Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Back in the mid-1980s, the booming world of Evangelical cable television endured a round of scandals that reporters dubbed “Pearlygate,” which kicked off with the fall of the Rev. Jim Bakker.
A couple of weeks ago, we looked at a particularly bad story about Roman Catholic Womenpriests broadcast on NPR. The story was an absolute train wreck, written by someone who clearly was a fan of the Womenpriests but theologically illiterate about how ordination and excommunication work. Here was how it was teased on NPR.com:
Michele Bachmann has certainly drawn a media spotlight in recent weeks since she announced her candidacy, as some wonder whether she’s just the media’s “flavor of the month.â We’ve talked a little bit about how the media has handled her faith with mockery or puzzlement, and it’s a bit depressing to see little serious coverage of her beliefs so far.
So, let’s say that you are very interested in the unfolding drama of political changes in Egypt. The logical thing to do is to try to find out who is who and which political/religious party is saying what, correct?
Sunday’s New York Times magazine featured a cover story that approvingly discusses sex columnist Dan Savage and the propriety of consensual adultery. There is so much to say about the piece that I almost don’t know where to begin. Let’s first note that the piece is very nicely and ably presented by the paper’s religion writer Mark Oppenheimer and editor Vera Titunik. The quality of the writing is great.
Before we jump headfirst into this post, let’s pause for a moment and pay tribute to that famous saying popularized by Mark Twain:
A story that has been hotly discussed among my Episcopal and Anglican friends has received, near as I can tell, almost no mainstream media coverage. And I have no idea why. But it’s been going on long enough that it certainly deserves a “Got news?” post.
One of the problems with journalism in the Internet age is that once a major publication makes a mistake on a major story, that mistake tends to be repeated in the work of other newsrooms — until someone corrects the error.
