Tintin and the Catholic Charismatics

Last updated on: June 10, 2013 at 10:29 am By geoconger

The story so far … Intrepid reporter Tintin, accompanied by his faithful fox terrier Snowy, has travel to Brazil to report on the preparations for the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day celebrations in July. Upon his arrival Tintin finds the natives have abandoned their base communities and liberation theology for Catholic Pentecostalism. Who is behind this tragedy? Soviets, American gangsters, Jews? Can our hero rescue the church from the clutches of charismatics in Brazil? I write in jest — this disclaimer is for... Read more

Political reporters learn about St. Augustine. Chaos ensues.

Last updated on: June 9, 2013 at 4:15 pm By mollie

On Friday, Angus Dwyer wrote on Twitter: You’ll never guess what uncontroversial Christian doctrine this Republican candidate and/or office-holder believes! Yes, friends, it’s that time of month again, when political reporters discover Christian doctrine and write BuzzFeed-style pieces about how outrageous said doctrine is! This weekend’s example comes, conveniently enough, from BuzzFeed’s own Andrew Kaczynski: Virginia Republican Lt. Governor candidate E.W. Jackson candidate said birth defects are caused by sin. The headline and subhed: Va. Republican Lt. Governor Candidate Said... Read more

Pod people: ‘Mass exodus’ from the Boy Scouts?

Last updated on: June 8, 2013 at 12:19 pm By Bobby Ross Jr.

One of the wonderful things about writing is the ability to type something, decide it’s not precisely exactly what you wanted to say, delete it and start over. Alas, when you’re recording a podcast — let’s say, with Todd Wilken of “Crossroads” — you don’t have that luxury. Instead, you’re responding to questions off the cuff and thinking out loud. So, please enjoy a trip inside my (scatter)brain in the latest GetReligion podcast. Wilken and I discuss media coverage of the... Read more

Ghosts in interview with Navy SEAL sniper’s widow

Last updated on: June 10, 2013 at 2:19 pm By Bobby Ross Jr.

This past weekend, The Dallas Morning News ran an in-depth story on Taya Kyle, widow of slain Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67_ePFt8yLA It’s one of those meaty, emotional stories that make Sunday the best day of the week to read the newspaper. (Unfortunately for non-subscribers, the nearly 2,000-word piece is mostly hidden behind a paywall.) Here’s the compelling lede: The first Saturday in February began in typical fashion, Taya Kyle recalled, with “kid sports” on the agenda. Taya and her husband,... Read more

At WPost, even local abortion crime isn’t newsworthy

Last updated on: June 7, 2013 at 2:41 pm By mollie

On May 25, I tweeted out the image at the top of this post with the note “WaPo story about 12 of 16 surgical abortion clinics in MD having a variety of failures gets this headline?” The headline was: Md. abortion clinic lapses unrelated to patient death The online headline might as well have been “nothing to see here, please move along, we’re covering this just so we can say we did” but was slightly better: Md: ‘No deficiencies’ found... Read more

Why did a Catholic Raven skip White House visit? (updated)

Last updated on: June 7, 2013 at 1:15 pm By tmatt

Let’s create a journalism parable. Let’s say that there is a Republican president in office right now, one with ties to a somewhat doctrinaire form of Christianity. So, the day comes when the team that won the Super Bowl — perhaps it’s the Baltimore Ravens — makes its traditional media-friendly visit to the White House. However, later the press finds out that one member of the team has elected to boycott the ceremony and had a very interesting reason for... Read more

Boomers are killing themselves. Why?

Last updated on: June 6, 2013 at 2:40 pm By mollie

Tuesday’s front page of the Washington Post had a collection of interesting stories above the fold: “Justices uphold Md. law on DNA,” “For Hezbollah, a risky engagement in Syria,” a large and compelling photo of “Chaos in Turkey’s streets,” and “Why the sharp rise in suicides by boomers?” I’m not nearly so melancholy about the demise of the print news product as some I know, but this type of front page is what I love — happening upon interesting stories... Read more

When a pastor has an affair and nobody’s talking

Last updated on: June 6, 2013 at 9:28 am By Bobby Ross Jr.

A megachurch pastor resigns after admitting an affair. That sounds like a news story, right? Only problem: Outside of an official church statement, nobody seems to be talking. Not the pastor. Not the congregation’s leaders. Not anybody close to the situation, really. What’s a reporter to do? Well, a creative journalist could do worse than to follow the lead of Orlando Sentinel writer Jeff Kunerth, who recently turned the above lemon of a scenario into not one but two pitchers... Read more

WPost Style manages to print an interesting EWTN story

Last updated on: June 5, 2013 at 8:43 pm By tmatt

Whenever your GetReligionistas pick on the Style gods at The Washington Post — primarily with our pronouncements that alternative points of view are good things in features about controversial issues (perfect example here) — there is always someone out there in comment-pages land who tells us to lighten up and get real. After all, why should anyone expect the traditional rules of journalism to apply back in the once-fluffy pages of the Style section, even when the ace writers there... Read more

Seven questions about Boy Scout gay policy coverage

Last updated on: June 5, 2013 at 2:27 pm By Bobby Ross Jr.

Headlines over the Boy Scouts of America’s decision to allow openly gay members are still flying fast and furious. There’s been so much recent coverage, actually, that it’s impossible to critique all of it in a single post. So I thought I’d ask seven questions related to the decision and news coverage of it. 1. Does the new Boy Scout policy conflict with Catholic teaching? No, according to a Religion News Service report: (RNS) The U.S. Catholic Church’s top liaison... Read more