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For some, apocalyptic anxiety is in the air (along with a fall chill). Washington Post writer Joel Achenbach set out to explore the latest doom and gloom in “2012: Eh, It’s Not the End Of the World: Film & Internet Rumors Fuel Doomsday Babble.”
Coverage of the new arrangement being offered by Pope Benedict XVI to traditional Anglicans is making mention of the division within the Anglican Communion over ordination of women, ordination of openly gay clergy, the elevation of a noncelibate homosexual to the bishopric, and the blessing of same-sex unions. And when discussing those issues, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that Episcopal Church has come close to schism over these issues.
There’s something curious about the way the media have been handling the difficult and complicated story of Rifqa Bary. She’s the Ohio teenager (pictured here) who fled to Florida after she converted to Christianity over concerns her Muslim father might kill her. We last looked at this story when CNN inexplicably referred to the girl as “Muslim” even though the whole point of this saga is that she’s not.
After Barack Obama moved into the White House he needed to find a dog and a church. The search for a dog ended in April with Bo, a Portuguese Water Dog. But whatever happened to the church search? And who would become the president’s pastor after he split with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright last spring?
When it comes to God, Oprah Winfrey and Dallas — the city that many consider the evangelical capital of America — I am sure of two things.
When late-term abortion doctor George Tiller was killed in May, the mainstream media covered the issue extensively. There were front-page stories for days and the major papers ran pieces discussing what the murder meant for the abortion rights movement, what types of pregnancies women end late, and whether the pro-life movement bore responsibility for the death.
Whenever I read in-depth coverage of disaster stories, I always remember something that the late Peter Jennings of ABC News once told me. For Jennings, disaster stories almost always served as perfect examples of how mainstream journalists fail to “get” the role that religion plays in ordinary life or ordinary people.
Much to my parents’ chagrin, I resisted early bedtimes from a very young age. So they would let me stay up and watch Johnny Carson. When Carson retired, I moved to Letterman. Somewhere along the line he lost me. He’s just seemed off for, well, a decade. And now I have Craig Ferguson, who I greatly enjoy. Here’s a sample.
