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 the things that young reporters struggle with is the realization that there is no one perfect way to approach a given news story. In fact, different publications my approach the same story in radically different ways.
Three San Diego men appeared in federal court on Wednesday, charged with aiding the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab. You can read details of the indictment at Courthouse News Service. Al-Shabaab is an Islamic insurgent group that is active in Somalia. It’s officially linked to Al Qaeda, has an arm just for targeting Jews, and has been involved in everything from embassy bombings to attempts on the life of a Dutch cartoonist who drew images of Muhammad.
A few months ago, Cathy Lynn Grossman spotted American Public Radio Krista Tippett’s transition from “Speaking of Faith” to “Kristen Tippett on Being.” Apparently Tippett’s name was a bigger draw than “faith,” or something like that. Now Tippett is plugging her show on CNN’s Belief blog.
Anyone who has read GetReligion for any time at all knows that our goal is to offer criticism — positive and negative — of mainstream news coverage of religion events and trends. The key word is “news.”
Reporters love to share former President Jimmy Carter’s stories and opinions. As the nation’s 86-year-old grandfather-in-chief tours the nation promoting his latest book, “White House Diary,” he’s generating a fair amount of ink. No surprise there.
At the Rally for Sanity I mentioned in my previous post, I happened to run into the People of Faith for Sanity breakfast at a local bar. It was fun chatting with the group, which was organized by Faith in Public Life.
I joined a couple of other friends to cover the Rally to Restore Sanity/Keep Fear Alive this past weekend. You can check out my 100 or so photos of the event here. The event was funny, had a serious message about being nicer to political enemiesopponents, but was also full of snark. After a couple of hours, we headed back home and watched the rest of the program on Comedy Central. We heard that Yusuf Islam had been part of the program. We didn’t believe it at first but it was true. He really did appear. He performed the song he sang he made famous under his former name Cat Stevens — “Peace Train” — against Ozzy Osbourne singing “Crazy Train.”
Last month we told you that David Waters had transitioned out of his role at the Washington Post‘s On Faith website to return to Memphis.
