The media year in review—the Creation Museum 2007

While much of the press covered the museum in a fair and balanced manner in 2007, there were a few exceptions. Witness the bizarre headline on the cover of a summer issue of the alternative newspaper CityBeat, published in Cincinnati (the museum’s backyard).

This is not to say that the positive comments made about the museum mean that the reporters are not evolution-believers themselves. There have been some grudging statements of praise about the museum’s quality by many reporters (see some below).

2007 was a remarkable year for the modern creationist movement, and it was not just because AiG’s Creation Museum has opened to largely rave reviews by the media (some reluctantly offered) and drawn an unexpected attendance of over 290,000 visitors since opening in late May. The world’s major media, in covering the new museum, has made it known that that the evolution worldview is being seriously challenged by creationist groups, as well as by PhD scientists who work in secular schools and research centers.

Over a year ago, AiG secured the services of the publicists at A. Larry Ross Communications in Texas to ensure that the museum’s opening would be well-covered, including by the secular press. With its connections and efforts, ALRC was able to see the museum and AiG President Ken Ham be profiled on such major American TV news programs as The O’Reilly Factor, ABC-TV’s Good Morning America (which did a live broadcast remote at the museum just before it opened), FOX and Friends in the morning, CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, etc., plus major articles in America’s leading newspapers (such as the ones mentioned at the top). In addition to the 84 articles and radio/TV reports that appeared in the American media around the opening of the museum, the coverage internationally was greater than we ever expected: during opening week, 22 stories were filed by overseas media—with the majority of their correspondents actually touring the museum.

A. Larry Ross Communications issued credentials to more than 100 media outlets as the museum was about to open. Larry Ross offered an observation about the phenomenal media coverage the museum has received: “The opening of the Creation Museum was one of the most significant religious news stories of 2007. The museum generated significant print and electronic news and feature coverage—both Christian and mainstream—including network and wire service accounts that were carried across the country, as well as numerous international reports. Equally significant, it enabled Ken Ham and AiG to influence the national dialogue about creation vs. evolution and established them as ongoing authoritative ‘go-to’ media resources on Christian apologetics.”

Today, the world’s media continue descending on the museum. Last week, Japan’s national TV network Nippon was here with a film crew and correspondent, while a reporter and photographer with the large Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun also happened to be touring the museum. Later in the week, a correspondent with a Northern Ireland radio station came through, as did a correspondent with Harvard University’s The Harvard Crimson newspaper. Last Monday and Tuesday, the museum received 12 minutes of air time on the FOX News Channel’s special “Miracles” on American national television.

We hope that the spotlight that has shown so brightly upon the Creation Museum these past seven months has helped the creation movement as a whole in presenting a compelling alternative to the evolutionary worldview that dominates America’s educational system and science museums—and many media establishments. Because the secular media have covered the museum in a generally fair and balanced manner (with some exceptions, such as in Great Britain where Darwin is a favorite son), we trust that AiG and our high-tech museum—with its quality science exhibits and PhD scientists—will continue to draw international attention to biblical Christianity and its authenticity, to the glory of our Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ.

To read more about the year just past at Answers in Genesis, with a retrospective of the 14-year history of this apologetics ministry, go to our recently updated 1993-2007 chronology.