Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
One of my favorite reporters covering the Iraq War is the New York Times‘ Damien Cave. One of his two stories for today’s paper is about a Christmas service in Baghdad. Cave skillfully packs details into his account of the festival service:
Loyal GetReligion readers will recall that, back in September, I sang the praises of a wonderful New York Times feature story by reporter Warren St. John that began like this:
When former British Prime Minister Tony Blair formally entered the Roman Catholic Church, reporters told us almost — almost — everything readers would want to know about Blair’s conversion. John F. Burns of The New York Times wrote a particularly insightful story:
The Associated Press sent out a fairly solid story of religious and social significance Thursday, although one would not think so at first glance. A local pastor in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, gave members of his congregation $50 and told them to go see how they could multiple the money for charity. The story has been carried on several newspaper websites, but as best I can tell, the AP is the only news outlet to publish something on this.
When “good girl” celebrity Jamie Lynn Spears announced she was pregnant, reporters cast their rhetorical stones at the fallen teen role model. As Monica Hesse of The Washington Post wrote:
I’ll say this for Rowan Williams, the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury: He communicates directly and accessibly when speaking with broadcast journalists. Indeed, people who care deeply about the conflicts of the Anglican Communion might wish that Williams would grant a monthly one-hour interview to BBC Radio 5′s Simon Mayo.
This isn’t really a breaking news story, but it shows up in newspapers from time to time. This is how I started a Scripps Howard News Service column on the topic several years ago:
