Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
One of the mantras of modern journalism is, “Show me, don’t tell me.” In other words, when in doubt use images and information that describe people and events, not tacked-on labels that are often vague and judgmental.
I’ve been under the weather for a few days but didn’t want to overlook some news coverage from the end of last week.
What was Pope Benedict’s intent when he revoked the excommunications of four bishops (one of whom is a Holocaust-denier) from a movement that broke away from the Roman Catholic Church twenty years ago?
Veteran journalist Charles Sennott appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today to promote GlobalPost, which strives to be a less expensive alternative source for global news coverage (compared to the more comprehensive Associated Press). Sennott mentioned that every correspondent for GlobalPost will carry a Flip camcorder. This video report by Greg Warner shows how well the concept can work.
In recent years I have had quite a few opportunities, during seminars with the Oxford Centre for Religion & Public Life, to talk with journalists from some very interesting and very tense corners of the world. Most of the time, we have focused on issues where the freedom of the press intersects with freedom of religion. At some point, free speech is free speech — whether one is a journalist, an evangelist or a political activist.
The Washington Post ran one of those stories the other day that was so sad, so heavy with fact and detail, that at the end of it you just wanted to sigh or cry or scream and throw something at a wall.
Two basic kinds of stories have been written about the retirement of Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy. The first are about Dungy’s results on the gridiron, his record-setting 10 straight playoff seasons, and six in-a-row seasons of 12-plus wins. The second story is about Dungy’s faith and his personal impact on the world around him.
Christopher Hitchens is most engaging when he’s showing indignation, but he’s most endearing when paying tribute to a courageous friend. His portrait of novelist Salman Rushdie, appearing in the February issue of Vanity Fair, opens with some of the warmest and most affectionate words I’ve seen from Hitchens in quite a while.
