Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Almost exactly three years ago, we were looking at some of the breathless media coverage of a documentary that claimed to have found the tomb of Jesus. Daniel Pulliam covered the saga at the time and here’s a snippet from one of his posts (headlined “James Cameron to Christians: It’s over“):
If you’re part of an organization trying to get your message out, you usually have to spend money to place ads where people can see them. Communications shops usually prefer getting stories written about them. Not only is it free but you can communicate more thoroughly with your audience. So while Focus on the Family seems to have been running more advertisements as of late, they have to be taking note of all the earned media they’re getting.
The big news before I even walked out the door this morning was Tiger Woods’ public apology, in fact the first public appearance he had made since that cataclysmic collapse on Thanksgiving weekend. This was no press conference, and everything Woods said this morning felt painfully processed. It was also already common knowledge thanks to the reporting that took place during his two-and-a-half-month Houdini act.
Pop star Elton John is featured on the cover of Parade magazine this week. So I guess Parade is still around. He’s ostensibly on the cover to talk about how he’s a better person now than he was before. But he makes news for an unconventional religious idea he puts forth.
I have tried to avoid writing — again — about the interesting, and very late, mini-surge of interesting, nuanced mainstream coverage of the hit movie “The Blind Side.”
We cover stories about the intersection of sports and religion a lot here, but I had to point out this New Orleans Times-Picayune piece about the strong ties the religious community has to the New Orleans Saints. I’m a huge fan of sports but not a huge fan of the way that some clergy elevate sports to the level of the divine. Still, this story did a good job of explaining how this interplay works in the unique alternative universe that is New Orleans.
Even though officially I was rooting for the Indianapolis Colts, that was a very enjoyable Superbowl game. Both teams really deserved to be at the game and it was, overall, very well played.
