Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Religion news should be treated generally like any other news found in a community’s newspaper. News about religious issues is not the place for preaching, lecturing, or giving advice. Most news stories avoid using the first person. That is standard news journalism.
The Salt Lake Tribune has been the place to go for news on the FLDS court battles in Texas. While most news organizations have focused on the arguments before the Texas Supreme Court Friday regarding an appellate court’s decision finding the removal of 468 children improper, the Tribune has the goods on how the knives are coming out in this chaotic legal battle, at the heart of which are religious beliefs and values.
When journalists write stories about people doing good things with seemingly pure hearts, it’s not unusual that the reporting ends up being a bit on the soft side. There is nothing particularly flagrant about this offense. I confess to being guilty of it on occasion. However, failing to be skeptical, provide the needed context and ask tough questions leads to stories that leave readers with questions.
The Texas state appeals court decision that state officials wrongfully took 460 children from their parents at the FLDS ranch to place them in foster care can be summed up in a couple of words: a belief system alone does not justify state action.
One would think that major changes at America’s second largest church and one of the most influential would make some news, but sadly most news organizations missed the story.
A journalist who strives to practice the discipline of balanced, objective reporting never has an easy task. Inserting religion into the job description only makes things more difficult. See here what washingtonpost.com/Newsweek On Faith columnist Claire Hoffman had to say about the subject a week ago:
In the last GetReligion blog post that fit into the “sports” category, I engaged with a much appreciated regular reader in the comment section about the importance of sports journalism and religion. I want to expand upon those thoughts here and highlight yet another sports story that is sure to catch the comment section on fire douse the comment section with water.
The Canton Repository, a Canton, Ohio, daily newspaper, has a story on Mother’s Day consisting of a series of quotes from a broad spectrum of individuals representing different religious faiths stating the obvious: mothers play an important part in religious upbringing.
The economy is big news these days. The rising gas prices and increasing number of foreclosures are important stories throughout the Midwest. When Indiana became a key state in the Democratic primary a few weeks ago, religion and the culture war issues took a back seat to economic plans, job growth issues and ideas about how to lower gas prices. Even Barack Obama’s Rev. Wright issues seemed to drop off the radar in the days before Tuesday’s election.
