It would be hard to name a form of journalism more “humble” than a simple Q&A piece about a celebrity or someone else who has found his or her way into the news.
The journalist produces a short introduction and then, theoretically, gets out of the way.
Yes, the news organization still controls the narrative — as in asking the questions and then publishing edited versions of the questions and the answers. In practice, readers encounter this bit of journalism-speak: “This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.” (I often advise newsmakers to record these interviews for themselves, allowing them — if necessary — to post transcripts of what went down.)
This brings me to a recent Knoxville News Sentinel feature about actor Gary Sinise, whose work with injured veterans and first responders was bringing him back to Knoxville for the 2022 Medal of Honor Celebration. His public-service work on these issues is rather logical because of his famous role as Lieutenant Dan Taylor, an angry wounded warrior who finds his way back to wholeness in the movie “Forest Gump.”
Here at GetReligion, we often ask why so many journalists, when writing about public figures of this kind, tend to leave facts about religion out of the mix. This is especially problematic when the person being profiled has, on numerous occasions, made it clear that faith is one of the defining elements of his or her life. To cut to the chase: It’s harder to do that kind of crude editing when offering what is supposed to be a verbatim transcript of an interview.
There were zero “religious” questions about in this interview, even though Sinise has for years talked openly about his faith. But the humble Q&A format allowed the actor to talk about his life on his own terms. Here is an example of that in a discussion that is at the heart of the feature:
Knox News: You've played Lt. Dan, but also directed a production of "Tracers," a story about wounded Vietnam vets, in the '80s. You've been very involved with veterans in your show career, how has that influenced your work as a philanthropist?
Sinise: A lot of things were kind of put in place in the '70s, '80s and '90s, that sort of grew into this full-on mission after September 11. I can point to a lot of the veterans in my own family, a lot of the veterans I engaged with back in the '80s in Chicago, to having a significant impact on me, and were very influential on what I would end up doing after September 11, which was to just focus on trying to help them through difficult times. And I think a lot of that is probably based, it's kind of rooted in the Vietnam experience. When having engaged with so many Vietnam veterans and having them in my family, I got to really hear a lot from them about what it was like to serve in that war.
I engaged with the DAV at that time back in 1994 and started supporting the DAV, the Disabled American Veterans, and then along came September 11, and I just felt like everything that preceded it was preparing me to go full force into service work.
Where is the religion hook? Finally, there is this short description of a turning point in his own life:
I remember after Sept. 11, 2001, I just found this aching, this terrible feeling, this broken heart, this sadness, and I remember going to our little Catholic Church on the Friday after the Tuesday. And the priest, I don't even know if he said this, but I heard it, that service to others can be a great way to heal your broken heart. And I don't know if he said it, but I heard it, and I tried to turn that into action.
Now, imagine trying to make sense of this man’s motivations to do this public-service work — work that the newspaper has found newsworthy — without knowing about this moment in a strategically timed Mass. Can you imagine cutting out that material? Yes, I imagine that happening, because it happens all the time.
Now, it’s obvious that Lt. Dan is going to play a role in this story. A key element of that movie was this character’s anger at God for letting him survive — without his legs — instead of letting him die with honor in combat (a key theme in his military family’s legacy). I have inserted a key scene at the top of this post.
But that anger is not the end of that story, because Lt. Dan finds healing, of some kind, and an ability to give thanks for the life that he has been given. See the second YouTube clip in this post.
In the News Sentinel piece, there is another long answer to an essential question that sheds light on that reality in the lives of many wounded warriors — at least that light appears when Sinise sees these dramas through the lens of faith. Once again, this is long, but essential.
Knox News: Why do you think Lt. Dan is such an inspiring character for wounded veterans?
Sinise: I remember the first time I walked into the hospital room over 20 years ago and saw a real life Lt. Dan laying there in a hospital bed. He'd been blown up in Iraq or Afghanistan, can't remember which one. Missing leg, missing an arm, blind in one eye, really banged up, and he saw me walk in the room. He didn't even know what my real name was. He just he recognized me right off the bat for Lt. Dan. And they told him Lt. Dan was coming, so he was excited, but he just wanted to talk about the story of Lt. Dan. And I started to tell him the story and talk about how we made the movie and all of that kind of thing. And I realized, you know, well, of course, the Lt. Dan story for a wounded veteran, is the exact story that we want for every wounded veteran. Maybe not so much the post-traumatic stress side of it and the isolation side of it. We don't want that. But quite often because of what they've been through in trauma in getting blown up or getting shot up or something like that, they're going to go through that. That's a natural response to a traumatic event. But what we also want is the ending of that story of Lt. Dan, where they're standing up there making peace with God. They're making peace with themselves for for the guilt that they may may hold.
Is religious faith always a part of that process?
That would be a logical, and appropriate, follow-up question to ask. But that would, of course, mean engaging with the religious issues raised by Sinise, wouldn’t it?
Stop and think about that: How could someone tell this story — from the viewpoint of Sinise — without including the faith material?
I don’t know, but it happens way, way too often in news coverage. Here at GetReligion we have, from Day 1, called this a “religion ghost.” In this case, the “ghost” made its way into the transcript.
FIRST IMAGE: A screenshot from a YouTube “Forrest Gump” clip.