assassinated, the first person that I heard about it, even though I was on a news show watching live news feeds, the first person I heard about it was from my son who had heard about it on social media before I even had the news, is a Great place to get information, but it can also cause families a lot of anxiety. I talk to a lot of kids who say that their parents are glued to the news 24 7. And what the parents feel is moral outrage at what is going on. The kids just interpret as anger and just this feeling of, I don't want anything to do with that. So we are coming to you today to equip you to consume the news in a healthy way. And I can think of no better guest to ask to do that than Chris Woodward. He's an anchor and reporter right here at American Family News. And the difference with American Family association is they have your good in mind. Whereas other news medias, their job is to drive views, to make something go viral, to have clicks, to have engagement on the platform. American Family News is really curating news that informs you without scaring you. And they have your good and heart. And so with that kind of high expectation, Chris, you feel like, you feel like we can live up to that. Welcome to the show. We're so glad to have you here.

Chris Woodward: Thank you very much. First time caller, longtime listener.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That was perfect. And actually, that's very true. That is super true.

Chris Woodward is an anchor reporter at American Family News

Well, Chris, just introduce yourself to my listeners, anybody who maybe doesn't know you. Tell us a little bit about yourself, how you came to be at American Family Association.

Chris Woodward: All right, so, Chris Woodward is my name. And as Dr. Peck mentioned, I'm the anchor reporter, one of the anchor reporters here at American Family News. American Family News is the radio and print team here at American Family Association. We have, brothers and sisters at afa, the Stand, doing great work, with that publication. we do news, as well, at afn, and it's radio and print news, which is cool because some people like to be told what the news is. Other people like to read the news. so we offer radio and print coverage on all kinds of topics. It's news from a Christian perspective. And just to, give you an idea of how big a blessing it has been for me, I have been here for almost 16 years now. I came from television. I was a news producer at a couple of different, television stations in the Southeast. And I really enjoyed what I was doing, but I kind of felt like I was missing something. I felt like there was something more that I could be doing. I was working my way up the ranks at a television, station in a large market here in the Southeast. And I just felt like I wanted to do more than produce, newscasts that involved shootings. And fires and all the bad stuff that you do see, on any local TV format. And, lo and behold, I was having a discussion with a, friend of the family, and she had mentioned that there was an opening here. And I sent my resume over here. And after a couple of weeks, Fred Jackson, the news director here at American Family News, invited me over for what he called a chat. And I came over. I drove about 2 1/2 hours, to, come over here and meet with him. We went out for some coffee. And, through that conversation, we got away from what it was that I was looking to do when Fred hit me with the most important question of all questions. And that is, do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Because here at American Family News, the first thing on any job, inquiries, hey, we are hiring one of those things. We always want to know whether or not you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. And honestly, I couldn't answer that question. I grew up in church, like a lot of people, doing all the churchy things. And I, got up and said things in front of the congregation that, no parent, every parent would want his or her child to say. I was going through kind of the motions, let's say. And I never really gave it, the time and attention. But through a series of conversations that began that day with Fred Jackson, I really took what he had to say, to heart. And over the course of, several chats, he told me, look, we'd love to have you, but the most important thing for you really, is to get that issue settled. And long story short, on the drive back to, Birmingham, where I was living at that time, I, thought about it a lot. And I thought about it for several days. And finally, on a Tuesday morning in the spring of 2010, I bowed my head and prayed and asked the Lord to forgive me of my sins and be my Lord and Savior. And through a course of several more conversations, I ended up getting a job here. And it's been a real blessing for myself and my family because I work here, and we're covering stories that matter. It's not just the shootings and it's not just the fires, although we do include those things in our radio newscasts. We also cover a lot of what I would call the David versus Goliath stories, the Jack Phillips, going to the Supreme Court kind of things where a man or woman may not have much of a chance of winning, but through the, blessing of the people at, like, Alliance Defending Freedom and other law firms, who go to bat for those individuals. We cover a lot of pro life issues and I have been involved with all the big things that have pretty much happened in the news cycle since about 2010, all because of that question Fred posed way back then when we went out for our first cup of coffee.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well Chris, this is the first time that I'm hearing this story. What an amazing testimony of the impact of American Family Association. And that's one of the things that I have seen really behind the scenes is that they care so much about, about each individual. They care about your soul so much. And it is not just for show, it is not just for news, for broadcasts, for radio. They really care. And I think that's absolutely amazing. How did that change your family's life, Chris?

