In the most recent Crossroads podcast, host Todd Wilken and I discuss media coverage of the Koran burning, changing funeral practices and Confession.
The unrepentant Terry Jones
Over a week ago, we discussed the relative lack of coverage of a burning of a Koran some days earlier in Florida. The overwhelming response from readers to that post was that they hadn’t even heard about the burning. It was interesting to compare the non-stop, over-the-top coverage from last fall with the more appropriate and restrained coverage in recent weeks.
Putting the fun in funerals
It probably will not surprise you that I’m about to highlight a story about funerals. As the child of a pastor and an active member of my current congregation, I love such stories. I know that funerals are a huge deal in the life of the church. Funerals get covered in the mainstream media fairly frequently. The deceased has to be unbelievably famous in order to get that coverage, but they are covered. But the typical funeral, the typical gathering of family and friends, is less likely to receive coverage — particularly from the perspective of the survivors.
Bach, TV ads and i-confession
Via Rocco Palmo’s Twitter feed, I came across this Miami CBS affiliate story about the Roman Catholic archdiocese there launching a television campaign about the sacrament of penance:
Unholy mess in the Holy Land
On the day I arrived in Israel, where I was on an Act for Israel media fellowship, terrorists killed five members of the Fogel family. The day after I left, Hamas fired rockets from Gaza into Ashkelon. Israel responded with air strikes in Gaza. More rockets from Gaza … and then a bomb. The Jerusalem bomb was serious, injuring dozens of Israeli commuters and killing one woman. It was detonated extremely close to where I was staying in Jerusalem, just a two-minute walk or so from my hotel.
Rob Bell latest: devil's in the details
I’ve been fascinated by the Rob Bell no-one-goes-to-hell controversy, and I was particularly captured by this lede from the Associated Press:
Koran conflagration, redux
In what Mother Jones called “the best journalism-job want ad ever,” a Sarasota Herald-Tribune editor pitched an investigative reporter job by writing (language warning):
Go for hajj ... immediately
The Washington Post has a provocative story about the Justice Department suing a Chicago school district for outright religious discrimination. The reporter does a great job of writing the piece in a thorough and impartial manner. The facts are stated, multiple viewpoints are offered, and the result is a very interesting piece. Here’s how it begins:
Mean Girls take on Chuck Colson
Ever since the movie Mean Girls came out, I can’t help but think of the Washington Post “Style” section as the “Mean Girls” section. I sort of imagine its copy editors in the same way Lindsay Lohan’s character describes the animal world (see the movie clip). Now, we live in an era where such snark is almost certainly popular, but it really doesn’t set well with me — especially when applied to serious news topics.
