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 am the last person anyone should go to for fashion advice, but I do recognize the importance of fashion and what it says about a society. So with that in mind, I found the recent spate of stories on the shifting mindset of women in two major Middle Eastern countries toward fashion a fascinating look inside the countries’ culture.
USA Today‘s “Lives of indelible impact” is one of the stranger lists I’ve seen for some time. The concept is not new, as Beliefnet has published its “Most Inspiring Person of the Year” feature for several years now. Within context, the list makes sense: To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the newspaper is publishing 25 lists of 25 items each.
Washington Post reporter Peter Slevin vented on St. Louis Roman Catholic Archbishop Raymond Burke in this diatribe news article published today.
This one comes to you from deep inside tmatt’s GetReligion guilt file, so please hang in there with me for a moment.
Earlier this month, I wrote that the Mitt Romney presidential campaign had “hired” Mark DeMoss, an evangelical publicist who focuses on faith-based organizations (and author of The Little Red Book of Wisdom). My use of the word “hired” was inaccurate, since DeMoss was not receiving any money from the Romney campaign.
Last week ABC News’ Jake Tapper and Matt Stuart interviewed Mitt Romney, candidate for the Republican nomination for president. Their subsequent article dealt with his views on immigration and abortion — but also a bit about his views on whether it’s his job to respond to theological opposition to Mormonism.
Whenever I have the pleasure of writing a story based on another organization’s work (I actually cringe when I have to do this), it’s always interesting trying to come up with a news hook that is relevant but not what everyone else is going to do. In these situations you usually have a press release with the preordained lede, but there is nothing forcing journalists to use it. Sometimes the press release lede is a no-brainer, but sometimes there is room for creativity.
And then there was the funeral, with flowers, politicos, hymns, memories, televangelists and that final ironic detail — a potential whiff of napalm as a Liberty University student prepared a few makeshift bombs to drive away the right, right, right fundamentalists who planned to protest the work of that infamous liberal and sell-out Jerry Fallwell.
For the past few days I have been on the road and away from a steady Internet link. However, even during a drive from Boston to Baltimore, I was plugged in enough to the mainstream media (and the Drudge Report) to know that GetReligion’s friend Frank “Bible Belt Blogger” Lockwood of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette had an interesting story on his hands.
