Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
For months, I have written about coverage of the Catholic priest shortage in the United States. My standard critique has been about stories’ technique — the reporter’s use of sources, point of view, details, etc. Now my critique is about their content.
So earlier today we looked at how the drama of a CNN headline, subhead and “story highlights” about Gov. Sarah Palin’s religious views were not matched by any facts in the subsequent story. But apparently that is not keeping CNN from just plowing on ahead.
It is my deep conviction that many religious people, and certainly most conservative Christians, do not “get” the important role that the press plays in a free society — just as many or most journalists do not “get” religion.
This is one of those times when the note from the GetReligion reader really says what needs to be said about a story, in this case an Associated Press report about a killing spree near Seattle.
Hundreds of reporters have written about Bristol Palin’s unborn child. Yet few have examined the other unusual child in the Family Palin: Trig, the 4-month-old boy who has Down syndrome.
So we all know that the mainstream media are gunning hard for salacious stories about Gov. Sarah Palin.
We’re beginning to get into the next stage of Hurricane Sarah, where professionals in the mainstream press (and those who study them) have a chance to catch a deep breath and ask that question that must be asked: “What in the heckfire is going on here?”
Last week I noted that Beliefnet‘s Steve Waldman listed Sen. Barack Obama’s “pay grade” answer at the Saddleback Forum as one of the reasons he’s struggling with the evangelical vote. He also cited the Obama campaign media buy of a staunch abortion rights ad that didn’t mention anything about abortion reduction. The Politico is running a list of the eight top gaffes from this campaign season. Guess what’s not on it?
I am a huge fan of the old Sim games. I hardly ever play anymore, but games such as Sim City played a significant role in my upbringing. Since I am GetReligion’s “token normal American young male” according to Terry, I have the honor of writing about the religion ghosts in the Spore story.
