Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Granted, the piece I am about to critique is more stenography than journalism. Read: a reporter goes to a staged news event, soaks up one side’s point of view and spits it out on newsprint as the gospel truth.
As I get all curmudgeonly in my old age, one of my pet peeves is the media’s schizophrenic treatment of certain news. The hot story of one day is completely forgotten the next. Or the insane, around-the-clock coverage of Terry Jones’ threat to burn a Koran is dropped for some reason, then briefly re-engaged for a blamefest before getting dropped again. What gets left out is any thorough discussion of the heady mix that led to the murderous rampage in Afghanistan.
Is there anyone in American popular culture who intrigues and frustrates journalists of a certain age — the Baby Boomer elites — than Bob Dylan? The man is a walking history book, when you combine the landmark events in his life with the confusing but gripping map that is his canon of songwriting.
Before I made my recent trip to Israel, as an Act for Israel media fellow, I was excited to learn more about how religion informs politics in the region. Many of my friends and acquaintances cautioned me that religion doesn’t play as big a role as one might think. I now realize that all they meant was that the story is much more complicated than just about religious differences.
Over a week ago, we discussed the relative lack of coverage of a burning of a Koran some days earlier in Florida. The overwhelming response from readers to that post was that they hadn’t even heard about the burning. It was interesting to compare the non-stop, over-the-top coverage from last fall with the more appropriate and restrained coverage in recent weeks.
Geraldine Ferraro, the first female vice presidential candidate on a major party presidential ticket, died today, and we’re scanning the obituaries for evidence of her faith. For instance, if you read Politico, you wouldn’t know that she was Catholic or struggled with religious leaders over her pro-choice stance.
The Westboro Baptist Church saga has always intrigued and appalled me, in large part because of my background in church-state studies and First Amendment rights. I am also intrigued with people who are so radical that they defy easy description. As the old saying goes, sometimes people go so far to the right that they end up on the left (and vice versa).
Ever since the movie Mean Girls came out, I can’t help but think of the Washington Post “Style” section as the “Mean Girls” section. I sort of imagine its copy editors in the same way Lindsay Lohan’s character describes the animal world (see the movie clip). Now, we live in an era where such snark is almost certainly popular, but it really doesn’t set well with me — especially when applied to serious news topics.
The Catholic Cuomos of New York are constantly in the news, which means that journalists are continuously having to wrestle with adjectives.
