{"id":107768,"date":"2013-07-03T16:30:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T20:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?p=107768"},"modified":"2013-07-03T12:48:29","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T16:48:29","slug":"painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/","title":{"rendered":"Painful silences in CBS chat on same-sex marriage rulings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/embed><\/p>\n

OK, follow me carefully here, because it is especially interesting who passed the following item news along.<\/p>\n

I read quite a few Catholic blogs, and follow the headlines at New Advent<\/a>, but I had never heard of the self-proclaimed conservative Catholic blogger\/geek who uses \u201cDa Tech Guy\u201d as his cyber-persona<\/a>. However, this particular blogger recently offered up an interesting analysis of a not-so-shining moment<\/a> in the long, distinguished career of reporter\/anchor Bob Schieffer at CBS News.<\/p>\n

More on the content of that post in a moment.<\/p>\n

The key, for me, was that I learned about this post by seeing \u2014 via Twitter \u2014 a post by Deacon Greg Kandra<\/a>, who runs the excellent \u201cThe Deacon\u2019s Bench\u201d blog, which is part of the whole Patheos Catholic blogosphere. The good deacon ran his post under this rather GetReligion-esque headline:<\/p>\n

Great Moments in Journalism: Wherein Bob Schieffer Learns a Thing or Two About Gay Marriage<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now that\u2019s a bit snarky, especially as a comment by a Catholic clergyman.<\/p>\n

However, at that point it\u2019s crucial to know a little bit about this deacon<\/a> and his interests in all things journalism. His current online mini-bio hits the basics:<\/p>\n

Deacon Greg Kandra is a Roman Catholic deacon serving the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York. A veteran broadcast journalist, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News in both New York and Washington. He now serves as the Multimedia Editor of Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), overseeing editorial content for its acclaimed magazine, ONE, and its award-winning blog, ONE-TO-ONE. For his work in broadcasting, Deacon Greg has been honored with every major award in the industry, including two George Foster Peabody Awards, two Emmy Awards, the Christopher Award and four awards from the Writers Guild of America.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, Kandra knows a thing or two about CBS News and what goes on in elite broadcast journalism organizations. Also, he made it clear, as he passed along the Schieffer item, that he was not trying to bash the journalist. Still, he thinks this particular broadcast offered sharp insights into the mindset of elites in this level of newsroom.<\/p>\n

Now, Bob Schieffer is one of the most seasoned journalists still plying the trade \u2014 the only CBS News Correspondent to have covered the White House, State Department, Pentagon and Congress \u2014 and one of the few broadcasters who can claim deep roots in the world of print. (He was a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/em> back in the day.) He\u2019s a reporter\u2019s reporter, with uncanny instincts, a Rolodex full of amazing sources, and a real talent for writing and interviewing. <\/p>\n

I speak here from personal experience: he\u2019s also a very nice guy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This brings us back to the actual Da Tech Guy commentary<\/a>, as passed along by the deacon. This is long, but includes transcribed material in italics<\/em> from the Sunday broadcast:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There was a moment during Sunday\u2019s victory lap on the News shows for gay marriage and its media allies who support it that was very telling. Bob Schieffer the oldest and fairest (and that\u2019s not saying much) of the Sunday Morning Hosts in the MSM had just finished speaking with Ted Olsen and brought on Tony Perkins of the Family Research Counsel to talk the Gay Marriage Issue.<\/p>\n

TONY PERKINS:<\/strong> \u2026 We\u2019re already seeing bakers and florists and photographers forced to participate in same-sex marriages under the threat of law and in some cases even jail. I can\u2019t think of anything that\u2019s more un-American than that. So I think as Americans see that there\u2019s a lot more to same-sex marriage than simply two people who love each other that they\u2019ll have time to reconsider this and\u2013 and\u2013 and decide whether or not we want to trade fundamental freedoms of speech and religion for the right of two people who love each other, which they can do now. They can live together, but can they redefine marriage in the rest of society with it?<\/em><\/p>\n

Now to us in Massachusetts and who have been following the ride of the tolerance police, those sentences are nothing extraordinary but Bob Schieffer had no idea what Tony Perkins was talking about.<\/p>\n

BOB SCHIEFFER:<\/strong> How is it that bakers and florists are being forced to participate in this? I\u2019m not sure I understand what you\u2019re saying here.<\/em><\/p>\n

Perkins then educates him.<\/p>\n

TONY PERKINS:<\/strong> Well, we\u2019re seeing in Washington State, Colorado, and some of the other states that have these anti\u2013 anti-discrimination statutes that are being imposed that when a same sex couple comes and says \u201cI want you to take pictures of my wedding or I want you to bake a cake.\u201d And they say, look, my religious convictions will not allow me participate in that, they\u2019re literally being sued by the government, not the individuals, and they\u2019ve even been adjudicated in such places as New Mexico. So we\u2019re going to see a loss of religious freedom. There is no question about it. It\u2019s already happening.<\/em><\/p>\n

