Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
In the last few weeks, the FBI revealed that they considered government microbiologist Bruce Ivins to be the lone individual responsible for the mailing of weapons-grade anthrax to media and political targets. The allegation left many people scratching their heads. What could possibly be the motive?
For how sex-obsessed our culture is, it’s surprising how little we talk about the spiritual side effects of procreation and contraception. The way we view our bodies and the manner in which we approach sex are some of the most profound theological questions we face in our daily lives, and yet it doesn’t seem to make it into mainstream media much. There are exceptions of course.
Any story of moral failing has religious overtones, and sex scandals are no exception. They usually involve broken religious vows and provoke all sorts of questions about the religious views of the participants.
The media run so many of those tear-jerking profiles of hardships Olympic athletes overcome that they lose their effect after a few days. But there’s at least one story that resonates deeply. Lopez Lomong, a Sudanese “Lost Boy” and a member of the anti-genocide group Team Darfur, certainly suffered more than most in his 23 years.
Is there something toxic in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests stories that makes reporters just forget everything they know about journalism?
Most people complain about how long this campaign season has been, but I’ve loved every minute of it. The primaries, the world tour, the advertisements — I can’t get enough.
Yesterday we looked at that Pew report which criticized the mainstream media’s coverage of Obama’s speech on race and religion. The report claimed that the media got the race angle at the expense of the religion angle.
We never run out of stories to analyze here, but election years seem produce even more media coverage of religion than normal. Considering mainstream media’s trouble with getting religion, I am confident the religion beat would be doomed if not for the media’s great love of politics and the prominent role that religion plays in political fortunes.
A couple of years ago, Eric Gorski — then at the Denver Post — ran a a three-part series on a local preacher of the Prosperity Gospel. What I loved about the piece, which exposed the pastor’s financial success, was that it also explored prosperity teaching in detail.
