Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
In this weekâs podcast Issues Etc. host Todd Wilkin and I discussed two recent GetReligion stories: Gay marriages in Denmark and the Lindy Chamberlain affair in Australia. Press ignorance quickly became the theme of the show.
Exodus International is no longer trying to “pray the gay away.” At least that’s the word from The Associated Press this week:
There is something missing — not quite right about this Associated Press story from Medford, Oregon. If true as written, the facts set forth in “Church protests insurance rules for sex offenders” presents an extraordinary development of insurance guidelines dictating church doctrine and discipline. The concept of proportionality in punishment and forgiveness of the sinner appear to have been overwhelmed by fear.
It was another Roe v. Wade anniversary and, as usual, the protestors on both sides of the debate were out in force on the grounds of the Colorado state Capitol. Both sides, of course, had their designated spokespersons who were available to talk to the press. This happened year after year.
During one of my newspaper internships, I helped compile a list of data from houses of worship around the city for a church directory. You would not believe the number of bizarrely awful websites we came across, from the flashy purple and gold to the blogspot templates people still use.
The Denver Post‘s Eric Gorski hasn’t been exclusively on the Godbeat for a while. So I was quite happy to see him dip back into religion reporting for his piece on the Church of Scientology’s grand-opening celebration in Denver. We’re told that the celebration filled a city block downtown with balloons, confetti and cheering throngs.
One of the things that your GetReligionistas keep saying — to the point of aggravating many readers — is that it is often possible for journalists to spot and define a religion ghost quite easily, using relatively few lines of type in this post-USA Today journalistic world in which we live.
Read the lede to this Minneapolis Star-Tribune story, and tell me if it doesn’t make your head spin:
