Complaint Links TV Promo, Pastor Suicide
Complaint Links TV Promo, Pastor Suicide
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PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A Christian group complained to the Federal Communications Commission about a TV station's investigation of a minister who committed suicide after the station taped him entering an adult bookstore.
The group does not want KDKA-TV's license revoked, but said it should apologize to Rev. Brent Dugan's church "for the misleading promos and unfortunate lapse in journalistic reporting that led to the Rev. Brent Dugan's unfortunate death."
The FCC complaint, dated Monday and sent by a coalition of Christian denominations in the Pittsburgh area, argues that KDKA's promos "sentenced" Dugan before the presbytery had a chance to investigate and deal with his behavior.
The CBS affiliate issued a statement of condolences to Dugan's family and friends after his Nov. 3 suicide, and KDKA general manager Chris Pike would not comment beyond that.
Station officials have agreed to meet with church officials Feb. 20, said the Rev. James Mead, pastor of the Pittsburgh Presbytery, the governing body over Dugan's church.
Dugan overdosed on aspirin and alcohol in a motel room a few days after KDKA began airing promos showing his face and saying it would reveal his illicit behavior. The station announced a day before his death that it would not air the story because it had learned the pastor was missing and contemplating suicide, but it does not appear that Dugan had been aware of the decision.
In a last letter to the presbytery, Dugan acknowledged having a sexual relationship with a man and said that man set up his visit to an adult bookstore that was videotaped by KDKA, Mead said.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US
Now what elements are here to discuss ?
Sensationistic/enquireistic media behaviour ?
Illegal media behaviour ?
Homosexual preachers behaviour / morals ?
Is the media really responsible for the preachers suicide ?
The church/religions role in the suicide ?
What else
Well, let's see.... No question that the story had a sensationalist component, but hypocrisy is fair game, especially if it involves someone who is supposed to represent the "straight (no pun intended) and narrow" yet whose behavior, in secret, contradicts what he preaches publicly. In that respect, I have little sympathy.Originally Posted by uscitizen
I don't think that the media's behavior is illegal here unless there are other factors that the story didn't address.
I don't care if the preacher is homosexual, just that he's hypocritical about it.
Obviously the preacher was on the edge and the likelihood that his secret lifestyle was about to be revealed was enough to tip him over. He was responsible for his suicide, not the media; the latter was merely the catalyst.
He found himself in a catch-22, in clear opposition to the teachings of his church. Yet dealing with this as a well-adjusted, mature adult appears to have been beyond his capabilities; he stood to lose everything that he appeared to value. On the other hand, I don't understand how he could have continued to live such a duplicitous existence, given that his whole way of life publically represented the tenets of the church whereas his private life was the antithesis of those principles. He had a choice to make and was incapable of doing so, so he opted out instead.
My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog thinks I am.
THANKS Thorn! that was great. I will have to get you to write my memoirs when I win the powerball lottery.
I consider that to be a very good analysis. It is what I felt but was unable to properly say.
LOL! Only if you share!
My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog thinks I am.
I agree with thorn.
I feel for the man and his family, but this is what happens when people try to live a lie! and comdemn others publically for what they do privately!
I feel bad in that people will not just live and let live.
Well of course if I was rich I would pay very well.LOL! Only if you share!
Sigh if he had just attended 3 weeks of rehab with the Colorado preacher.....
I know, how tragic!
He probably listened to too much talk radio. That'll do it, every time.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having."
-- V
Junior Member
JPP Contributor
Do we know that he was a Preacher that preached only Fire and Brimstone?
Or was he a Preacher that preached that we all bear our crosses, we all are sinners and have our own Deamons, no matter how hard we try, but the Grace of Christ and the FORGIVENESS OF SINS that comes with it will save us from ourselves and wash us clean?
.... eventually, transforming us, through this undeserved forgiveness and internally first and externally later.... repent of our own deamons and thorns in our side?
I think that we have all lost our way, one time or another. (Except my mother...she has always been this perfect little thing it seems, but that is a little off topic! )
I think any man that is married that has his face blasted all over tv for going in to an adult book store's life would be devastated....preacher or not.
I think what the tv station did was wrong....I think he should have been approached one on one...by a fellow christian...even the camera man...and confronted with this deamon of his, he may have had an opportunity to amend his life, to no longer cheat on his wife, if that is what he was doing, or to get a better sex life in the bedroom at home....
I think that the human race's feelings and sensitivities have been WAXED COLD.
According to all that I have read in the Bible, rebuking of a personal sin is suppose to take place in private, one on one....with your fellow brother.
This is not to say that preachers should not preach right from wrong in their sermons, just that stoning a woman in the public square for adultery is no longer acceptable as it was in the old testament....as one example that Christ gave us on this.
I am sickened by this....and you may be thinking , WHY?
Well, with Haggart...he preached the opposite...he continued to deny his own sins...and then he did the phoney therapy, I am cured thingy and is putting out PR crap about himself and wife to try to save face, of some sort... NOT what I would call repentive at all...in his actions...at least in appearance.
But this guy, he obviously had a hard time with what he had done...he obviously felt it was wrong...what ever it was that he had done...he was sickened over what he had done...he killed himself, because of what he had done.....
Last edited by Care4all; 02-10-2007 at 02:36 AM.
Umm a better sex life at home ? Did you miss the part about the homosexual relationship ?
Junior Member
JPP Contributor
yes, I did miss it..... but the gist of my comment still stands.
Care too much internal conflict in the guy. I figure he would have wound up at a bad end anyway it went.
Well, sorry he's dead, but the expose is not to blame (provided it is truthful).
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