People

, , ,

Remembering Deborah Howell

, , ,

The news of Deborah Howell’s death hit the journalism community hard this weekend. Howell was loved by many in the business — known for being ruthless in pursuit of breaking and accurate news, but also for being a pioneer of female leadership and colorful cussing. She was a top editor in the Twin Cities — one of the first female editors of a major newspaper — before coming to Washington to head Newhouse Newspapers Washington Bureau.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , ,

Dobson's family squabble

, , , ,

It was a busy New Year’s weekend for Mark Barna, religion reporter for the Colorado Springs Gazette, who covered the growing split between James Dobson and Focus on the Family, the powerful and prominent evangelical parachurch organization he has led for decades.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , ,

Should old Godbeat acquaintance be forgot...

, , , , ,

I suppose all good things must come to an end eventually but, after 20 years, the final New York Times‘ Beliefs column was printed on New Year’s Day. Terry, as usual, had some vital things to say about this development on the Godbeat — so go read his post below already if you haven’t done so now. Still, a major development has room for more than one us here at GR to comment on, even if Tmatt is a tough act to follow.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , ,

News and Beliefs at the Times

, , ,

In July of 1997, the U.S. State Department, after months of pressure from human-rights activists, released its first global report on the persecution of religious minorities. The report was six months overdue and, thus, had not been released during a tense campaign by the Clinton White House to obtain Most Favored Nation trade status for China.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , ,

The 'why' of terrorism

, , , , , , , ,

Last week I read a Washington Post article about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man charged with attempting to bomb a flight to Detroit. In the same way that some media coverage of Ft. Hood shooter Nidal Hasan explored his mental state, this Post article took the clinical approach with Abdulmutallab. Like Hasan, he was lonely and wanted to find a wife.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , ,

Hey pope, go hide somewhere

, , , , , ,

For years, our missing co-founder Douglas LeBlanc was the GetReligionista who was officially in charge of posting “hathos” alerts linked to mainstream media coverage of religion news. He’s still out there, lurking, and he sent us an alert this morning for the first hathos alert of 2010 and it is a goodie.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , ,

What Catholic media bias?

, , , , ,

GetReligion readers likely are familiar with John Allen, the National Catholic Reporter‘s ace Vatican reporter. His latest column analyzes the biggest Vatican stories of the last 10 years. An aside: is anyone else annoyed at all of these “best of decade” lists coming a year prior to the end of the actual decade?


Please respect our Commenting Policy