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 know that it will be painful, but think back for a moment to earlier posts about the young mother Ria Ramkissoon and the death of her infant son, Javon Thompson. The child was starved to death because he kept refusing to say “amen” after the prayers during meals in the bizarre religious community that his mother had joined in Baltimore.
Pretty much the moment Elena Kagan was nominated by President Obama to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, the questions started swirling. Few online seemed all that concerned with her politics or her understanding of constitutional law. “Elena Kagan husband” became a major Google trend, and it seemed a lot of people just wanted to know why Kagan, at the age of 50, was still single.
In my time as religion editor of The Oklahoman, a pastor of a large Baptist church wrote a book condemning Islam. After I reported on the book, I got a tip that the pastor had plagiarized large sections of the text and faked endorsements from syndicated columnist Cal Thomas and evangelist Franklin Graham. My investigation confirmed that the pastor — who claimed to be a leading expert on Islam — really was not.
To tell you the truth, I don’t think there is much to be gained by GetReligion readers if we dwell on the media frenzy surrounding the photos of Rima Fakih dancing in a 2007 pole-dancing contest sponsored by Mojointhemorning.com, a morning show on Channel 955 in Detroit. This update does sound a but ominous, however:
The Washington Post is known for puffy Style-section profiles of movers and shakers in the Washington area. A few years ago, we looked at the puffiest Washington Post Style profile I can recall. It was about Kate Michelman, the former head of NARAL Pro-Choice America. We learned from that piece that she organized sales to benefit Mexican farm workers as a teenager, makes food from scratch, reads a lot (“every word in every paragraph”), and loves to wash dishes. Here was a sample from that hagiography:
Here at GetReligion, we write about reporters and their journalism. But you wouldn’t have stories without story subjects. And I always find it interesting when subjects discuss what it was like to be written about in an article.
Did you read the story last week about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging Catholic leaders to instruct their parishioners to support immigration reforms?
Gay issues are some of the most difficult to write about. People have such strongly held feelings about sexual orientation and behavior. Emotions tend to run roughshod over reasonable discussion.
Pope Benedict XVI is on a visit to Portugal. As is his custom for trips outside the Vatican, he takes reporters’ questions while in-flight. One of the responses has gotten quite a bit of media coverage. Here’s how Reuters put it:
