Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Needless to say, I received some interesting emails in the hours after the New York Times and the rest of the world’s mainstream media started running the following story. The words changed a bit, but here is the key info from the Times:
During my 2003 summer internship at a medium-to-small size daily newspaper in the middle of America, I was assigned to report and write a local version of the latest development of the local Anglican church. The story was about how the local congregations on both sides of the river were facing a “crossroads over gay clergy, teachings.” By the way, those quoted words did not come from my story, but from a headline in Monday’s Detroit Free Press.
Except for one small detail, Tamar Lewin of The New York Times wrote a memorable story about the debate over rising tuition costs at American universities. Lewin focused on Berea College in Kentucky, a tiny school that does not charge its students admission, and contrasted it with other universities.
The New York Times headed out West the other day for a very interesting look at a clash between traditional faith and modern sensibilities, in a “Los Angeles Journal” entry that ran under the lilting headline, “At the Intersection of Synagogue and Boardwalk, a Feud.”
Many readers submitted a piece from the Boston Globe this weekend about the ordination of women claiming to be Roman Catholic priests. Some said the story was horrific. Others said it was fantastic. Turns out there were two stories. The first is not so good.
Like political conventions and track-and-field meets, Papal visits deserve multiple story lines. Focus on one angle and the story is bound to be incomplete. Focus on several angles and the reader will get a broad view of reality.
When you talk to website editors these days, it’s very easy to figure out that most of them have a love-hate relationship with the “comments pages” that are such a big part of what the whole interactive Web 2.0 thing is supposed to be about.
For someone who’s been on the mainstream media’s radar for decades, James Dobson sure has a rough time being understood by journalists. Usually they call the radio psychologist an ordained minister. And they do it over and over again. Sometimes they think the full-time liberal bogeyman is calling for exorcisms when he’s talking about people getting “exercised” — as in worked up about — sex scandals.
Much praise should be given to Amanda Greene of The Star-News in Wilmington, N.C., for turning what could have been a few boring press release re-writes into an interesting feature story. The key to the story is that it gives readers a sense for how religion has influenced the area’s history.
