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I have mixed emotions about focusing the critical spotlight on this New York Times story about the plight of Christians in the Sudan. I am pleased that a story that speaks to the state sponsored persecution of Christians made it into the paper’s pages, yet I would have wished they had fact checked their story.
The beginning of a new year is as good a time as any to reflect on whether there are things we’d like to revise our change. As I’m typing this, commenter John M. (on another thread about the disappointing levels of Biblical literacy among media types and others) suggests, for instance:
Journalism without nuance relies on stereotypes and cardboard-cutout characters. Journalism with nuance entertains complex positions, shades of gray and ironic juxtapositions.
Wednesday’s broom fight between Greek and Armenian clergy at the Church of the Nativity has come as a god-send to the editors manning the desks of news rooms this Christmas. With the year-in-review pieces done and the boss away until Tuesday, the junior editors ruling the roost have been handed a fun item with which to play.
This year has produced no shortage of Mormonism coverage with Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman in the presidential race. If you want a continual source for Mormon news, be sure to follow the work of Peggy Fletcher Stack, a reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune, located in Mormon central.
Many of you have sent in articles about a dramatic religious dispute going on in Israel. And there have been many stories to look at. And if you read them all, you may begin to understand the situation. Here’s the beginning of the New York Times story datelined Beit Shemesh:
Russell Powell — late of the ABC and now head of media relations for the Anglican Diocese of Sydney — suggested I take a look at the coverage given by the BBC to the Queen’s Christmas message.
A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the widely circulated error that William Butler Yeats was the author of Hebrews. The New York Times messed it up. So did the Associated Press. The BBC, too. All in a story about the death of George Whitman, a Paris bookstore owner.
