Wait, Baltimore’s archbishop is a national voice on WHAT?

Last updated on: June 27, 2013 at 11:45 am By tmatt

As one would imagine, the editorial team that produces the newspaper that lands in my front yard in the liberal environs of greater Baltimore was celebrating a great victory yesterday. I am, of course, talking abou those U.S. Supreme Court decisions that were consistent with the newspaper’s longstanding and clearly stated editorial stance on all matters linked to gay rights. Thus, it would have been miraculous to have seen any degree of editorial balance in the large package of coverage... Read more

That stark divide in Catholics in America and on high court

Last updated on: June 26, 2013 at 12:30 pm By tmatt

Shortly before Barack Obama reached the White House, pollster John C. Green of the University of Akron visited the classroom here at the Washington Journalism Center to meet with a circle of mainstream journalists from around the world. At one point during his presentation, he created a chart detailing the changing landscape of religion in contemporary America. The key was that a solid belt of religious believers — something like 20 percent or so — remained on the cultural right,... Read more

Reuters engages in papal Kremlinology

Last updated on: June 26, 2013 at 9:44 am By geoconger

Pope Francis did not attend a musical gala last Saturday evening at the Vatican due to the press of work. This event prompted fierce speculation in the Italian press and a bout of papal Kremlinology from Reuters. It may well be the pope’s absence from a concert given by the RAI symphony orchestra on 22 June 2013 was a deliberate snub — but the heavy breathing and speculation that stands in for factual reporting here does not engender confidence that... Read more

Clear eyes, full heart, can’t stop advocating for abortion

Last updated on: June 27, 2013 at 11:25 pm By mollie

Last night, reporters were very excited to tweet extensively about an abortion filibuster going on in Texas. While reporters struggled and struggled and struggled to find any reason at all to cover abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell’s trial, there was no struggle at all to give extensive coverage to Texas Sen. Wendy Davis’ filibustering of a bill that would protect unborn children who had made it to 20 weeks’ gestation, would require abortion clinics to meet the standards of other ambulatory... Read more

AP’s abominable (but familiar) abortion approach

Last updated on: June 25, 2013 at 10:25 pm By mollie

So I guess the Associated Press’ reportorial staff in Texas is on vacation this week. Good for them! I hope they’re having a great time. Not good for news consumers, though, as AP coverage of the Texas legislature couldn’t be worse right now. Take this four-paragraph, six-sentence story published on USA Today that began: AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republicans armed with Bible verses have given preliminary approval to some of the strictest abortion regulations in the country as time runs... Read more

Mormon missionaries: switching from bikes to iPads?

Last updated on: June 25, 2013 at 2:11 pm By Bobby Ross Jr.

From CBS News: SALT LAKE CITY — The common image of Mormon missionaries has long been two young men wearing white shirts and ties walking through neighborhoods, knocking door-to-door. I can attest to that image. Just last week, while on a reporting trip to Nicaragua, I kept running into Mormon missionaries fitting the above description — on a dirt street in a poor neighborhood, at a pizza place in a busy commercial district and elsewhere. Now, it seems, that image... Read more

Godless congregations copying Christian churches

Last updated on: June 25, 2013 at 9:38 am By Joe Carter

Every year, approximately 4,000 new churches are started in the U.S. Out of that number, approximately 4,000 will receive no attention from the New York Times. So what makes Jerry DeWitt’s new church – located in a Hilton Hotel ballroom in Baton Rouge, Louisiana – worthy of a feature in America’s greatest newspaper? Perhaps it’s because DeWitt, a former Pentecostal preacher, had the marketing savvy to bill his church launch as “Louisiana’s first atheist service.” It would have been easy... Read more

Journalism highs and lows: Christianity and gays edition

Last updated on: June 24, 2013 at 7:12 pm By mollie

I’m elated to be able to highlight a wonderful article headlined “Christians’ views vary on gay marriage.” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette news piece shared just that — how Christians view marriage and why. A sample from the work: Most opposition to same-sex civil marriage is rooted in religious conviction. A recent Pew poll found that 73 percent of those who believe that gay sex is sinful oppose it, while 84 percent of those who say it’s not a sin support it.... Read more

The Age gives ex-gay ministries a fair hearing

Last updated on: June 24, 2013 at 7:15 pm By geoconger

There was a man bites dog story in the Australian press that caught my eye this week. It was not this story from the Sydney Morning Herald entitled “Man bites dog, goes to hospital” but an article in The Age reporting on reactions to the closure of the US-based ministry Exodus International. The cynic in me was not expecting much from an article entitled “‘Gay cure‘ therapy will continue”. As my colleagues at GetReligion have pointed out the media has... Read more

Attention liberals: Blasphemy cases on the rise in Egypt

Last updated on: June 24, 2013 at 10:57 am By tmatt

As I have said numerous times, I cannot imagine how hard it must be to cover the aftermath of the Arab Spring in a land as complex as Egypt, especially in news articles of a thousand words or less. For example, some of the key terms used by people at the heart of the events — “Islamist” is the best example — are being used in vague ways that make them almost impossible for outsiders to understand. What is the... Read more