Journalism

The missing Mormon murder

Frequently when we’re talking about violence against religious minorities, it’s a foreign issue. But it happens stateside as well, sadly. Recently there have been a few attacks that have received media attention. When Michael Enright stabbed his New York City cab driver Ahmed H. Sharif, for being a Muslim, it was major news. When a fire broke out at a construction site of a Tennessee mosque, it was major news. This weekend word came that the ATF has ruled that fire arson, it was also major news.


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Female Catholic priests, again

Is there something about non-Roman Catholic churches ordaining women that makes all journalism skills fly out the window? I’m pretty sure there is some ridiculously high correlation between ordinations of women who are not Roman Catholic and poorly written stories about said ordinations. Here’s yet another example, this one from the Arizona Republic: “Catholic church ordains woman as priest.”


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Communion in a mineshaft?

Back at the beginning of the crisis in the mineshaft 700 meters below the surface of Chile’s Atacama Desert, Sarah Pulliam Bailey quickly noted that spiritual issues were sure to arise in this story. Would journalists recognize this?


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One Nation, under Islam

So the Associated Press has this really interesting story about how early Nation of Islam documents were found in the attic of a Detroit home. Totally a Middlesex plot come to life, right? The documents apparently detail the early structure and teachings of the group. The article quotes attorney Gregory Reid whose Keeper of the Word Foundation oversees various collections.


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Ghosts in Lee's green manifesto?

For some reason, it does not surprise me that a Google News search for the phrase “disgusting religious-cultural roots” currently yields little or nothing in terms of information or commentary from reporters in the mainstream press.


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5Q+1: Bruce Nolan, five years after Katrina

Whenever I see Bruce Nolan’s byline, I think of Bruce Almighty, thanks to a post Bobby wrote back in June. On screen, Jim Carrey’s character Bruce Nolan acts as a television reporter who plays God for a bit.


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Got News? What's a moderate Muslim?

We’ve seen quite a bit of coverage of the Cordoba mosque project near ground zero. Most in-depth questioning or investigative journalism seems focused on opponents of the mosque project. Most discussions of the backers of the project assert that they are “moderate.” But what is a moderate Muslim? What does the phrase “moderate” mean, much less imply? And this is putting aside the fact that there’s plenty of information out there about Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf that makes one wonder what the modifier “moderate” means in his case any way.


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