Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
The Internet soaked up a skinny jeans story yesterday when some writers thought Brigham Young University had banned the tight pants. It turns out that the confusion revolved around rules at BYU’s sister school in Idaho over those really tight pants the average Americans can’t fit into.
That was my immediate question this morning to my GetReligion colleague — and St. Louis Cardinals uber-fan — Mollie Ziegler Hemingway as news broke that superstar first baseman Albert Pujols will sign a 10-year, $254 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels. MZ, alas, remains out of wifi and Internet range — although this story may reach her through some psychic or spiritual ripple in the universe.
Before we examine a slice or two of this recent New York Times piece about Bishop Eddie L. Long, I feel the need to ask a few basic questions about this troubled church leader’s theology.
Product placement and packaging — these are the first tasks of a freelance author who has a story to write. Who will publish this article? What pitch will win over the editor? An experienced author knows the interests and quirks of the publications to whom he markets his work. In addition to the question of content — no poultry breeding articles for Car & Driver — an author must be conversant with the style sense and audience of an outlet. Do they like it hip or heavy? AP or Times of London style book? The definitive New Yorker treatment or a People magazine popular summary?
What we have here is one of those puzzling or even coffee-spewing (for those who drink coffee) moments when you are reading through a perfectly normal story involving religious themes and you hit a reference that makes you stop and say, “Did I just read what I thought I read?”
After a Kentucky church voted to ban interracial couples from the congregation, I posted last week on media understanding of Free Will Baptist hierarchy â or more precisely, the lack thereof.
Journalists seem pretty good at recalling where they read a story and often who wrote it. But let’s be honest: does the average media consumer remember where he or she read, heard or listened to a story?
A headline like “Pope charged for not wearing seat belt,” almost feels like a piece from The Onion, but sometimes truth is funnier than fiction.
