Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
I know “Pat Robertson says something shocking” hasn’t been a man-bites-dog story in decades. But occasionally his comments are interesting enough to warrant media attention. Or, as Religion News Service put it yesterday:
Even though I receive the dead-tree-pulp Washington Post at my office on Capitol Hill, one of the first things I hit each day in my home email is the digital, push-edition of “washingtonpost.com: Today’s Headlines & Columnists.” I want see that line-up (along with the push versions of The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and others) before I leave my wifi zone and board that commuter train.
The other day, I praised the “Shrek-like” nature of a CNN story exploring what religious leaders planned to say on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks:
An Arizona organization that went by the name Phoenix Goddess Temple was raided last week. The group claims it provides religious services while the Maricopa County attorney says those services were sexual and were traded for money. Readers were not pleased with how this was presented in various media reports.
In this week’s Crossroads podcast, host Todd Wilken and I discuss whether a congregation with 75 members is “tiny” or of median size. It’s funny how many people have talked to me about that post where we learned that the median size of congregations, in terms of weekly worship, is 75 participants. My feedback indicates that both popular perception and media treatment would have assumed the median worship attendance to be much higher.
You don’t need to turn to the majors for examples of fine religion reporting. There are talented folk among the editors and writers in America’s small town newspapers doing great work, and Jason Pitzl-Waters, who blogs at The Wild Hunt, has drawn my attention to one such story.
Yesterday, Bobby looked at media coverage of 9/11 commemorations. There are some interesting stories to be found in who was and who wasn’t invited and what people think about it. In Washington, the commemoration will be an interfaith service. In New York, clergy aren’t part of the program.
A few weeks ago we had an earthquake here in Virginia. I just found out on Sunday that our bell tower at our church in Alexandria experienced significant structural damage from the quake (my husband thought it would have been cool if the bell itself had cracked — it didn’t).