Chris Woodward: Oh, it was, it was fantastic. my, my relationship with my wife, not that we were on, on the outs or anything but our, our family life improved. we had one child at the time, now we're blessed with two. And we've been very involved in our church here in the Tupelo area. Continue to be very involved. and I have been involved in a lot of the coverage of all kinds of cases and prayer revival events. I just did a story, that's going to be airing tomorrow on a big prayer, event that's planned for March. it's kind of a revival effort. Those kinds of stories I really love doing because with all due respect to the hard working men and women on cable TV channels that I think do have some sort of a faith background or maybe come from a faith background, you're not really going to see those kinds of stories on a cable television channel. Many people might watch. but that's what we're here for. We're going to tell you those stories that you're not going to see or hear on the big channels with all the kinds of, you know, all the bells and whistles and the resources. We're here and we're going to provide those things for you so that way you and your pastor and your congregation and can get those necessary and important stories.

Chris: I'm interested in drawing some comparisons between broadcast news and Christian media

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well you're not the first anchor I've interviewed who has said that, who has said that they've been in broadcast news and frustrated by the limitations that they have by the filter that they have, by the censoring that they've had, not being able to share that faith perspective. And it is really great to have faith based outlets that you can trust and I'm interested in you drawing some comparisons for us, Chris, because you talked about working your way up in broadcast news and then now the difference in working for a Christian based media company where as I talked about at the top of the hour, really the goal of news media today is generally profit for most companies. That's the case.

Chris Woodward: Right.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And that's not the case. What are some, what are comparisons? How would you draw some comparisons behind the scenes of what that looks like?

Chris Woodward: Yeah, well, you're spot on in basically describing a, a television channel in particular as kind of a business. I know that they run ads and it, it all sounds great and they're well written, maybe include some really glossy pretty images. but at the end of the day it is a business and they want you to buy into it and they want you to stay hooked on it. Just like somebody that sells junk food wants you to keep buying that junk food, at the grocery store. And so, for example, they'll have segment on where they're warning people like you saying hey, you don't want your kids to spend too much time on social media. And they present all these important facts and then as they're going into break they tease like stick around reasons you need to continue watching the news, otherwise you'll die tomorrow. One of those things. And it's, it's the, it's and it just, it keeps continuing. And that is why I think many people, in the, in this country in particular are very anxious and stressed out. We don't trust anybody. And honestly I think an American is born distrusting of people. It's the reason we have a bill of rights and everything. but you know, it only adds to that. And the great thing about our radio newscasts is it may sound like, well, is that all they did? But our newscast or 4 minutes and 29 seconds at the top of every hour. And that's going to give you some idea of what's going on and the things you need to know before we go to your show or before we go to some show song, that's really going to impact you and help get you through the next hour.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I love that you do that because I see families just saturated in media and it really can cause family relationship disconnects. I mean, I can't tell you, like I said, how many kids will say, like, I wish my parents would stop watching the news because they see the negative psychological and emotional impacts that it has. But we, we can't also, we can't bury our heads in the sand. We've got to know what's going on. And that's what I appreciate about the news. Like you said, just under five minutes and give you all of the major headlines, give you a prompt if you need to go and look up something further or find more information if there's something that's particularly relevant to you. I also love that you deliver it in what I call a trauma informed way. You're not saying all of the grisly details, which often, you know, news media does, because that sells, right, that all of the, the gory, details they sell. But you say it in a way that, you know, little ears could hear it and it would be easily explained. And I appreciate that. I would love for you to walk us through the process of how do you bring, decide what news to bring? Because that's another big point of mistrust. Like you mistrust, like who's choosing the stories and how are they delivering to me? How can you give us some transparency on the process from concept to delivery for American Family News?

Chris Woodward: American Family News reporters are tasked with following beats

Chris Woodward: Okay, so, basically we're all kind of tasked every day with following, what are called beats. And beats are areas of focus that you're supposed to spend a lot of time and energy on. So for example, I help cover pro life and First Amendment legal matters, religious freedom first, freedom of speech, those kinds of things. I also help cover education stories. and so I scour the web and usually come to a 9:00 Central News meeting with three or four topics, that I think are stories worth covering. And then Fred Jackson, our news director, he will also assign, us various things that we need to make some calls on and try to get on. Sometimes it might be a story that we're going to crash in that day. It might be something that we could, work on throughout that day and then put on for tomorrow, something like that. and to give you an idea of how news does change, it's interesting because here really, in the last couple of years, we have a meeting at 9 o' clock and then things change. And what you planned on doing at 9 o' clock is old news by lunchtime. And then all the things that you planned on are stories that you never even got to or things that we didn't air because of breaking news. Some of the best stories you've never heard happened because of breaking news.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Wow. Wow. That, that is amazing. It is so true that the news cycle is so fast and sometimes what you say in the morning something happens. And I think that drives a little bit the compulsion to stay on the platform, to look, to make sure I don't miss anything. And I think that that kind of general anxiety that we have, it really is reflective of a larger damage in our faith, you know, to know that God is in control. And that is the overarching message that we need to be giving to our families, that, hey, hey, yeah, scary things happen, tough things happen. There is going to be tragedy and trial and all the things that we're going to see. But God knows we serve a God who sees, who knows who is in control and cares even when we don't understand. And that is something that you are going to get on American Family News. You are going to get the news, but also the hope. And what can you do about it? When we come back, we're going to have more conversation with Chris Woodward on, how they bring issues to you in a talk exactly about that. How do they get the news to you fast before it changes? We'll be right back after this break.

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Nobody But Jesus by Maverick City Music and Song House: Before I ever knew his name I was there to walk in my way Stuck in all my sin and Shame I was destined for the grave. If you've been searching and if you've been hurting Then call out his name. Nobody but Jesus I've tried other names nothing was the same the only one I claim is Jesus Saved by his grace he died in my place there's no other name but Jesus he's still healing minds Rescuing the blind he's always on time Jesus and I'm just so thankful for

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is Nobody But Jesus by Maverick City Music. And we're coming to you today talking about the news. It feels like the news is so intrusive. Honestly, today we're constantly getting alerts. You can't go to a restaurant or a ball game or a family gathering or get through a family meal with if you have your phone by you without getting a news alert. And it feels like there's this tension there because we want to make sure that we know because scary things are happening and even close to home. But we also kind of don't want to know. How do we navigate that tension? My guest today is Chris Woodward. He's an anchor reporter right here at our very own American Family News and was just sharing his remarkable story of testimony of coming to know the Lord through a job opportunity and near almost two decades ago. And here he is still curating news for you. And before the break, Chris, we were talking about how hard it is to keep up with the pace of news. Like, how do you balance timely with being discerning? What advice do you have for people who feel like they're stuck in that cycle of instant consumption?

Chris Woodward: Yeah, there's a way in terms of like a reporting come to work every day knowing that what you're starting out doing is probably going to need to change or be revised. so be flexible. That what you started to plan your day around in terms of making phone calls, you may have to, kind of fly by the seat of your pants and, be prepared to ask some additional questions or, be prepared to change your story, at a moment's notice because of some updates that happened, for example. but let's say you're waiting on a big Supreme Court ruling and you've got some comments from somebody, about this particular case and you're going to put a story on that's involving them, hoping and praying, that it's going to come down this way and then it comes down the other way. Well, you've got to write to that using those comments and say people were hoping for this would happen, but unfortunately it didn't come down that way. Or, you work really hard to call that person, get the updated remarks and then put that story on. So it's kind of a team effort by Yourself and the anchor, whoever that is, that particular moment. You got to be flexible, with news now in terms of, digesting it. I would strongly recommend, people take it in moderation. and I say that based on the fact that again, we will give you some news, in less than five minutes at the top of every hour, to help you focus on things that are more important. Things that, you know, might be family life or work life so you can get those kinds of things done. You never want to live in the 24 hour news cycle because it can and will make you angry or scared or anxious. I, have worked in news now for almost 25 years. That's TV and radio news. And one of the things that I try to do my best over the weekend is completely unplug and don't pay any attention to the news. When I go on vacation, I try not to pay any attention to the news. and you know, you've been successful at that. When you come back to work on a Monday and you ask yourself, like, is President Trump still the president? Because you've been so unplugged, you aren't really sure as to what those issues are. The reason I say that is because it, it can and will make you all those things I mentioned. and if it does that to somebody working in news, it will definitely do it to the consumer out there, based on the things that they've seen and, the information as it was presented to them by the big news outlets on TV or print news.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, I remember my grandmother was really good about unplugging. She just always was invested in the people around her. And I remember her telling me once when I was going to go on vacation, she told me I needed to unplug, from everything. She said, jessica, the is gonna keep on turning and nothing that you do is going to impact that. Like nothing is going to. Your consumption of the news is not going to change it. And I needed to be present and we need to have those times. I definitely do that too, where I just have times where I'm unplugged and maybe people get mad at me because I don't return their text messages. I'm sorry to everybody out there listening because that happens a lot. But sometimes it's just a hard balance to have.

