Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
I am of the opinion that what drives some media narratives is less overt bias than a love for drama that pits one protagonist against another in competition for the lowest common denominator. But most people don’t live their daily lives on protest lines, or suing one another, or testifying before Congress.
The world’s economic troubles have many journalists writing articles about how the global society is changing as a consequence of the recession. For example, the Atlantic had this cover story on how communities like New York City will benefit from the financial crash (not exactly original or surprising considering the author). The Economist writes about how we may see a return “of economic nationalism.”
Since we’ve been looking at so many bad examples of journalism about embryonic stem cell research, it might be worth looking at one paper that has been doing a bit better.
Time had one of the more embarrassing stories on President Barack Obama’s decision to use taxpayer dollars to fund stem cell research that destroys embryos. Alice Park’s gushy mash note to Obama and his decision is just not up to snuff. I mean, with lines such as “The sigh of relief in labs across the country was almost audible,” you should know you’re not dealing with journalism:
I don’t know about you, but when I read about the collapse of a pyramid scheme that takes down wealthy, well-educated investors and nonprofits, I shake my head and wonder how such smart people made such (in hindsight) dumb choices.
A few days ago, reader Derek pointed out the complete lack of mainstream media coverage of a rather shocking bill that was introduced in the Connecticut State Legislature.
It’s early but this Washington Post headline about President Barack Obama’s changes to federal funding of embryonic stem cell research would have to be up for one of the worst of the year:
With President Barack Obama’s announcement that he will change President Bush’s policy on taxpayer funding of stem cell research that destroys embryos, expect quite a bit of media coverage.
