{"id":1799,"date":"2007-09-04T08:07:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-04T08:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/09\/what-the-2.html"},"modified":"2007-09-04T08:07:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-04T08:07:00","slug":"what-the-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/09\/what-the-2.html","title":{"rendered":"“What the … ?!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>“Can’t you guys get anything right?”<\/p>\n

I hear that a lot from people who are unhappy with the way we in the mainstream media cover the Church. <\/p>\n

And it’s not just Catholicism the press gets wrong. It’s almost all religions and all denominations (though, admittedly, the Catholic Church has a longer and more colorful history than most, and speaks a language of faith that is utterly alien to many people.) <\/p>\n

Now, Our Sunday Visitor has decided to try and find out why we keep screwing it up<\/a>: <\/p>\n

According to Raymond Arroyo, veteran journalist and host of EWTN\u2019s \u201cThe World Over,\u201d one of, if not the greatest, problem in the mainstream media\u2019s religion reporting is the reporters themselves. Many, he said, have little or no religious training, view faith as a mere curiosity and can\u2019t understand the significance of what they\u2019re covering. They also, he said, lack basic knowledge of religious history and doctrine.<\/p>\n

Arroyo recalled one journalist for a major network approaching him at the papal conclave in 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018I know they call this the Holy See, so when did the water recede?\u2019 And he was being serious,\u201d Arroyo told Our Sunday Visitor.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost journalists are stone dumb when it comes to theological matters. And this is a complex beat. You\u2019re dealing with thousands of years of history and laws,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard enough for me to get it right as a lifelong Catholic.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of that, Krista Tippett, who hosts the weekly National Public Radio program \u201cSpeaking of Faith,\u201d believes most journalists approach religion assuming that it\u2019s subjective and, therefore, not to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that most people sit down and decide that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the bias is there, which means journalists aren\u2019t taking the time and care to do the research and analysis they would for other stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

That problem isn\u2019t made any easier by the need for journalists to cover not one, but dozens of faith traditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could have a Ph.D. in religious studies, and I still wouldn\u2019t know enough,\u201d said Laurie Goodstein, the chief religion correspondent for The New York Times. \u201cThe sports staff has somebody devoted to basketball, somebody devoted to soccer, somebody devoted to college sports. But there are just two of us at the national religion desk. I have to cover the entire world of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reporters, of course, aren\u2019t the only ones to blame. There are also the folks who sit behind the desks at corporate headquarters, wanting to please the advertisers and garner top ratings. That want shapes the stories covered, the depth of coverage given and the headlines devised.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven good reporters are subject to the editorial desk,\u201d said Arroyo. \u201cAnd, at least in broadcast journalism, the Holy Grail these days is ratings \u2014 not communicating an idea, not understanding it, not getting a story right, but getting the largest audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a news culture dominated by sound bites, reporters also have the challenge of conveying complex ideas in two minutes of airtime or in 900 or fewer printed words. Which, according to Tippett, sets a reporter up for problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re talking about God, mystery, ultimate truth, we\u2019re talking about something that ultimately defies words,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to put the language of the public sphere on the ineffable. Religion is the most intimate thing you can ask people to talk about, but it ends up sounding trivialized when we squeeze it into soundbites.\u201d<\/p>\n

The end result of that type of reporting is not simply isolated mistakes that confuse Catholics and others, but rather a mistaken picture of religion as a whole, a picture that\u2019s increasingly dominant in American\u2019s conceptions of religion. That picture is essentially political, with religion becoming just one more place where \u201cconservatives\u201d and \u201cliberals\u201d square off against each other.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a picture of extremes, where only the loudest and most passionate voices get heard. \u201cThe sexy headline and strident voice are more exciting than the gentle voice,\u201d said Tippett. \u201cSo, we have this skewed picture of religious events and who religious people are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consistent errors in reporting also undermine people\u2019s trust in the source. More and more, Arroyo said, those errors are perceived as \u201cspin,\u201d and they\u2019re driving faithful people away from the traditional news outlets straight into the arms of alternative media, particularly talk radio. And that brings with it yet another set of problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasingly, people aren\u2019t getting solid reporting, they\u2019re getting opinion,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s especially bad for the church.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are at least a few correctives currently available in the mainstream press. Goodstein pointed to the Religion Newswriters Association, which educates journalists about how to cover the world of faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey play such an important role, both for those who have backgrounds and those who come in cold and have to learn everything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

There are also programs like Tippett\u2019s \u201cSpeaking of Faith\u201d and Bob Abernethy\u2019s PBS\u2019 \u201cReligion and Ethics Newsweekly.\u201d Both provide in-depth coverage of religious topics and feature interviews with religious leaders of all stripes. Abernethy started his program with the explicit intent of doing what wasn\u2019t being done elsewhere \u2014 recognizing the importance of religion in global events and individual lives and talking about it without pitting different perspectives against each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to be mindful of how precious these ideas and traditions are to people,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we try to probe the depths of the spiritual motivations people have for what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abernethy, who was born into a family of Baptist ministers, and Tippett, who holds a master\u2019s from Yale Divinity School, both see their personal faith shaping the way they approach religion news.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recognize that it\u2019s a valid part of life, that it\u2019s possible for intellectually-minded people to have deep faiths, and that faith makes real contributions to our understanding of the world,\u201d Tippett said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it gives me a better sense of what a good religion story is,\u201d added Abernethy. \u201cAnd I hope it makes me more sensitive to what people of deep faith tell me, that it makes me try harder to fairly represent what they say.\u201d
<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Amen. <\/p>\n

I might add: one of the best reporters covering this beat today, for my money, is Delia Gallagher<\/a> at CNN. She knows what she’s talking about — she plied her trade for several years at Zenit before making the leap to television — and she is blessed with a network that gives her the time and resources to do justice to the subject of faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Can’t you guys get anything right?” I hear that a lot from people who are unhappy with the way we in the mainstream media cover the Church. And it’s not just Catholicism the press gets wrong. 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