I’ve been out on the road for several days — my usual gig with the National College Media conference, among other things — and I let Nov. 1 sneak up on me.
Ch-ch-ch-changes (and that Polanski ghost)
Please respect our Commenting Policy
About Sarah Pulliam Bailey
I began reading GetReligion back in the day because my brother Daniel Pulliam (former GetReligion writer extraordinair) set my home page to the site. Little did I know I would end up writing for tmatt & co. one day.
Please respect our Commenting Policy
The unbroken circle
It hardly seems possible that it’s been a year since tmatt was giving me pointers on how to write for GetReligion. There was so much I had to learn — and although I’ve learned a lot, I haven’t learned everything, by any means. Sometimes I read the work of my GetReligion colleagues and wonder how they make it appear so easy.
Please respect our Commenting Policy
Killing in the name of ...
Did you hear about the attempted honor killing a couple of weeks ago in Arizona? I haven’t seen many stories about it. Tmatt looked at the ghosts in some of the coverage a week or so ago but It’s clearly not major news, although national media outlets have begun running their traditional one (or fewer!) stories on the matter. For the life of me, I can’t understand why stories about honor killings or attempted honor killings aren’t major news. This is a concept so very foreign and horrifying to most readers of American media and yet these stories are routinely underplayed. Now maybe the mainstream media doesn’t need advice on how to get more readers/viewers/listeners, but I think that when a father runs down his daughter with two tons of steel over some perceived slight to his honor, that’s newsworthy.
Please respect our Commenting Policy
I trust when dark my road
One of my close friends — and fellow St. Louis Cardinals fans — is a wonderful Lutheran pastor who suffers from clinical depression. Earlier this year, he published a book titled “I Trust When Dark My Road.” The book (which you can download for free here) allows the reader to look deep into the heart, mind and soul of someone suffering mental illness. Many Americans, myself included, have depression or other related problems. And even for me it’s somewhat difficult to think that it afflicts pastors — as if wearing a stole somehow protects you from the problem.
Please respect our Commenting Policy
Free speech ... and hate speech
Eleven years ago gay teen Matthew Shephard was beaten and left to die on a Wyoming fencepost. That was also the year three white men in a truck, in another sickening act of violence, pulled African American James Byrd behind them until he was dead. This past Wednesday, President Obama signed the Matthew Shephard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. In a fairly common practice, it was passed as part of a totally unrelated spending bill.
Please respect our Commenting Policy
From Beliefnet to FCC.gov
Steven Waldman, the founding editor of Beliefnet, resigned yesterday to join the Federal Communications Commission as the Chairman Julius Genachowski’s special adviser and head a commission on the state of the media in challenging economic times. Writing on his Beliefnet blog:
Please respect our Commenting Policy
Nasty ink about Anglo-Catholic move?
So far, most of the mainstream media coverage of the Vatican’s move to open a door for Anglo-Catholics into the Church of Rome has focused on the Anglican side of the story. This has, in part, created a news template that says Pope Benedict XVI has played a winning card that will result in thousands, if not millions, of new members for his flock.
Please respect our Commenting Policy
Got news? A tale of two collars
Please respect our Commenting Policy