GetReligion

Abortion was the key to it all

2009-11-09T03:40:16Z

Several weeks ago, I received an email from one of the nation’s top political reporters. The bottom line: This reporter could not understand why editors and other reporters in the newsroom could not do the math and realize that the pro-life Democrats in the House of Representatives were serious. They wanted an up-or-down vote on the status of the Hyde Amendment and its attempts to ban federal funds from being spent to fund abortions.

Maybe the bishops really mattered

2009-11-08T22:37:36Z

Last night around midnight, the House of Representatives passed a health care bill by a narrow margin — 220 to 215. The Washington Post has the details.

The story explains that the package is complex and “would affect virtually every American and fundamentally alter vast swaths of the health insurance industry.” Private insurers would have to cover everyone (regardless of their risk) and would no longer be able to place limits on coverage. Premium increases will have to be run by federal regulators and “children” as old as 27-years-old will not be able to be removed from their parents’ policies. In four years time, a new insurance system would be established. Individual Americans would be forced to buy insurance and small businesses that don’t comply with the new requirement to provide insurance would be fined 8 percent of their payroll. A complex system to provide for low- and middle-income individuals through federal subsidies would be put in place along with the government itself entering the insurance marketplace.

Of course, Friday prayers were important

2009-11-07T18:20:57Z

Sometimes, it’s hard to believe what your ears are hearing — especially when you are listening to broadcast journalists having to work on deadline under tremendous amounts of pressure. That is why journalists hire experts, people to help them navigate the dense and often tricky language and symbolism of complex organizations, rituals and traditions.

Surveying Muslim reaction to Ft. Hood

2009-11-07T04:56:08Z

Long before Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on Fort Hood, killing at least 13, there was a well-established formula for covering this story.

Start with shock and awe. Then, as information starts to get out, report that the suspected shooter has an Arabic name. Confirm that he was, in fact, a Muslim. Once that has settled in, add to the story about motive the possibility of jihad and the references to 9/11. Finally, within short order, fill out the picture with a story about American Muslims condemning the alleged act of their misguided brother.

Washington Post delivers on deadline

2009-11-06T19:09:06Z

I am always amazed (and I must confess, intimidated) by the quality of journalistic work that true professionals are able to do on deadline.

Of course, the Washington Post had a totally unfair advantage on other national-market newspapers when the story broke at Ford Hood. While Sunbelt newspapers were closer to the action on the ground (and some did not use that location to much advantage), the Post was able to turn its attention to the people who had the best first-hand information on the background of the alleged gunman.

Fort Hood: Speculation vs. facts

2009-11-06T12:17:39Z

Yesterday a U.S. Army major opened fire on a military processing center at Fort Hood in Texas, killing 12 people and wounding 30, according to various media reports. Whenever major news breaks, information flies around fast and much of it turns out to be inaccurate.

Haggard and Dobson revisited

2009-11-06T01:49:52Z

Mark Barna has his hands full covering religion at the Colorado Springs Gazette. This morning’s two news stories on evangelical leaders varied from solid to so-so.

Appearing top right on A1 is an update on Ted Haggard, the once high-flying leader of the National Association of Evangelicals who was laid low by a squalid gay sex and drugs scandal. This morning’s story says: “Haggard starting new church at his Springs home”:

Mormons still to blame, somehow

2009-11-05T20:32:15Z

TMatt has been looking at some of the larger issues of framing in coverage of Maine’s vote to overturn a law legalizing same-sex marriage. But I’m also curious about some of the nitty gritty. I’ve been meaning to look at some of the coverage for days so let’s begin with this pre-election story by the Washington Post’s Karl Vick. The story explains the situation — the legislature passed and the governor signed a bill to permit same-sex couples to marry and gets his perspective that the “libertarian” Maine will note vote to overturn that law. The campaign against same-sex marriage, we learn, is drawing heavily on its communications strategy from their successful fight over the same issue in California last year. And then this:

Behold, the messianic!

2009-11-05T17:40:32Z

And now for something entirely different …

Jack Teitel has attracted a lot of media attention since the Sabbath. An American Jew who made aliyah in 2000, Teitel was arrested by Israeli police and charged with several acts of terror, including the murder of two Palestinians in 1997, the bombing of a leftist Israeli professor’s house and the Purim bombing of a teenage boy. Police said Teitel also took credit for killing two gay Jews in Tel Aviv in August — though he hadn’t actually been involved.

From cheerleading to coaching

2009-11-05T16:46:32Z

Second verse, same as the first.

As I continue to read the New York Times coverage of the Maine vote, my mind drifted back to these lines from Daniel Okrent, the newspaper’s former ombudsman, in his infamous 2004 column entitled “Is The New York Times a Liberal Newspaper?” News junkies will recall that his lede said bluntly, “Of course it is.”

Failing to connect the dots

2009-11-05T00:45:34Z

Elections are like Super Bowls for political journalists. It’s usually the big game that everybody has been waiting for, and although last night was quiet compared to last year, many outlets focused on the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia.

Maine point: Someone loses, someone wins?

2009-11-04T20:52:17Z

Here’s the thought for the day, as you ponder the headlines out of Maine. This famous quote is taken from “The Press and Foreign Policy” by Bernard C. Cohen:

” … (The) press is significantly more than a purveyor of information and opinion. It may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think ABOUT. And it follows from this that the world looks different to different people, depending not only on their personal interests, but also on the map that is drawn for them by the writers, editors, and publishers of the papers they read.”

Jesus and the World Series

2009-11-04T06:16:57Z

Even though I’m not a big fan of either the New York Yankees or the Philadelphia Phillies, I’ve watched and enjoyed this year’s World Series. I didn’t expect there to be much of a religion angle in the coverage of either team, but really enjoyed Andy Martino’s profile of Phillie pitcher Brad Lidge (who, it must be said, didn’t have a great Game 4 the other night) in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Headline FAIL

2009-11-03T19:49:01Z

USA Today put the following headline on Associated Press religion reporter Eric Gorski’s story about James Dobson stepping down from Focus on the Family’s main radio broadcast:

Evangelist Dobson parts ways with radio show, Focus on the Family

Noor Faleh Almaleki is dead

2009-11-03T19:34:20Z

Noor Faleh Almaleki has died in Phoenix. Thus, we have another development in the case of her father, 48-year-old Faleh Hassan Almaleki, who fled the United States after it is alleged that he hit the 20-year-old Noor and the mother of her boyfriend with his car.