Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Most of the stories we critique find their way to GetReligion through technological means: Google alerts, bookmarked religion pages, Twitter posts, Facebook links and e-mailed suggestions by readers.
So let’s say that you are reading a lengthy story about a famous Baptist preacher from the deep South, from a location in the heart of the Bible Belt.
Religion stories often offer viral potential, especially if you can combine it with puppies, smokin’ hot wives or Justin Bieber. Combine religion with the wedding industry and you have quite the potential marriage.
In a way, it’s logical that the following Washington Post story about Redskins safety Oshiomogho Atogwe and his father-in-law Mike Singletary would hinge on the latter’s hard-earned reputation for toughness during his Hall of Fame career at middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears.
I have often wondered whether someone who is personally religious would have the guts to uncover a Watergate-like story in his or her own faith tradition. When I read AP reporter Tom Breen’s analogy of a sports fan covering sports, it reinforced the idea for me that someone who is religious could indeed pursue religion journalism just as aggressively as anyone else.
You might remember the man who fell to his death earlier this summer trying to catch a ball at a Texas Rangers game in front of his six-year-old son, Cooper.
You might consider Associated Press reporter Tom Breen to be the anti-William Lobdell. Breen recently told me he eventually became a weekly Mass attendee after educating himself on the Catholic abuse scandals for his journalism job. His story is quite the opposite from Lobdell, whose work on the religion beat at the Los Angeles Times caused him to drop his faith and write Losing My Religion.
We have had some fascinating comments about my recent posts (here and here) noting the lack of mainstream media coverage of the Iranian proceedings against Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani — who was accused of apostasy for converting to Christianity, even though he had never practiced Islam after coming of age.
