Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Another day, another story about God and the National Football League. This week, in the midst of its purple-and-black playoff blitz, The Baltimore Sun recently offered a look at the young life of Ravens cornerback Cary Williams, who had a very troubled decade or two before turning things around with a little help, apparently, from God and a good church.
Just what we needed, another mainstream media controversy about who is a Christian and who is not. This is getting ugly.
If I had to sum up, in one punchy thought, what I learned while doing a graduate degree in Church-State Studies here is what I would say: When in doubt, it is wrong for the government to become “entangled” in the lives of religious groups and people.
Warning: The following post is picky beyond belief and focuses on an issue in Associated Press style.
When I read Bible Belt Bobby’s post about the journalistic virtue called “attribution” I was reminded of a controversial West Coast story that I have been trying to get around to for several days. I refer to the recent resignation of Bishop Gabino Zavala as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
As you know, nothing gets under a GetReligionista’s skin like reading a story about a controversial topic in which it appears that the journalists who produced it made little or no effort to talk to qualified, quality voices on the other side or sides of the debate.
I think that I have made the following point in previous GetReligion posts, but it must be made again. One of the hardest concepts for journalists to explain to non-journalists is the concept of “what a story is.”
I realize that many news consumers are not fond of the emerging tradition in many mainstream newsrooms of running pushy, perhaps even provocative news features during major religious holiday seasons — especially stories during Christmas and Easter.
