The Briefing with Albert Mohler

Episode Date: Friday, September 19, 2025
Host: R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Purpose: Daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview

Episode Overview

This episode centers on the ongoing shifts in the American media landscape, the implications of changes within the Murdoch media empire, recent controversies in the world of late-night television, and the moral and social effects of media and technology on young people and families. Dr. Mohler applies a consistently biblical perspective, fielding listener questions on topics such as video games’ dangers, the nuanced approach to LGBT issues in politics and society, and Christian parental responses to gender identity questions.

Main Discussion Segments & Key Insights

1. Shifts in the Media Landscape (00:00–14:40)

The Legacy Media Era

• Mohler recounts the consolidated control of mainstream media by the three networks (CBS, NBC, ABC), noting their "center-left, if not further left" worldview (01:40).
• Print media like The Wall Street Journal continued as influential, but television dominated the shaping of American public opinion.

Emergence of Cable and Conservative Media

• The rise of cable news (led by CNN) fractured the monolithic media landscape (03:55).
• Fox News, under Rupert Murdoch, provided a conservative counterweight and now dominates U.S. cable news.
• “At certain points over the last several months, more than half of those watching news programs were watching a Fox product.” (06:17)

The Murdoch Succession Crisis

• Mohler explains the stakes for conservatives in the Murdoch family succession and the threat of an ideological shift should more liberal heirs take control (08:12).
• Original trust would have split control across four Murdoch children, three of whom favored a different direction.
• Rupert Murdoch's solution: buy out three children at “a mind boggling lot of money” to secure conservative heir Lachlan Murdoch's leadership (11:30).

"Three of the Murdoch children are walking away with a lot of money... and the other is going to have control of the media empire as well as his share of the estate." (12:52 - Mohler)

• Still, Mohler warns: “Stay tuned. This story isn’t over yet.” (13:50)

2. Late-Night TV, Media Economics, and “Accountability” (14:41–18:20)

• Discussion of Stephen Colbert’s Emmy win after “The Late Show” was canceled by CBS for financial reasons.
• Mohler disputes the popular narrative that Colbert was a victim of conservative backlash:

"He's really a victim of the fact that his program was losing eight-figure sums yearly. CBS was losing millions upon millions of dollars. And by the way, you don't stay in business as a corporation if you're losing millions and millions of dollars that way." (16:20 - Mohler)

• Mentions ABC indefinitely suspending Jimmy Kimmel over comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, noting:

"There is right now an unusual level – it's clearly an unexpected level – of media accountability. That's a new thing going on here." (18:09 - Mohler)

3. Listener Questions: Video Games and Moral Culture (18:21–30:55)

Dangers of Video Game Platforms (18:21–26:00)

• Mohler addresses parental concerns about the psychological and spiritual dangers of gaming.
  • “They are about more than just playing a game... you can have chats among players... and some of these boys who've hurt themselves after some of these chats... it's overwhelmingly a young male problem.” (19:22)
  • Games are designed to be “appetitive… they are built to make you ever more intense in your appetite to continue in these games.” (21:13)
  • Content is increasingly dark, with disturbing narratives often linked to broader internet subcultures.

"You take those three issues together, how in the world would you put a teenage boy... in his bedroom and give him access to this and think somehow this isn’t going to be a disaster?" (23:20 – Mohler)

• Mohler encourages parental vigilance: “...this is an insidious, seemingly irresistible draw. And you as parents have to be the even greater force between that video game and your child in disaster.” (24:50)

Listener Example/Quote (24:20)

• A parent writes: “I have casually seen among the transgender, gay, more recently, the furry communities... the seemingly heavy presence of video gaming among them.”
• Mohler echoes the concern that gaming can foster immersion into problematic identities or ideologies.

“Desensitization” in LGBT Discourse (26:01–30:30)

• Responds to a question about some conservatives accepting “T” (transgender identity) as the main problem, but going silent on “L, G, B.”
• Calls out what he sees as a strategy of “desensitization” and “moral unwiring”:

“If you just take homosexuality, the way that’s desensitized... is you just say, well, that’s absolutely normal, or at least it’s overwhelmingly common… this moves more and more into normal television... we’re desensitized to it if we’re not thinking biblically.” (27:15)

• Mohler contends the current White House sends “mixed signals,” drawing a sharp line between affirming a binary, biological view of gender while soft-pedaling on gay and lesbian normalization.
• Warns Christians not to settle for a compromise that merely shrinks the acronym.

“We’re not trying to return to a better situation with fewer letters... we’re trying to return to a biblical understanding of gender and sexuality and marriage. And those are two very, very different things.” (29:55)

4. Parental Responses to Gender Identity Complexities (30:36–36:40)

• Addresses a heartfelt letter from Christian parents whose son’s love interest is suspected to be transgender.
• Affirms the parents' desire to treat all with “dignity and respect,” but cautions:

“You can’t play along with the game, and your love for your son... it doesn’t mean you don’t love your son, and it doesn’t mean that you act in any hateful way towards the other person.” (32:10 – Mohler)

• Warns Christian parents will be labeled as hateful for refusing to affirm new identities, but insists Christians must accept this cost for truth’s sake.
• Counsels parents to have honest conversations with their child, not to compromise biblical convictions, and to pray for ongoing relationship and spiritual intervention.

“I’m grieved to read this. I feel for these parents, but I look at the entire equation and go, you know, this is going to happen to so many Christian families who think it could never happen to us.” (34:12 – Mohler)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On media shifts:
  “The battle in the media, even the battle between technological platforms and the battle between big brands, the battle sometimes inside one family, points to the fact that worldview is always there.” (13:15)

• On the Murdoch buyout:
  “It’s one of those things that you say that’d make an interesting novel or television series. Well, it was in so many ways a television series. Arguably, two major popular television series were based upon the Murdoch family and the succession crisis. Just to say one, it was named Succession largely based upon this kind of family and this kind of family conflict.” (11:45)

• On media “accountability”:
  "There is right now an unusual level – it’s clearly an unexpected level – of media accountability. That’s a new thing going on here." (18:09)

• On Christian parenting and truth:
  “Some of these we’re going to have to work out with fear and trembling and seek to do so in a way that’s true to the gospel, true to scripture, and honors Christ.” (36:30)

Segment Timestamps

• 00:00–06:30: Evolution from legacy media to cable; Fox News dominance
• 06:31–14:40: Murdoch succession and ideological control
• 14:41–18:20: Colbert’s Emmy, late-night TV economics, Kimmel suspension
• 18:21–26:00: Listener Q: Video game dangers; digital platforms & youth
• 26:01–30:30: Listener Q: LGBT issues & “desensitization” in society
• 30:36–36:40: Parental advice on transgender identity; Christian integrity
• 36:41–end: Closing encouragement, call for faithfulness and truth

Summary Takeaways

• The control of media empires can have enormous social and political implications, especially regarding worldview transmission.
• Parental vigilance is crucial in navigating modern technological dangers, especially immersive digital environments and their “insidious” appeal.
• Christians are urged not to settle for partial “victories” in cultural debates over gender and sexuality, but to strive for a biblically faithful standard.
• Maintaining truth and integrity in personal and familial interactions—especially around issues of gender identity—will come at a social cost, but is presented as a necessary part of the Christian calling in challenging times.

For more, visit albertmohler.com or listen to the next episode of The Briefing.