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Big controversy, little reporting

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In the nation’s smallest state, a big controversy is brewing over the keynote speaker for the inauguration ceremony of the new University of Rhode Island president. The reason for the furor: President David M. Dooley has asked a Christian minister to deliver the keynote address at Thursday’s ceremony. The Providence Journal reports that the decision “has triggered a campus-wide discussion about the separation of church and state, tolerance and free speech.”


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Easter Sunday in Washington

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I’m extremely nervous about how the media covers the religious life of presidents. Sometimes I wonder how one of my congregation’s services would be written about in the Washington Post if we had a president worship with us. I suspect it would be difficult for a random reporter to understand the liturgy, the sermon and the context in which they are received.


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Happy Easter, if you buy into that stuff

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Every Holy Week, GetReligion must examine the slew of sensationalist religion stories that crop up. I don’t know why everyone in the fourth estate thinks this is the ideal time to uncork that story they think is going to finally blow the lid off this Christianity fad, but that’s the way it is.


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Baseball, drugs and Easter

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Last year, Mollie looked at stories about baseball opening games on Good Friday. This year, we have the sacred and secular traditions colliding again as the Red Sox prepare to take on the Yankees on Easter Sunday. As opening day nears, reporters are profiling athletes–some new, some old.


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Could've been so beautiful

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Usually, I keep my compulsion for ’80s pop hits — the music of my youth — under control. This week, though, I’m in Philadelphia on a work-related trip, and my rental car — unlike my family’s minivan — has satellite radio. Satellite radio with an all-’80s station!


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To mention or not to mention?

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One of the biggest holes in religion news coverage is treatment of weekly worship. Regular worship is one of the most common expressions of religious activity. Much more important in the life of the church than, say, politics. But it doesn’t seem to interest reporters terribly much. So I was pleased to see the angle that Washington Post religion reporter William Wan took with his latest: “As Easter nears, priests struggle with how, whether to address church scandals.”


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