Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Newsweek‘s Lisa Miller wrote an article for the May 21 issue that looks at the new book on Jesus by Pope Benedict XVI. Newsweek apparently had an exclusive excerpt of the book and Miller did an article about the book’s meaning, a portion of which dealt with Jesus’ baptism:
Let’s not bury the lede: I have been surprised and pleased by the excellence of the mainstream media coverage of the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s death. I think it is crucial that, because his power has faded so much, journalists were able to step back and evaluate his life with less venom.
If Russell Chandler, retired from the Los Angeles Times, is one of the gold-standard names in traditional religion-beat work, then our second subject represents a much edgier style of reporting from the post-1960s alternative press. The work being done by Julie Lyons in her Bible Girl columns at the Dallas Observer represents a kind of neo-European, advocacy version of the Godbeat in modern niche media.
Remember that wonderful headline that Mollie hit us with the other day: “You mean Mormons aren’t all Republicans?”
One of the hardest things to teach a journalism student is how to know when to use a paraphrase quote and when to use a direct quote — other than when the length of the story is an issue or you have an out-of-this-world stunner on your hands.
The first of three 40th-anniversary issues of Rolling Stone is on newsstands now, and it is overflowing with the witty Q&A interviews that make the magazine frequently worthwhile. There’s the requisite kissing of founder Jann S. Wenner’s ring, as nearly every interview involves a moment when an artist describes how important a role the magazine played in wide cultural transformation. The next 40th-anniversary issue will focus on the Summer of Love, and I can imagine people discussing how many times a stray Rolling Stone on the coffee table helped them get laid.
In response to tmatt’s post that GetReligion should comment on more stories about non-Christians, a reader Liv submitted this New York Times piece on religious tensions in Turkey. I mention this because it is an example of a story unrelated to Christianity that has massive application to the largely Christian nation that is the United States of America.
Susan Stamberg of National Public Radio recently sent an audio valentine to singer-songwriter Susan Werner of Chicago. Werner’s latest recording is The Gospel Truth, which NPR described as gospel music for agnostics and (in a less accurate headline for its website) “A Songwriter’s View from the Pew.”
All together now. Please take out your copy of The Associated Press Stylebook and turn to page 213 (in the edition currently on my desk) or look up the “religious movements” reference.
