Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Suppose American politics were a colas war, with conservatives representing Coca Cola and liberals Pepsi. A reporter tells you that a top presidential candidate drinks neither brand. That would be a real insight, right?
I’m down in Florida for the week to watch a friend of the family take the next space shuttle into orbit, which means two things. One, I get to read different papers. Two, I’ll be preparing to watch Atlantis lift off when Mitt Romney gives the speech heard ’round the world. I’m sure we’ll be looking at media coverage of one of those two events as we progress through the week.
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune reporter Rochelle Olson wrote a story that’s not really about religion. It’s about corporal punishment — whether and when the government can involve itself in private family disciplinary methods. It’s a fascinating topic, although it’s one mostly outside the scope of this blog. But the lede was framed in an interesting manner:
In a story about the right-to-life movement, reporter Nicholas Riccardi of the Los Angeles Times left readers with the impression that an individual human embryo is not, well, a human:
What is the point of reporting on Web rumors that are plainly false and contribute little to the political discussion? Unfortunately it becomes necessary when the rumors and false reports become too much of the story.
For several days, I have been trying to decide what to write about the teddy bear named “Mohammed” in the Sudan. I was trying hard to avoid it, since the GetReligionistas strive to write about how the press covers religion events, as opposed to commenting on the religion events themselves.
Unless you are a sports fan, you may not know that the Washington, D.C., area has headed into that strange zone in which people gather in the public square for prayer meetings that end with emotional renditions of “Hail to the Redskins.”
Michigan State University’s student newspaper, The State News, had a solid feature story a couple of weeks ago by Petra Canan that takes a fresh and personal look at the local Christian Science congregation. Apologies for not mentioning this sooner, but it is important not to let this one slip by.
My two favorite parts of some newspapers are the obituary and corrections sections. And Sunday’s New York Times did not disappoint:
