Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Trust me, I understand that for many religious leaders — some on the left, but armies on the doctrinal right — it feels good to unleash a holy flood of anger at the mainstream press from time to time. Frankly, I am amazed that newsrooms don’t get picketed every now and then by people with incense and holy water.
So yet another story in the Vatican Media Frenzy 2010 came out on Friday. And the Associated Press did its best to make it seem like the story to end all stories:
As long-time readers will recall, one of the basic religion-news templates used in the mainstream press is closely linked to a theological term — “theodicy.” While many people will define this term in different ways, the discussions almost always spiral back to this question: Why does evil exist in a universe created by a loving God?
As GetReligion readers keep reminding us in the comments pages, it is getting harder and harder to know how to do news critiques of essays, commentaries, editorials and the occasional news reports that appear in the once towering weekly news magazines — by which I mean Time and nonNewsweek.
For Catholics and non-Catholics alike, it’s difficult to read the stories attempting to link Pope Benedict XVI to abuse of children. For our purposes here at GetReligion, I hope that it’s possible to simultaneously condemn the abuse of children that has taken place, to criticize the Vatican’s handling of the problem over the years, and to hope that the media work to cover this story more responsibly than we’ve been seeing.
Ann Rodgers has earned such a reputation for her thorough reporting that a reader e-mailed us recently describing her as “Pittsburgh’s queen of religion reporting.” What an appropriate title for a journalist who regularly covers local news that deserves national attention and national news from a local perspective.
Yesterday I looked at a couple of stories covering President Barack Obama’s visit to a Southeast Washington church for Easter services. Reader Peggy noted in the comments:
I’m extremely nervous about how the media covers the religious life of presidents. Sometimes I wonder how one of my congregation’s services would be written about in the Washington Post if we had a president worship with us. I suspect it would be difficult for a random reporter to understand the liturgy, the sermon and the context in which they are received.
Every Holy Week, GetReligion must examine the slew of sensationalist religion stories that crop up. I don’t know why everyone in the fourth estate thinks this is the ideal time to uncork that story they think is going to finally blow the lid off this Christianity fad, but that’s the way it is.
