{"id":93137,"date":"2012-08-19T06:00:42","date_gmt":"2012-08-19T10:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?p=93137"},"modified":"2012-08-19T17:41:59","modified_gmt":"2012-08-19T21:41:59","slug":"pod-people-goofy-catholics-and-mercy-for-murderers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2012\/08\/pod-people-goofy-catholics-and-mercy-for-murderers\/","title":{"rendered":"Pod People: Goofy Catholics and Mercy for Murderers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In this week\u2019s podcast Issues Etc<\/em>.<\/a> host Todd Wilkin and I discussed three recent GetReligion<\/em> stories: Doggie Masses<\/a> offered by Inclusive Catholics in Australia, one-sided reporting on Missouri\u2019s Amendment 2<\/a>, and the parole of Michelle Martin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Todd opened the show asking why I had lambasted the coverage of the Public Prayer Amendment in Missouri in the report from RNS. The gist of my response was that the article was unbalanced. Offering man on the street responses from Columbia, Missouri (a liberal university town not representative of the state as a whole) was unwise.\u00a0 Having three \u201cno\u2019s\u201d to one \u201cyes\u201d quotes when \u201cyes\u201d garnered 83 per cent of the vote was a text book case of how not to use man in the street quotes. The preponderance of negative coverage was in inverse proportion to the amendment\u2019s support. A political reporter should not allow his own feelings of disgust with the ignorance of the electorate to color the story.<\/p>\n

Our discussion of the coverage of the Inclusive Catholic Mass in Melbourne centered on whether or not the author of the article was making sport of the subjects of his story. I could not answer the question. If I had wanted to ridicule Inclusive Catholics I would have written the article the way the religion reporter for The Age<\/em> did by showcasing the foolishness of the geriatric hipsters in the story. Todd suggested the reporter may have\u00a0 written the article in a sympathetic tone \u2014 and what I found absurd the reporter found enchanting. So we are left with the mystery of ridicule or reverence.<\/p>\n

The discussion of the parole of Michelle Martin touched mainly on the diversity of the Belgian press \u2014 Catholic, secular, liberal, conservative. The original report in GetReligion<\/em> prompted discussion in the wider blogosphere that I followed with great interest.<\/p>\n

Writing in the American Conservative<\/em>, Rod Dreher\u2019s article \u201cBelgian Nuns<\/a> Help Free (Sort Of) A Monster\u201d showcased the sharply divided opinions about the underlying story. It also pointed out the limits of GetReligion<\/em>\u2018s coverage which focuses on the reporting, not on the underlying story.<\/p>\n

This can be frustrating at times as there is a latent opinion journalists in every reporter \u2014 but at GetReligion<\/em> we are charged with reporting on the reporting. However, part of the fun of appearing on Issues, Etc.<\/em>, is that I can let fly every so often with an opinion about the issues.<\/p>\n

So GetReligion<\/em> readers, drop on by the Issues, Etc,<\/em> podcast page and hear me make fun of Inclusive Catholics<\/del> offer sober analyses of religion reporting.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this week\u2019s podcast Issues Etc. host Todd Wilkin and I discussed three recent GetReligion stories: Doggie Masses offered by Inclusive Catholics in Australia, one-sided reporting on Missouri\u2019s Amendment 2, and the parole of Michelle Martin. Todd opened the show asking why I had lambasted the coverage of the Public Prayer Amendment in Missouri in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":600,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,7,68,3,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholicism","category-journalism","category-getreligion-podcasts","category-politics","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\nPod People: Goofy Catholics and Mercy for Murderers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this week\u2019s podcast Issues Etc. host Todd Wilkin and I discussed three recent GetReligion stories: Doggie Masses offered by Inclusive Catholics in\" \/>\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\/2012\/08\/pod-people-goofy-catholics-and-mercy-for-murderers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pod People: Goofy Catholics and Mercy for Murderers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this week\u2019s podcast Issues Etc. host Todd Wilkin and I discussed three recent GetReligion stories: Doggie Masses offered by Inclusive Catholics in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2012\/08\/pod-people-goofy-catholics-and-mercy-for-murderers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GetReligion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-19T10:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-08-19T21:41:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/files\/2012\/08\/Pod-People.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"geoconger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"geoconger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 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\/2012\/08\/pod-people-goofy-catholics-and-mercy-for-murderers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2012\/08\/pod-people-goofy-catholics-and-mercy-for-murderers\/\",\"name\":\"Pod People: Goofy Catholics and Mercy for Murderers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-19T10:00:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-19T21:41:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/5344a38d25f08ff2bda8bdba054cc062\"},\"description\":\"In this week\u2019s podcast Issues Etc. host Todd Wilkin and I discussed three recent GetReligion stories: Doggie Masses offered by Inclusive Catholics in\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2012\/08\/pod-people-goofy-catholics-and-mercy-for-murderers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2012\/08\/pod-people-goofy-catholics-and-mercy-for-murderers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2012\/08\/pod-people-goofy-catholics-and-mercy-for-murderers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pod People: Goofy Catholics and Mercy for Murderers\"}]},{\"@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." - 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