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Last week, former Michigan congressman Mark Siljander was sentenced for helping an Islamic charity suspected of having ties to al Qaeda. It’s not that it didn’t get significant coverage, but considering this was a former member of Congress, the coverage wasn’t terribly thorough. The underlying story is interesting on two religious fronts. Most media coverage focused on only one.
Today we celebrate the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. It should be pretty hard to avoid a religion angle when discussing this holiday.
Last night’s Patriots-Broncos game set viewing records, which is amazing since the Broncos were completely out of it by half time. Even I, a die hard fan, couldn’t stand watching our defense give up touchdown after touchdown and asked my husband to please turn the channel. And so Tebow Fever may take a rest for a few months until the 2012 preseason.
Even though I’m a huge Broncos fan, I’m not exactly counting on us continuing in the post-season after tomorrow’s Patriots match-up. Don’t get me wrong, I’m hoping for the improbable, just not counting on it. Which means that if we want to talk media coverage of Broncos Quarterback Tim Tebow, our time is probably running out (this season).
ESPN reports that Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow became the U.S.’ favorite athlete in their monthly poll. And media coverage reflects this popularity. Many stories are simply about his amazing game last Sunday or his works among the community. But many others deal with religion. And some of them more successfully than others. If you need a refresher for why we’re talking Tebow and religion this week, Cathy Lynn Grossman explains in her piece headlined “It’s Tebow time: Denver quarterback inspires nation” for USA Today:
I wrote yesterday about Pope Benedict XVIâs speech to the diplomatic corps, in which he called for a focus on religious liberty. That didnât get much news coverage, but guess what is! Thatâs right, remarks that Pope Benedict XVI didnât even make. And such is the state of affairs in reporting on the pontiff.
Tim Tebow just won the most exciting game of football I’ve seen in a while. And he did it by passing (yes, you read that right — passing!) for 316 yards. Brendan O’Hare, a columnist at Bleacher Report, wrote:
Mock me for dipping into the celebrity gossip pages twice in one week if you want, but, hey, few GetReligion readers seemed very interested in yesterday’s post about the mainstream news coverage of the threatening ultimatum issued to the Christians of Nigeria.
