Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Just a few days ago, a jury convicted an Arizona man of second-degree murder, aggravated assault and leaving the scene of an accident. Faleh Hassan Almaleki’s main victim was his daughter. This crime was an “honor killing.” No one disputes that the daughter was targeted for becoming too “Westernized.” In fact, the phrase “honor killing” is everywhere in the media coverage.
Exciting news from the Pew Research Center today: religion coverage doubled from 2009 to 2010 in the mainstream media. Unfortunately, religion still remains just 2 percent of the overall coverage, with elections, foreign policy and the economy dominating the news cycle. Still, it did barely top science, education, immigration and race/gender issues.
We’ve had quite a few reader submissions of stories covering the murder of four Americans by Somali pirates. The coverage is really all over the map. Much of it is good, some is a bit weak. This New York Times story, for instance, has six reporters but is unable to give anything other than the slightest passing reference to the religion angle. That failure led to confusion as the very first comment to the piece — and many others — asked what in the world they were doing in pirate-infested waters.
As I may have mentioned once or twice here, I’m the world’s biggest St. Louis Cardinals fan. A high percentage of my free time in the last week has been spent thinking about the contract negotiations between the Cardinals and one of my very favorite players throughout history — Albert Pujols.
A few weeks ago, I had what I call a “parenting failure.” I realized that my girls, ages 1 and 3, knew all the words to Justin Bieber’s “Baby” song.
Back in my high school days in Texas, my minister would look out over the congregation and make the same request each Sunday.
Of all the areas where media coverage of religion seems weak, celebrity news has to be up there. For a recent example, you can read this Associated Press account of Billy Ray Cyrus lamenting the effect of his daughter’s fame on his family. He apparently says, in a recent interview with GQ, that the Disney TV show “Hannah Montana” destroyed his family, caused his divorce and is sending daughter Miley Cyrus spinning out of control. At the end of this brief story, we learn:
