Crazy Charlie: His cartoons are insane

Last updated on: September 29, 2012 at 3:53 pm By geoconger

In this week’s podcast Issues Etc. host Todd Wilkin and I discussed two of my recent GetReligion stories: “Charlie Hebdo’s Muhammad Cartoon Crassness” and “Foggy Bottom’s ‘pantywaist protocol pussy-footers’.” Starting with the press coverage on the attacks on the U.S. embassy in Cairo and consulate in Benghazi, the articles (and our discussion) moved on to the vexed question of how the Western media reports on blasphemy in an Islamic context. I argued the early coverage on the Middle East stories... Read more

Missing canaries in the Damascus coal mine

Last updated on: September 28, 2012 at 3:18 pm By tmatt

I realize that, as a member of an Antiochian Orthodox Christian parish, my concerns about events in Damascus, Syria, are going to focus on religion more than those of the average news consumer. After all, the Patriarchate of Antioch is located in Damascus, on the “street called Straight.” (Acts 9:11) The various flocks of Christians make up between 8 and 10 percent of the Syrian population. When it comes to religious minorities, it is also very important to remember the... Read more

Meanwhile, back at AP’s sausage factory

Last updated on: September 29, 2012 at 2:30 am By Bobby Ross Jr.

On Thursday, I highlighted a fine piece of journalism produced by The Associated Press’ filet mignon department — where reporter chefs with unlimited time, space and resources whip up the kind of delectable stories that win big prizes. However, most AP journalists perform grueling labor in a different department — let’s call it the, uh, Sausage Factory. In most cases, grinding up press releases, chucking the uncooked meat immediately onto the wire and begging readers to devour the incomplete product... Read more

Vatican either affirms or reverses priest’s suspension

Last updated on: September 28, 2012 at 8:54 am By mollie

In July, we looked at some of the media coverage of a priest who was removed from his parish by Bishop Edward Braxton of Belleville, Illinois. He wasn’t just removed from his parish. Braxton also removed his faculties. There were some problems with the previous story dealing with how those faculties were characterized and what, exactly, were his violations. We knew that he was improvising portions of the mass but we didn’t get specifics. Anyway, Father William Rowe appealed his... Read more

Big tragedy, big money in Big Apple

Last updated on: September 27, 2012 at 12:31 pm By Bobby Ross Jr.

Back in April, I weighed in on a claim that my former employer, The Associated Press, is “desperately seeking Pulitzers” and relaxing its news standards. I defended AP against such criticism, although I questioned my position just a little soon afterward. But today, I come to praise AP, not to bury it … In recent days, AP published a 3,700-word investigative piece — in the wire service world, 3,700 words is akin to an expanded edition of “War and Peace” —... Read more

We’re all blasphemers now

Last updated on: September 27, 2012 at 11:23 am By mollie

Never a dull moment on the religion news beat. And the latest clash is a full-on battle over blasphemy laws. There’s been a fair amount of coverage. Here’s a Washington Post story headlined “Egypt’s President Morsi tells U.N.: Insults to Muhammad ‘unacceptable’.” One thing I liked about the piece was how it gave three full paragraphs of quotes to substantiate this, the fourth paragraph: In an address before the U.N. General Assembly that marked his debut as an international statesman,... Read more

Time to pin new label on Brian McLaren?

Last updated on: October 1, 2012 at 5:01 pm By tmatt

If people have long had trouble defining the word “evangelical” — the Rev. Billy Graham once told me he had no idea what the word meant — it only made matters worse when the principalities and powers of Christian publishing started adding the word “emerging” or perhaps “emergent” in front of the already vague “evangelical.” Who are, or were, the “emerging evangelicals” and what were they emerging from? Where were they going? I always assumed that the emerging folks were... Read more

How Many Gays in Hampstead?

Last updated on: September 27, 2012 at 5:50 am By geoconger

Here is a craft question for you, GetReligion readers. No, I don’t mean freemasonry but journalism. When should a reporter use his editorial voice to correct or challenge an assertion made by the subject of his story? What if the assertion is not central to the story at hand? What if the assertion is in line with convention wisdom, but is not true? This item in a suburban newspaper serving the Hampstead and Highgate area of the London borough of... Read more

Faith and that grieving Ravens wide receiver

Last updated on: September 25, 2012 at 10:28 am By tmatt

The Baltimore Ravens won a grudge match with the New England Patriots the other night because star wide receiver Torrey Smith made the decision to take the field hours after he learned about the death of his 19-year-old younger brother. The two were especially close, since Torrey had served as a father figure after his father abandoned the family. This was one of those sports stories in which the God card was played early and often, but — of course... Read more