Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Once again, let me stress that I know that newspapers and magazines are going to have to receive payments — somehow — for the work they produce. It’s hard to keep giving your product away day after day and stay in business.
So 25,000 words on religion — from The New Yorker–makes me pretty giddy. OK, it’s about Scientology, which continues to keep journalists fascinated for its celebrity draw and secrecy. But hopefully this kind of piece shows how religion can make really compelling journalism. You’ll find a little bit of everything in this piece: celebrities, money, abuse, family, sex, power, etc. Religion often touches all of that and more.
Believe it or not, St. Valentine’s Day was not created by the people who sell chocolates, flowers and strange jewelry. And, believe it or not, the rites that used to be celebrated in churches on Feb. 14 focused on a hero and martyr, not the alleged patron saint of lovers.
Check out this lede from the Daily Texan story that ran under the headline, “Conservative Christians divorce more, study says.” It’s almost an exact replica of how the mainstream media covered a porn study a few years back. Here’s how this sad example of a divorce story gets started:
Since Mitchell Landsberg assumed religion reporting duties for the Los Angeles Times about a year ago, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist has written a lot of stories that have drawn heavy criticism here at GetReligion.
It always amazes me how many religious concepts and themes have become embedded in our nation’s ongoing debates about abortion. Truth is, it’s impossible for the mainstream media to avoid these religious entanglements because they have soaked into the language used in these events, debates, laws and court cases.
It’s really hard to ignore religion when it comes to death. Those questions of what happens to us when we die often become even more heightened during the funeral, reflection and mourning periods.
So, once again there is a major error in a major story out there in the major media and we cannot really discuss its contents because it is behind a pay-for-content firewall. Trust me, I know that the future of journalism depends on journalists getting paid for the product that they produce, yet I also know that the future includes interactivity and blogging. ‘Tis a puzzlement.
