Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Last night I killed a spider that was crawling on a pillow in my bed. It proved to be quite challenging, because the billowing pillow was not the best surface to squish the little bug into oblivion.
I’ve lived in Washington for a dozen years and as I was reading this fascinating piece by the Washington Post‘s Michelle Boorstein, it occurred to me that I knew next to nothing about the Unification Church. Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his church have strong ties in the area, including ownership of the Washington Times. And mention of the Unification Church, the Rev. Moon or the Moonies isn’t unheard of ’round these parts. But when was the last time you read a decent story about what the church teaches?
The current dialogue between this weblog and reporter Paul Vitello of the New York Times, in addition to raising some valid issues worthy of discussion, has helped us pinpoint another problem here at GetReligion that needed to be fixed.
Anyone who has, for the past 20 years or so, followed the joys and sorrows of Eastern Orthodoxy in the United States knows that at least two important trends can be seen, all at the same time.
When mainstream reporters write in and challenge something that we’ve published here, we always want to let that happen — especially if they will do that on the record. We want some of that discussion to happen out here on the “front page,” so to speak, rather than back in the comments pages.
When I was in college, I participated in a weekend training program at the Los Angeles Times. I remember very little from that experience. But I starkly recall one of the paper’s sportswriters effusing that sportswriters were special because they were writers and not reporters.
We’ve had more than a few readers point out this article in the Washington Post about a changing of the guard at Emily’s List. And that’s because it reads like a press release from the organization.
If you have ever lived in, or near, Washington, D.C., you know that there are only two things that our nation’s capital talks about in the fall and early winter.
Grading religion writers involves evaluating their work on stories both simple and complex. I always offer extra credit to those enterprising and creative journalists who seek out important stories that transcend today’s headlines. That’s why TIME’s David Van Biema gets a gold star for his 2,400-word piece, “The Color of Faith.”
