Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
When I received a one-line e-mail that there had been a mass shooting at a Sikh temple, I had a .5 second heart attack. We have family who live across the street from such a temple in Wisconsin, and the line didn’t include information about location or whether the shooter was on the loose.
Sports reporters write stories very quickly, feeding editors literally on deadline. My sports reporter husband jokes that political reporters stress out maybe once a year during election nights when nearly every weekend has at least two election-like nights for sports. In many ways, they have been doing what Twitter users are now figuring out, how to report reactions professionally as you experience them before writing the big picture piece later.
Folks, I have committed a serious sin that I hate to spot among other reporters. When searching for obvious religion, I overlooked the subtle spots.
Did anyone else have a good time watching the Olympic’s opening ceremonies tonight? I learned a lot about how the British, or at least how the ones running the Olympics, see their own history.
Last week I saw Chick-fil-A trending on Google and thought there must be some delicious promotion, some sort of free sandwich you get for dressing up like a cow. Eager to get a freebie, I clicked through to find out why people were searching.
How do you spot a fake news trend? You start asking questions. You find out what key figures are behind something, how much money goes into it, who knows about it.
As if the Internet needs more things to explode over, George Zimmerman, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin, brought religion into the mix in an interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity last night. Here’s how the LA Times describes the turn of events:
I am certainly not the first to note this, so let’s all say this together: What were the editors at Bloomberg Businessweek thinking? Basically, its cover story about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ finances could offend just about anyone who practices just about any kind of faith.