Chris: American Family Radio is able to bring good news too

And another hard balance to have, Chris, is a lot of criticism that we hear about people of faith, about people who believe in the goodness of God. Is that with all of this bad news, how can a, good God Allow such a bad world. And when you're in that news, Chris, you're seeing that, you know, you see all of the worst of the worst, whereas, you know, other people who are consuming it. You may be able to tailor your newsfeed to, you know, kind of tune some of that out, but you're looking at everything. How is your faith strengthened through that when it seems like it would be the opposite?

Chris Woodward: Well, I try to begin every day, by reading, some of my Bible M. That will help you kind of, I think, prepare for, the day ahead. there might be something in that morning's Bible reading that's going to help you, lean on that or fall back on that when bad news happens. And it will. I would definitely, if you don't have time for like a morning Bible study, I would highly recommend somebody do something in the middle of the day because that's going to help them kind of get away, recharge, focus on what's important, that is that being the Lord. if you, if your church doesn't have a Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study, but maybe there is one in your area, I would recommend checking, checking that out. it's going to give you something in the middle of the week that's going to help you really just kind of get away, recharge, focus on what's important. you're going to worship together with brothers and sisters, you're going to sing some songs together. you'll probably hear a message that's going to help you get through to the next time that you're in a Sunday morning service or Sunday evening service, that kind of thing. and in terms of like, why do bad things happen to good people? Or those kinds of topics, I would really recommend, maybe not every day, but certainly, occasionally listen to a podcast of, somebody that's involved in Christian apologetics. I know Dr. Frank Turek has things like that. Frank and, Alex and Bert here have a program every afternoon exploring the Word. Those kinds of things are going to teach you and help you in those moments when, Lord forbid, there's like a school shooting or something like that, that can and will wreck your life.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, I think one of the things that's encouraging to me and a good part about being part of American Family Radio is that we are able to report the good news too, and good news that you maybe wouldn't see on secular outlets. And one of the things that's most encouraging to me is people's testimon testimonies of faith. And you can report on God doing supernatural things, doing miracles, literally doing miracles throughout the world. And you can see people who have been through really terrible things. I remember in particular one. One guest that, I interviewed who had lost two people very dear to her and just very untimely deaths. And one of them, she didn't know the Lord, and the other she did. And she said, I've been through death and grief and twice, and I would never do it without my faith. Like, it is infinitely better with my faith. So what is it like to be able to bring those good stories that are. That have a faith element in them, that show how God is good and God is faithful?

Chris Woodward: Yeah. Well, it will encourage people and remind him that, it will remind people that while you may sometimes wonder, where is he? You don't hear him, you don't feel him, you don't see him. through stories like Esther, we do know that God is involved and is behind the scenes. And to be honest with you, there have been some really awful events, over the past two and a half decades that I've been working in. News where bad things happen, but then there's like a funeral service and somebody gets up and just presents the gospel in a fantastic two and a half minutes. And some of that makes it on television. And then you see and hear stories later about how somebody was watching that and they came to know the Lord. And so while bad things can and do and will happen, good things do arise sometimes from those situations. And through those reports, those stories about how people came to Christ through some sort of turmoil, I think it really, it helps encourage me, but also I think it encourages and equips people out there to have something, to kind of fall on that's a positive story and not just bad.

Dr. Jessica Peck: One good piece of news that we do have to report on today is the result of our preborn campaign. Regular listeners will know that all last week had a goal of sponsoring 5,000 ultrasounds for preborn clinics. And Chris, I am so happy to report right here on this news edition of, Doctor, Nurse, Mama show that we blew that out of the water. Our listeners sponsored 6,238 ultrasounds. Is that not amazing?

