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Yes, gentle readers, you know you might be in a bit of trouble when you open up a story about the intricate details of Catholic liturgy and there is a photo showing a priest saying prayers at the altar and the caption says:
I recently wrote a Scripps Howard News Service column that I thought was a bit of a stretch, in terms of the religion beat. Still, I had heard my share of emotional discussions about the issue that I knew there was some strange kind of fire underneath the smoke.
A story this week in The Age, Melbourne’s major daily newspaper, leaves me puzzled. I am not sure what the paper’s religion editor, Barney Zwartz is doing in his article “Ex-nun a cardinal sinner in the mind of the church“. Read at one level, it c0uld be a silly puff piece. Yet there are hints the story could have a deeper meaning–wheels within wheels–where The Age‘s editorial voice is heard by its allowing the subject to impeach herself.
Last week we looked at coverage of Pat Robertson’s comments that divorce of a spouse with Alzheimer’s can be justified. We talked about whether Robertson’s rhetoric needs coverage and how the Associated Press actually used the Gospel of Mark to counter what Robertson said.
Faithful GetReligion readers and others who walk the religion beat will know the byline of Mark I. Pinsky, who in news circles is best known for his work at the Los Angeles Times and then at the Orlando Sentinel. Then there is another circle — mainly people who consume and study popular culture — who know him as the author of “The Gospel According to the Simpsons” and several other volumes of pop-culture criticism, with a religious bent.
From time to time here at GetReligion, we post “Got news?” items and wonder why the mainstream media haven’t tackled a particular issue or topic that we deem newsworthy.
Two executions are scheduled for today. Racist Lawrence Brewer will be killed in Texas for the savage murder of James Byrd. Troy Davis will be killed for the murder of Mark MacPhail, a police officer in Savannah, Georgia.
We talk a lot about journalists who donât âget religion,â but there is at least one group of mainstream journalists who doâor at least make concerted efforts toâget religion. Members of the Religion Newswriters Association generally strive to understand theological complexities and explain them to more general audiences, and many met at the annual RNA conference in Durham, N.C. last weekend.
