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First let me note that, even as we justifiably debate some questions about the life, death and burial of Osama bin Laden, I am one of those guys who think that mainstream press coverage of the religious elements of this story has actually been quite solid — in some cases pushing past the early answers from the White House and into unexplored territory.
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Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! On Crossroads this week, we discussed media coverage of the burial of Osama bin Laden as well as coverage of the Royal Wedding. During the podcast, I noted that there had been much excellent journalism this week and that some errors are bound to creep in. What’s important, I think, is to get the story right as quickly as possible.
Hang on, because this is going to be a strange post. It’s possible that this only makes sense to me, at the moment.
We’ve seen a wave of reactions to Osama bin Laden’s death from various religious groups, with everything from jubilation to condemnation.
I grew up in the Central Valley of California, a few miles outside of a town of a thousand people. We lived across the street from the local church, though, and many of my childhood memories involve the church’s bell tower. For one thing, it rang shortly before services began each Sunday morning. That’s when the locals would know to head on over — on foot. And whenever a parishioner died, we’d toll the bell once for each year of their life. When we’d be out playing in the fields, we’d stop and count each clang.
Yesterday we discussed the media coverage of Osama bin Laden’s “Muslim burial.” At first the media ran with the story that he’d been buried at sea according to Muslim law and also to avoid the grave becoming a shrine. Then some reporters noted that some Muslim clerics disagreed that the burial had been done according to Islamic practice.
Down South, though, about 350 people are dead and thousands more hurt and homeless after a swath of tornadoes cut a deadly path across seven Southern states — hitting Alabama hardest — last Wednesday night. It’s the nation’s deadliest twister outbreak since the Great Depression and America’s worst natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina, according to the news reports I’ve read.
All kinds of people have, during the past decade or two, voiced all kinds of complaints about the state of journalism as practiced in our mainstream media. Many of these complaints are even accurate.
