By Natalie Spray, Brooklyn Park Sun (MN), February 27, 2007

28 Feb 2007 // Usually I thank people when they offer to pray for me. Sometimes I even ask to be included in someone's daily prayers.

But when Mac Hammond, pastor and founder of Brooklyn Park-based Living Word Christian Center, told his congregation to pray for the media, I was offended.

Hammond was addressing allegations filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) during his Feb. 11 service.

Since neither he nor his office responded to my questions regarding the incident earlier in the week, I tuned in to hear his television response.

"I choose not to believe that the media is abusing its responsibility by maliciously distorting the truth to promote private agendas," he said. "I believe the large majority of them want to do the good thing, the right thing, and present the truth. And I'm going to help them this morning, amen."

Help? Sure I need help. I admittedly can't cover every issue within the city of Brooklyn Park. I frequently procrastinate until deadline day. I am one of the world's worst spellers. (I blame spell-check for allowing me to never learn the correct spelling of many words.) But that's not why Hammond wanted to pray for my peers and me.

"The media has a real challenge to police themselves, because the media has such a power over public opinion," he later said. "It can be a real temptation to manipulate the truth. ... We simply need to pray for them that they will be able to keep their industry policed."

I was taught that journalism, as an industry, serves a watchdog function for the public. We monitor government and nonprofit organizations, including Living Word, to ensure no one is taking advantage of his or her power.

Is Hammond suggesting someone watch the watchdogs? Appointing an administrative body to supervise the media would be regulation - and that would eliminate the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Journalists are responsible legally and ethically for every word printed under their name. Their sources and the public hold reporters accountable for what is printed and does not hesitate to point out any wrongdoing.

In fact, journalists are so worried about the perception of a conflict that they don't join many organizations, they restrict themselves from mentioning God in stories and with sources, and some even refrain from voting in elections.

Hammond has no concern about any perceived conflict of interests. He unapologetically told his congregation they would be embarrassed to know how much he made annually. He pointed out an error in a story that reported he had two condos in Florida - he, in fact, has two homes.

Don't pray for me, Mac Hammond. Return my phone calls so that when I do influence public opinion, I do so by reporting all sides of a story and letting readers form their own conclusions.

Amen.