Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
In all my years on the Godbeat, I have never covered a vague “religious festival.” All of the one’s that I have covered — especially when linked to ancient traditions in Christianity, Judaism, Islam and other major faiths — have very precise titles, rituals and purposes.
How many times do you really want to read the word “nuanced”? You better like it a lot if you intend to glance at recent press accounts of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan William’s recent statement in the wake of the Epspocpal Church’s decisions at General Convention. Denominational leaders removed canonical barriers to consecrating (more) gay bishops — and officially began the process of moving towards the creation of a gay-union liturgy. Some of the stories are a lot more detailed than others, some more balanced than others. And it’s safe to say that if anyone is happy with the Archbishop’s latest reflections, they aren’t quoted.
David Barstow of The New York Times has written a 5,600-word report on the decades-long tensions between the late Dr. George Tiller and the protesters who worked to shut down his abortion clinic, Women’s Health Care Services, in Wichita, Kansas. A lone gunman murdered Tiller on Pentecost Sunday while Tiller served as an usher at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita.
Terry highlighted one of the more glaring holes in some of the stories covering the public health insurance debate. There have been some other problems with the media’s look at the abortion debate.
If you thought the story of Bryant Neal Vinas, the Long Island Muslim convert who joined Al Qaeda and quickly rose through the ranks before being arrested last fall, was bad for Muslim public relations, the news emerging today of a North Carolina Muslim gang is a PR nightmare.
The New Yorker‘s Joan Acocella writes elegantly. Her recent article on Michael Jackson as a dancer was one of the finest non-mawkish reflections that followed Jackson’s sudden death early this month.
Move over Azzam the American. You may be a spokesman for Al Qaeda, but another American in your midst has stolen the media spotlight.
It’s a bit exasperating when a journalist does a really nice job on many angles of a particular story, and elides others. It seems almost unseemly to say –hey, wait a minute, buster! If religion is a big part of the story, how come its not here?