Chris Woodward: It is. And for people that are maybe new to preborn, and they've stumbled across us for the first time, a lot of those, ultrasounds end up saving the life of an unborn child. and so, through the donations and the, help that people pitch, in, with those kinds of situations, you are saving a life. And I've shared this before on AFR's today's issues program, but there is a church, here in the area where a Sunday school class, man and his wife are the instructors of the Sunday school class. And they make and sell like, coffee and baked goods and things like that. And all the proceeds from those, sales just before church, those go to PreBorn. And I'm sure there are other Sunday, schools or churches out there that do that kind of thing. If you're not involved and you're looking for some sort of new ministry at your place of worship, that's something to consider because you are making a difference with PreBorn, not just listening to us here, but in those kinds of efforts at churches.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, that's one of the things that encourages me, because in a world full of bad news, we can see that something as simple as a $28 donation can, can literally be life saving. And you may not see the impact of that this side of heaven, but that is the good news. And that's what gives me hope, is seeing people who are faithful in that way and, and when I see, you know, attacks on the sanctity of life and other things that, you know, just God's image in humans, I see God also raising up warriors to fight on their behalf, even when they don't know that they, they may not even know that they need an advocate yet. But God is stirring the hearts of people to respond, to show, to minister, to show up. And that really encourages me. And I think that's one of the great things. And you actually, you cover a lot of, pro life issues. Chris, in there. What are you seeing as far as reporting in that arena? What's on the horizon right now?

Chris Woodward: Well, a lot of people are really, pro life activists are really applauding the Trump administration for having a lot of pro life policies since he reentered office. He was probably the most pro life president we've ever had in his previous term, but since he reentered office, he's done things, in the way of blocking this or not funding that. There are a lot of people out there that wish he would do more. President Trump would do more in the way of, really putting a stop to abortion pills. That was something that the Biden administration increased, access to because President Biden didn't like how the Supreme Court came down in the Dobbs case, which overturned Roe v. Wade. For whatever reason, the Trump administration Since it reentered office has not reversed the Biden era policies. They are reviewing things involving abortion pills, but they haven't put an outright kibosh on it yet like a lot of people wish they would. And so that's been one of the criticisms or concerns. but by and large President Trump has saved a lot of babies and quite frankly saved the lives of many women. Because last year there was a big study that came out, from the Ethics and Public Policy Center. We covered this on afn.net and still mention it pretty frequently. But the EPPC found that about 1 in 10 or 1 in 11 women who take the abortion bill end up having a severe adverse health event. They have to go to the er, they've got big problems, after taking the abortion pill. Those kinds of stories you're not going to see on CNN or Ms. Now or whatever I'm supposed to call it. BBC News is not going to cover it. Maybe Fox, but that's the thing, like Fox will cover it for a day and then they move on. We continue to cover and explore and update our kinds of stories because those are the things that our audience needs when they go out into the public.

Dr. Jessica Peck: One of the things that I appreciate about covering stories like that, when you're listening from from traditional media, it's very easy to become exactly like we were talking about earlier. To be angry, to be depressed, to be discouraged, to be overwhelmed. But I love that here we can back these news stories with action. And when I report on Friday on my show, I have a segment I'm doing this year called Home Front Headlines where I report what is happening, what the news media that I'm following, but why it's important for your family and most importantly what you can do about it, how God has equipped you to respond and what we can do to protect our families. And I think that's one of the encouraging things. And so even hearing stories like what you're just saying, it informs people on how to pray. And I know that. I know that. I know, Chris, that we have a lot of very serious prayer warriors who listen to this network who are praying even now. And if that is you and you are listening, I know that you are probably one of the most humble people on the face of the planet. And you are not going to church wearing a button set that says, I'm a prayer warrior, you know, look at me. But you are praying faithfully and I want you to know that matters. That absolutely makes a difference. And so when you hear stories like this, it can instruct you in what to do. What do I need to do to keep my family safe? What do I need to do to be an advocate in the public square? How do I need to call my legislator? And American Family association gives lots of resources for that as well.

Chris Woodward: It does. And when you're listening to one of our radio stories, a, listener is not going to hear me say this more often than not. But one of the things that I will do in an interview is I'll ask the person like, hey, our listeners, and readers, at afn, they don't just want the news, they want to know how they can help. So what's something people can do? And that's often why you'll hear a sound bite in that story or you'll read a comment in the print version about how they can contact their legislator. And we have something on our website that's gonna, you can click on that and you can send President Trump an email. Those kinds of things. because they can and do inspire people to help us and the many other ministries out there that are fighting the good fight.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And I think people don't, they underestimate how powerful those, those simple actions can be in this world of splashy social media. We think, you know, you have to start a non profit or you have to go to Capitol Hill or do something really dramatic. But it's often just in those little acts of advocacy that can change. I have seen, I've been in legislators offices when they have brought out a letter from a constituent and say this changed my mind. That can absolutely happen. Well, when we come back, we're going to talk about some of the other stories that AFN is covering, including some updates from Disney plus that parents really need to know about. And we'll also talk about A.I. we'll be right back with much more from the news on the other side of this break.