Schieffer seems to be totally caught off guard by this, as evidenced by his hesitation in the following question.<\/p>\n

BOB SCHIEFFER:<\/strong> How many \u2014 how many lawsuits have been filed on that? Because I must say this is under my radar. I haven\u2019t \u2014 I haven\u2019t heard this.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thus, there is this final summary quotation, with the bold words noted by Da Tech Guy:<\/p>\n

TONY PERKINS:<\/em><\/strong> Well, you know, Bob, that\u2019s a great point. Because the media\u2019s not reporting on this because they realize there\u2019s a lot more behind this than the marriage altar.<\/strong> It\u2019s literally about altering the landscape of America. There are a number of suits. I mean just a few weeks ago in Colorado one was filed. So this is happening. And it\u2019s the reality that people will come to face to face with over time because right now same-sex marriage is limited to twelve jurisdictions. And as more people see that their freedoms, the freedoms of parents to determine what their children are taught, to be able to live your life according to your faith, and all of that\u2019s at risk here. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the moral of this story? As I tell my journalism students, it\u2019s very hard to cover a story when you don\u2019t know that it exists. It\u2019s even harder to cover a story when the existence of the story clashes, in some way, with your worldview and the dominant worldview of the professionals in the newsroom in which you work.<\/p>\n

Right now, there are lots of journalists who simply do not see the potential religious-liberty complications \u2014 even after they are acknowledged by President Barack Obama and some liberal jurists \u2014 of the same-sex marriage revolution. These journalists don\u2019t, on a regular basis, run into many people who know the arguments and the facts that are cited by articulate sources on the other side of the issue \u2014 which is a must for balanced, accurate coverage of this debate. Journalists need to listen to people on both sides.<\/p>\n

Or, here is how Deacon Kandra put it, right after affirming that Schieffer is a pro\u2019s pro and a great guy:<\/p>\n

But he really should get out more.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OK, follow me carefully here, because it is especially interesting who passed the following item news along. I read quite a few Catholic blogs, and follow the headlines at New Advent, but I had never heard of the self-proclaimed conservative Catholic blogger\/geek who uses \u201cDa Tech Guy\u201d as his cyber-persona. However, this particular blogger recently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,7,58,18,3,23,12,71,4],"tags":[1906,339,1907,374,525],"class_list":["post-107768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholicism","category-journalism","category-marriage-family","category-people","category-politics","category-radio-and-tv","category-religion","category-same-sex-marriage","category-social-issues","tag-bob-schieffer","tag-cbs-news","tag-deacon-greg-kandra","tag-homosexuality","tag-media-bias"],"yoast_head":"\nPainful silences in CBS chat on same-sex marriage rulings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"OK, follow me carefully here, because it is especially interesting who passed the following item news along. I read quite a few Catholic blogs, and follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Painful silences in CBS chat on same-sex marriage rulings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OK, follow me carefully here, because it is especially interesting who passed the following item news along. I read quite a few Catholic blogs, and follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GetReligion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-03T20:30:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-07-03T16:48:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/\",\"name\":\"Painful silences in CBS chat on same-sex marriage rulings\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-03T20:30:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-03T16:48:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"OK, follow me carefully here, because it is especially interesting who passed the following item news along. I read quite a few Catholic blogs, and follow\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Painful silences in CBS chat on same-sex marriage rulings\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/\",\"name\":\"GetReligion\",\"description\":\""The press . . . just doesn't get religion." - William Schneider\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a42e72927fb665669c4e8531d08ce40?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a42e72927fb665669c4e8531d08ce40?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tmatt\"},\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/author\/tmatt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Painful silences in CBS chat on same-sex marriage rulings","description":"OK, follow me carefully here, because it is especially interesting who passed the following item news along. I read quite a few Catholic blogs, and follow","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Painful silences in CBS chat on same-sex marriage rulings","og_description":"OK, follow me carefully here, because it is especially interesting who passed the following item news along. I read quite a few Catholic blogs, and follow","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/","og_site_name":"GetReligion","article_published_time":"2013-07-03T20:30:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-07-03T16:48:29+00:00","author":"tmatt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tmatt","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/","name":"Painful silences in CBS chat on same-sex marriage rulings","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-07-03T20:30:36+00:00","dateModified":"2013-07-03T16:48:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1"},"description":"OK, follow me carefully here, because it is especially interesting who passed the following item news along. I read quite a few Catholic blogs, and follow","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/painful-silences-in-cbs-chat-on-same-sex-marriage-rulings\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Painful silences in CBS chat on same-sex marriage rulings"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/","name":"GetReligion","description":""The press . . . just doesn't get religion." - William Schneider","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1","name":"tmatt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a42e72927fb665669c4e8531d08ce40?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a42e72927fb665669c4e8531d08ce40?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tmatt"},"description":"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/author\/tmatt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107768\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}