Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Nothing makes you miss the former prevalence of overseas news bureaus like a really fantastic foreign service report. Emily Wax, who has moved from Africa to India, filed a personal but newsy account of the violence ravaging the state of Orissa.
There was an interesting Q&A the other day down in the Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., with that the Rev. Franklin Graham, the public-square heir of Billy Graham.
Over the last couple of weeks, there have been a slew of newspaper articles on the religion of Sarah Palin, Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska’s governor. Considering that the rather surprising announcement of Palin’s spot on the ticket has been known for a couple of weeks, one would hope that the coverage would be thorough, original and informative.
Sojourners magazine founder Jim Wallis predicted on National Public Radio’s Interfaith Voices this week that a button circulating on the Internet stating that Jesus Christ was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor would be all over the place in a few days. Wallis was making the point that the comment by Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin during her acceptance speech about Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama’s community organizing experience was fairly offensive to community organizers and may backfire in faith-based communities where community organizers are often associated with churches. He suggested he might want to apologize.
Two weeks ago, I criticized national magazines’ coverage of Sarah Palin’s faith for providing more facts than explanations. Today I criticize Newsweek‘s cover story about Palin for … providing more facts than explanations. As you can see, I am breaking new intellectual ground!
The News Tribune of Tacoma, Washington, had an intriguing article last week on the Catholic Church’s official opposition and efforts to raise funds to fight against the state of Washington’s “Death with Dignity” campaign, as it is dubbed by supporters. The article focuses fairly exclusively on the Catholic Church’s opposition to the campaign (which will be on the state’s November ballot). There is a brief description of the proposal with a mention that it is modeled after an Oregon law.
One of the problems with the mainstream media’s rush to the gutter in the early days following her being named for the VP slot is that their entire reputation has been shot. So many people disliked what they saw and read in the first week that they’ve lost a level of trust with the media. It’s important, though, to understand that the desire for information about Palin is legitimate and good and it’s the point of having a press.
Sen. Joe Biden was on Meet the Press this past Sunday and he had some comments about his religious views.
Hundreds of reporters have written about Bristol Palin’s unborn child. Yet few have examined the other unusual child in the Family Palin: Trig, the 4-month-old boy who has Down syndrome.
