Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Judging from my inbox, there are more than a few readers who are disappointed with the mainstream media coverage of Gov. Sarah Palin. You are not alone. Conservative writer Bill Kristol has some theories about why the mainstream media are behaving the way they are. But while most of the hostile mainstream media reaction is dealing with purely political angles, there are also some religion angles that are being handled poorly.
Well, I think it’s safe to say that the mainstream media are struggling with Sen. John McCain’s pick for vice president. He clearly threw a curveball and they are working overtime to report more on Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. Writing about someone who hasn’t attended Washington cocktail parties or has never even appeared a single time on “Meet the Press” can be difficult. Sometimes we see some mistakes.
The major news magazines’ coverage of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s religiosity was more like that found in newspapers than, well, magazines. It contained a few facts but no explanations. While there were a couple of exceptions to this trend, those exceptions are instructive.
Please read the following section of a report from the Catholic News Service, which includes material from a hospital bed interview with Father Thomas Chellen, the 55-year-old director of the Catholic pastoral center at Konjamendi in the Indian state of Orissa:
I’m still in Denver recovering from the awesome experience of covering the Democratic National Convention. I have no idea how reporters can work this hard and with these long hours and then turn around and do it all again next week in St. Paul.
To tell you the truth, I don’t have much to say about the press coverage of the religion elements of Sen. Barack Obama’s speech from the mountaintop (of course, Denver is located on the high plains, but you know what I mean). I don’t have much to say because the mainstream press doesn’t have much to say about the topic.
A few weeks ago, I criticized a New York Times story about Sen. Bob Casey, Jr.’s expected speech at the Democratic convention partly on the grounds that the story failed to specify its nature. Would Casey address his opposition to legal abortion or some other topic, such as the economy or Barack Obama’s skills on the basketball court? The story never said.
Since Daniel noted Nancy Pelosi’s attempt at a Roman Catholic theological defense of abortion, bishops throughout the country have given her a bit of a beatdown.
On Wednesday The Chicago Tribune turned its pages over to advocacy journalism representing the unfortunate attitude that the West knows best, and the “poorer parts of the world” must conform to the rules established by modern experts to keep the world from falling into a state of calamity. This article by the Tribune‘s London correspondent Laurie Goering proclaims that everyone should have fewer children (though it fails to provide the precise number) in order to prevent global warming and keep the planet from over-populating.