The AFR app is a powerful tool, but it does have limitations

 : The AFR app is a powerful tool, but it does have limitations. You can't use it to change the oil in your vehicle or get rid of carpet stains. It won't walk the dog, won't pick up the dry cleaning or take the kids to practice. But while you're doing those things, you can listen to your favorite AFR content through the app on your phone, smart device or Roku. Just go to your App store or visit afr.net Listen to AFR wherever you go with the AFR app.

See Me Through It by Brandon Heath: Things are getting real. Jesus, take the wheel. Only way I'm getting to the Other. side days are getting dark life's a little hard blinded but I'm. Trying not to lose sight I don't got this I know you got this. Yeah, yeah, yeah and I believe it. Before I see it yeah, I know you're gonna see me through it if. Anybody can, you can do it, God, I know in the

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is See Me through it by Brandon Heath.

American Family News anchor Chris Woodward shares tips on how families can discern news

And when we hear things on the news, we think, oh, please, Lord, see us through it. Because it can be really discouraging. I'm talking today to American Family News's own Chris Woodward. He's an anchor reporter, and we're talking about how do we consume the news? Because the news is consuming us. That is just the honest truth. So I want to share with you a few little tips about how families can thoughtfully discern news sources together. First of all, start with a shared purpose. Ask, why am I consuming this news? Am I trying to be informed or entertained or formed? Because the news can form our actions going forward. And ask, is this help us love God and love our neighbor better? Is this information helping me respond wisely or just react emotionally? We need to teach ourselves and our families the difference between news and narrative. News is just reporting factual events. Narrative interprets those opinions are meant to persuade them, and algorithms are intended to amplify our emotion about this. So when we're seeing the news, we need to say, what are the facts of what happened? What interpretation is being offered, and whose voice is missing? Whose emotion is this trying to stir? How do we need to interpret that is really important. And you can evaluate sources using a simple family filter. Just talk about, how do you filter the news? Is this a primary source? Is this a commentary? Is this fact or is it opinion? Is the language measured or is it intended to get us spun up? Where is it coming from? What are trusted sources of news? And it's also important that we model humility and curiosity. We always. We don't always have the answer. And sometimes it can be really hard when somebody comes to you. I know this is happening a lot with AI where it can be really difficult to distinguish what's real news and what isn't. And so we have this added layer of skepticism. When someone brings you a news story and you think, is that real or is that not? How do you figure out if it's real or not? You need to have source sources that you can go to that your family trust and that source. I'll give you a spoiler alert. Shouldn't your primary source should not be Google to go and look and see if it's there. Look at trusted news sources. But most importantly, we need to anchor discernment in faith and not fear because we need to filter news through the lens of scripture, not filter scripture through the lens of the news, which is sometimes what happens. And so asking does this align with what scripture says about this issue? Is this shaping how we see people made God's image? Is it producing fear or wisdom? And those things can be really tough to do now.

Parents concerned about Disney adding objectionable content to its Disney plus streaming service

We need to be aware of what's going on in the world. And Chris, you have a story that parents need to know about, about a streaming change in Disney plus. So tell us what we need to know and we'll talk about what we can do about it.

Chris Woodward: Yeah, this story is from afn.net, it's in our culture section. you can do a simple search for afn.net and disney plus and it will pop up. the headline is Parents caution Disney adding objectionable content. Hulu programming for people not aware. Disney and Hulu are like peanut butter and jelly. They, go together. And Disney, plus several years ago when it was launching, announced that it wasn't going to have anything harder than a PG 13. But times they are a changing. And Disney plus is now bringing over all the R rated and TV MA rated TV series and films, over to the Disney plus streaming platform. So what does this mean? It means that your kid, when he or she gets on there to watch a cartoon or an animated film that you find to be squeaky cle clean and nothing wrong with it, they're going to be bombarded with a lot of things that you didn't want your child to see when they're trying to find something, fun and family friendly to watch. That's a big concern. And we did that story with Melissa Henson of Concerned Women for America. She gave us the number of things that are being brought over to Disney Plus why it's a concern. And here is where it gets to the how can parents help out? While I had her on the phone, I said, hey, our listeners and readers, they're great. They not only want to know the news, but they want to know how they can help. And she gave us instructions on how people, whether they have Disney plus or not, whether they're Disney stakeholders or not. She gave us step by step instructions on what we the people can do to let Disney know politely that this is not right, why it's a problem, those kinds of things. And that is all together in that article on afn.net I really appreciate.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That because there's two. There's a double perspective here. One is, you're absolutely right. What we can do from a public outward facing policy stance. How can we be advocates for our children in the public square?

Parents need to be very intentional about watching what their kids are streaming

And one of the things that I love to do in this hour, in this show here on the Doctor Nurse, Mama hour is talk about that inward facing perspective. What do parents and families do in their own home in the meantime to protect their kids in the context of a healthy relationship? Because we all have heard the rules. Without relationship leads to rebellion. And Chris, I think this is something that parents need to take from this news story. We are often very apathetic as parents when our kids are streaming stuff because it's convenient, it's a babysitter. And then we think a platform is safe and we think, okay, well yeah, like you said, they're just gonna get a cartoon on there. We need to be very intentional about watching what our kids are streaming. And one of the most dangerous pitfalls that I see kids being exposed to inappropriate, explicit material is in that scroll, looking for something to stream because the titles are awful, sometimes the photos that go along with that, the descriptions of the show are really awful. And so I think that families need to make a practice of not just going through and scrolling a million things to see. Like, what are we going to watch? Go to a trusted source, one that I use is plugged in from Focus on the Family and you can go, they review media for you. You can pre screen, look and see what would we want to watch? Then look at it and then go and just stream that one thing. Don't let the algorithm say, oh, you liked that, let's show you more. Because they're to push the envelope a little bit because they know that novelty is something that's going to attract you and get you to stay on the platform, especially for kids. So this is something really to be aware of because it also normalizes that content that's there when they're scrolling through and their parents are saying, yeah, go scroll through it. It gives them the message without us trying to say that, that, hey, yeah, this is normal, it's okay for you to see that. When in reality we don't even know that they're saying that.

Chris Woodward: Yeah, I can give you an example that we ran into in our household a few years ago. It was on a streaming and our daughters, I have two girls, 16, and 12. And this was a couple of years ago, but they were watching the Special features, that the streaming platform offered in addition to the film. Well, the film is fine. Right? And then they're starting to watch the special features, the behind the scenes things and things like that. And somebody in the special features, brought up, her personal lifestyle choices, which led to uncomfortable conversations that I wasn't prepared to have with two children on a Tuesday afternoon during the summer. Yeah, those kinds of things. So, you know, be cautious that just because the film's fine, the people that made the movie might have been interviewed and shared their, lifestyle choices, with the camera crew that was, documenting their efforts to make that film. the other thing I would caution, people against doing is giving the, the pin code or parental code that will allow their kid to unlock something. So, you know, he or she could watch. if you do that and then you find out that they're watching things that they shouldn't, you need to change the code. that's, that's one thing. It's really hard, it's really hard out there to do it. I mean, at the end of the day, like just maybe not even watch it. I don't, I mean, I.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Now you're just being radical.

Chris Woodward: Creating my own problems, with the, boneheaded decisions I've made as a father. yeah. And you know, going back to, talking with your kids about how do we digest information, things like that. I would talk to kids, you know, in addition to asking them, asking them, what did you learn at school today? Ask, ask them, what did you talk about at lunch or with your classmates? Because you would be surprised how up to speed kids are on news issues. And you know, if you are going to watch news, with your kids, or read the newspaper with whatever, use those as opportunities. Like, hey, we need to pray for the people in North Mississippi that are still without power a week and a half after a winter storm. Let's pray for that family that was on the news because, somebody got shot. you know, those kinds of things, it will bring you together and help you focus on what's most important and that is God and how he wants us to live and to pray for people, in their situations.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I'm so glad you brought that up, Chris. That is such an important point because kids younger and younger are hearing more and more stuff and sometimes parents just aren't. We're not aware that our kids are having these conversations and most parents can relate to that feeling of just kind of your just heart sinks in your Chest. When you find out your kid has been, exposed to something that we wish that they weren't exposed to, conversation that we wish they hadn't had. But sometimes when we don't open that, that invitation to conversation about it, they get the message. They interpret that as this is taboo. It's not appropriate or proper to talk about this with my parents. So I've got to figure out how to deal with it on my own because that's just not something for parents. So we've got. I always tell my kids, you know, look, you're going to see there's screens everywhere. And someday you're going to see or hear something either on a screen or people talking about what's on a screen that just makes you feel uncomfortable. And you may not understand it and you may not fully even know what it's about. It might even make you feel bad, like you've done something wrong. When that happens, you come to me and we'll talk about it. It is because sometimes kids feel like it's guilt. They, feel guilty. It's like it's their fault. But we have, we have Predators online and we have companies that are trying to market to our kids and they do that, that by trying to get them to watch more and more salacious content because it keeps them on. That's not a fair fight, Chris. That's just not a fair fight.

Chris Woodward: I saw something a couple of weeks ago, and it was a blog from somebody that said they had, done some digging and bought a bunch of VHS tapes, went back to the 90s. And the reason being they started doing that is because when it ends, it's over. It's not gonna, you're not gonna automatically start watching something else for the next two hours.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I saw somebody from my church who did this, who got an old school VCR and put it in there and said it has been one of the best things that they ever did. And sometimes we just have to put those boundaries down. And I think that we need to be more intentional about those streaming, those streaming habits. That is really true. And one of the other things that we need to be really intentional and careful about is all these stories that are coming about AI it is coming out faster than I can even say it. And I don't know if you have this experience, Chris, but when I'm reporting on it, I'm going to be, you know, talking to families about it. I feel like the words that I'm saying, I'm literally speaking another language. We don't understand it, but it is potentially a threat to our kids. So I appreciate you keeping us informed.

Chris Woodward: Yes, and it's also a threat to the news industry because my job, will not here at American Family News, but like a broadcaster, we're slowly being replaced by AI you can get on YouTube and watch a number of like newsreels and it's this robot voice that talks like this, this as it's telling you the news. So like at some point, I will be replaced by you know, AI it's very scary and there's a lot of things out there that are cool. you know I've, I've tried to have grok or however I'm supposed to pronounce that, the thing on X. I've tried to get it to draw pictures of me wearing my favorite school uniform, you know, school athletic team uniform, that kind of thing. but there's a lot of scary stuff out there. and there's, there's things that are taking advantage of kids or there's that predators are, you know, they're, they're pumping these things full of information, to try to get a, ah, picture of your child in a way that you didn't want them to have some sort of image. there's, it's, it's really scary stuff. And one of our reporters, Steve Jordahl has done a nice job of keeping us up to speed on AI and the concerns. he will continue to do so as the Lord taries because people and parents need to know that it's not. It seems fun and ChatGPT can help give us some instructions on things, but there's also a lot of bad out there. It's like social media. It's an amoral thing that people are using for immoral purposes and people need to be aware.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And GROK has been in the news quite a bit recently just for generating explicit images, as many as reported, maybe be up to 1 per minute of unconsensual, image based abuse. Again, all of these terms are new as we're really in an experimental world and what's at stake here is the safety of our children. That's so important to do. And for practicing healthy media consumption. I want to echo what Chris said as we're ending our time here together, practice intentional intake. Just like nutrition, quantity and quality matter when you're taking in the news. So set specific times to check the news. Not all day. Maybe it's first thing in the morning, maybe it's the top of the hour here that American Family News is providing to you and balance that global awareness with what you can do locally. So when you hear about something, what can you do to make a change? Maybe that's in public facing advocacy or maybe that's an inward facing in your home. And do exactly like Chris said, create some space in your life for media free rhythms where you have no news or screen free time or you check out. That's really important. Another important thing Chris and I have talked about today is co consuming and discussing with your kids, watching with your kids, asking them what they are seeing and discussing that. That is really important. And Chris, where can we find say somebody is saying hey, I've never heard of American Family News. Where can I get plugged in?

Chris Woodward: Yeah, it's afn.net that's afn.net and to even help you save time, when you go to afn.net you can enter your email address. We don't sell it or share it with anybody. Once a day you'll get an email with a about five stories to keep you and yours informed.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, thank you for keeping us informed today Chris. We so appreciate all that you do. It's news with a faith filled hopeful lens. I really appreciate that so much. And wherever you are today and however you're consuming the news, this is new, this is not news that I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. and I will see you right back here tomorrow. We'd like to thank our sponsors including PreBorn. PreBorn has rescued over 400,000 babies from abortion. And every day their network clinics rescue 200 babies lives. Will you join PreBorn in loving and supporting young moms in crisis? Save a life today. Go to preborn.com/AFR the views and.

Jeff Chamblee: Opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.

Chris Woodward from American Family News talks with Jessica about helping our families choose news sources wisely. 

https://afn.net/