Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
An Ontario jury has convicted three members of the Shafia family — father, mother and son of an Afghan family living in Quebec — of murder in what has become Canada’s most notorious “honor killings” case. There has been some great crime and court reporting in the Shafia case, and the articles in the major newspapers are really quite good.
The front page of Wednesday’s Independent is devoted to a story that chronicles the collapse of public and private morality in Britain.
It has been almost ten years since the Dutch parliament voted to legalize euthanasia. While the Netherlands became the first country to grant state sanction to a mercy killing, doctors the world over have long quietly colluded in the “good death” of the terminally ill or those in extreme suffering. The BBC reported that the 1 April 2002 — April Fool’s Day — law set the following parameters for Dutch mercy killings:
Product placement and packaging — these are the first tasks of a freelance author who has a story to write. Who will publish this article? What pitch will win over the editor? An experienced author knows the interests and quirks of the publications to whom he markets his work. In addition to the question of content — no poultry breeding articles for Car & Driver — an author must be conversant with the style sense and audience of an outlet. Do they like it hip or heavy? AP or Times of London style book? The definitive New Yorker treatment or a People magazine popular summary?
Some of the topics we cover that generate the most interest are the ones that mix religion, politics and culture. You know, abortion, stem cell research, gay rights, religious liberty. These also tend to be the topics that trouble some journalists the most.
The new head of my church body instituted a new emphasis for us around the concepts of “Witness, Mercy and Life Together.” As part of this approach, my congregation just went through a Bible Class at church learning about how the church lives and works together to proclaim the Gospel and to provide for our brothers and sisters in our congregations, communities and throughout the world.
The Turin-based newspaper, La Stampa, has a fascinating report on the latest developments in neuroscience. Researchers have isolated a gene whose mutation they believe provides the biological basis for pedophilia.
We’ve been living under the “fact check” era at newspapers for three or four years now. I tend to agree with the Wall Street Journal‘s James Taranto when he writes:
Last night, I was reading a couple of stories that suffered from the same problem. Don’t you hate it when that happens?
