Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
So earlier today we looked at how the drama of a CNN headline, subhead and “story highlights” about Gov. Sarah Palin’s religious views were not matched by any facts in the subsequent story. But apparently that is not keeping CNN from just plowing on ahead.
This is one of those times when the note from the GetReligion reader really says what needs to be said about a story, in this case an Associated Press report about a killing spree near Seattle.
So we all know that the mainstream media are gunning hard for salacious stories about Gov. Sarah Palin.
Last week I noted that Beliefnet‘s Steve Waldman listed Sen. Barack Obama’s “pay grade” answer at the Saddleback Forum as one of the reasons he’s struggling with the evangelical vote. He also cited the Obama campaign media buy of a staunch abortion rights ad that didn’t mention anything about abortion reduction. The Politico is running a list of the eight top gaffes from this campaign season. Guess what’s not on it?
Hold on to your hats, folks. We’re in for a wild ride. Or, rather, we’re continuing the wild ride of Gov. Sarah Palin media coverage. And Palin’s religious views are dominating the stories for the weekend. Let’s begin by looking at the New York Times piece on Palin’s religious views.
I’m here in St. Paul, and still processing everything from last night. I was pretty sure there was no way that the Republican National Convention could come even close to the excitement of the Democratic National Convention but last night was truly amazing. We’ll be sure to cover the coverage of the religious angles — although it’s funny that most of the fodder for religion news seemed to come from Rudy Guiliani, of all people.
What a week. In addition to all that is going on in religion, politics and the politics of religion, I am ultra-busy due to the arrival of this fall’s students for work at the Washington Journalism Center (my day job, in other words).
Judging from my inbox, there are more than a few readers who are disappointed with the mainstream media coverage of Gov. Sarah Palin. You are not alone. Conservative writer Bill Kristol has some theories about why the mainstream media are behaving the way they are. But while most of the hostile mainstream media reaction is dealing with purely political angles, there are also some religion angles that are being handled poorly.
I’m still in Denver recovering from the awesome experience of covering the Democratic National Convention. I have no idea how reporters can work this hard and with these long hours and then turn around and do it all again next week in St. Paul.
