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More reporters should tag along with an interview subject. As someone who has gone on ride-a-longs with cops in New Orleans and followed politicians in Washington, I have found that being in a subject’s physical presence is essential, enabling me to see the world from their eyes and walk in their shoes.
Earlier this week an atheist in the U.S. military filed a lawsuit claiming that the Army had violated his right to be an atheist. Only the Associated Press has covered this very interesting situation. What was produced only gives one side of the story partly because the military, as one would expect, refused to comment on pending legal matters.
When former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee officially ended his bid for the presidency on Tuesday night, he said he’ll do whatever is necessary to get Republican nominee John McCain elected. But Washington Post reporter Perry Bacon — who has been on the Huckabeat — had an interesting story. Huckabee’s staffers have already begun preparing for a future run:
Normally we don’t write about columns in mainstream papers. But far too often columns in mainstream papers are nothing more than ego-filled rants. But The Baltimore Sun had such a great column this week that I have to highlight it here.
There’s a story unfolding down in Fort Worth, Texas, that raises an old issue about journalistic style. It’s one we’ve talked about here at GetReligion quite a bit, because New York Times editor Bill Keller raised it in his response to his newspaper’s self study not that long ago.
The people have spoken in the great state of Illinois, and the law that required the state’s school students to pray or reflect for a moment every day seems to be on the way out. After passing twice through the state’s legislature (the second time by a supermajority due to the governor’s veto), the law that seemed like a good idea at the time looks like a goner.
One of my persistent criticisms of the MSM’s coverage of religion is that reporters fail to note the significance or larger implications of a story. A good example of this problem was Michelle Boorstein’s otherwise fascinating profile of the black metal scene in Northern Virginia.
