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I realize that I have been rather hard on the folks at the Baltimore Sun lately, but, you know, it’s the local newspaper that’s in my front yard every morning. It comes with the territory and I really think that this major daily needs a more systematic approach to covering religion news.
The Washington Post had a fascinating piece in Sunday’s paper about how the number of couples with children in America is dropping. Giving himself plenty of room for analysis from the smart people at the Brookings Institution and other places, reporter Blaine Harden tracks an under-reported story that is changing the face of America.
In the aftermath of the Jesus tomb story, it looks like most Christians still believe in what the Bible says about Jesus Christ and few are the worse for the controversy. GetReligion reader Stephen A. urged us yesterday to comment on the actual showing of The Lost Tomb of Jesus Saturday night, and I regret to say that I missed the show. Fortunately, others did see it, but overall I was generally disappointed in the lack of media attention to the film’s premiere.
If I were queen of the world, I’d forbid reporters from using any variation of the they’re just like you and me theme for stories. It’s bad enough when Us Weekly does it with a photo package of celebrities shopping and walking their dogs. But when mainstream reporters do it, it’s embarrassing.
Happy news abounds here in GetReligion-land. First of all, we are only days away (perhaps even hours) from being able to roll out the new design for the website. I am not sure when the tech crew at Pierpoint Design & Branding will push launch, but it should be very soon. It’s a very clean, newsy look that should make the site even easier to read and use. This has been a long time coming.
A long time ago, in a post about the Grammy Awards, I raised a basic question about God-talk in The Associated Press Stylebook. Here is what I wrote at that time, in reference to a Los Angeles Daily News story quoting diva Mary J. Blige expressing thanks to “Father, God, lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
I woke up the other morning and former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani was the Republican front-runner for the 2008 presidential race. How in the world did that happen? Heavy media coverage of “Rudy’s rise” came in over the weekend — first in a Washington Post A1 piece by Dan Balz and second in a Newsweek cover article by Jonathan Darman.
If there is anything that sets the hearts of the GetReligionistas a-twitter, it’s reading a really interesting news feature and, lo and behold, running into a solid, relevant dose of religion.
One more than a few occasions we (I?) have highlighted the work of talented Denver Post religion reporter Eric Gorski.
