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The other day we looked at how religion news can appear in a review of a museum exhibit — that is, outside of news pages. Last week a reader noted a couple of advice columns that discussed religion. The Oakland Tribune’s “Growing Older” column discussed holidays for people who are not religious. And the Washington Post‘s Carolyn Hax had a religion-themed advice column. Here’s the last question and answer:
What we have here is a classic “no comments” situation for GetReligion readers. I am about to praise a major Washington Post piece about religion on the other side of the world. It’s even about Islam.
In many ways, a Washington Post story this week titled “We let a wolf in” has the kind of remarkable layers and depth that you’d expect from a 4,300-word piece in that prominent newspaper’s Sunday magazine.
The New York Times‘ marriage announcement page also has a feature called “Vows” where one of the lucky couples has their story told by a reporter. Weddings are rites of passage where ghosts abound. But usually these stories are sappy lovey-dovey accounts of how romance blossomed. Last week’s Vows section is no exception. And boy is it one for the ages. Now, I was absolutely horrified when I read it (linked on Twitter by John Podhoretz with the note “Boy is this going to be discussed at my kids’ Upper West Side School this week, and discussed, and discussed.”). He was right. The story lit up the twitterverse and blogosphere and made it into other media coverage, too.
It’s been hard times for the Los Angeles Times. Especially on the Godbeat. And that’s what makes this Column One from Mike Anton such a treat.
It is very hard to write about the history of Catholicism in the United States without writing about the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland. Baltimore is, of course, the senior see in the United States and was established as a diocese on April 6, 1789.
In a sea of silly stories during the Advent march to Christmas, I was pleasantly surprised to hear (via the Rev. Dr. R. Albert Mohler) a great piece on NPR. It’s a perfect radio piece — snippets from songs with an expert teaching you things you never knew. In this case, the topic is Christmas carols. Here’s the transcript, here’s the web version of the story, and here’s the link so you can listen. I definitely recommend you choose the last option.
Between the Wichita Eagle and The Des Moines Register, you would think that newspapers are doing just fine. Publish around 10,000 words on one story? No problem. Maybe editors think that people will flock to stories that make us weep around the holidays.
Story selection is one of those media criticism topics I wish we could address more. So often we’re responding to what did get written rather than what didn’t. Arguably the decision about which stories to cover and which to ignore — or which to cover ’round the clock and which to cover once and move on — contributes more to our perception of the world than how those stories or written.
