People

Thomas A. Szyszkiewicz: A farewell to GetReligion from Catholic radio

Thomas A. Szyszkiewicz: A farewell to GetReligion from Catholic radio

Twenty years is a good run.

Unfortunately, GetReligion should run for at least another 20 more years because the need is still there, and under the circumstances that Terry Mattingly has described of the current state of journalism, one could easily argue that the need is even greater now than it was when this weblog was born.

But alas and alack, it seems that those with the charge of doing actual journalism have not been listening to the wisdom emanating from the authors on this brave site.

Instead of a revival of the classic American style of objective reporting, the owners of the Fourth Estate have denominated themselves into camps according to their respective narratives. That leaves them completely closed to the possibility of learning something new, including how to cover the religion beat.

As a Catholic media pro, this has been especially hard to watch because it makes me believe that there’s an agenda here, whether journalism executives want to admit it or not. When USA Today sends out a breaking news alert that links to a story reporting what is old news on the clergy sex-abuse crisis, that makes a reader wonder why they are so uninformed about basic facts.

Clemente Lisi’s latest of many GetReligion posts about attacks on Catholic churches shows that it’s not getting any better.

We are talking about basic information, here.


Please respect our Commenting Policy

Julia Duin: It's been a long road and we've reached the end of our GetReligion journey

Julia Duin: It's been a long road and we've reached the end of our GetReligion journey

It’s been almost nine years since that day in February 2015 when Terry called me in Alaska to ask if I’d join the GetReligion team starting March 1.

(We already had a reminder of the Mattingly family sitting in our home; an enormous lion gifted by Terry and Debra to my daughter Veeka when she was 6 1/2, about the time she stayed with them for several days while I was on a reporting trip. I’ve included a photo of the Aslan-like creature with her delighted face just after she received it. The lion still keeps vigil by her window).

The GetReligion assignment, Terry told me, was that I’d concentrate on West Coast media and culture wars coverage.

 Since then, my writing has ranged w-a-y beyond that, from John Allen Chau to Josh Harris. I have picked up a lot about analytical writing, hopefully have not made too many enemies and have shown some light into dark corners.

Sometimes I hit it out of the park. With the election of President Donald Trump and the ascendancy of his pastor, Rev. Paula White, I spread word of  an ascendant Pentecostal/charismatic movement that was way more powerful than its non-charismatic evangelical counterpart.

This was years ahead of the curve. Not a whole lot of folks were listening until Jan. 6, 2021.

But you, dear readers, were seeing it here first, starting my Nov. 10, 2020, column that begins with the frantic prayers in White’s Florida church in the face of a Trump loss. By the time my Dec. 15, 2020, column about the “Jericho March” in DC surfaced, there were prophets nationwide saying Trump would win no matter what and other disturbing trends that not enough reporters were tracking.

Why? These prophets were considered wackos by most.

My Jan. 11, 2021, column, about the aftermath of Jan. 6 (when some of those ‘wackos’ showed up on the streets of Washington) and the resulting “civil war” among charismatics got a lot more ears — and a ton of hits. By this time, the “Trump prophets” who had erroneously prophesied that the 45th president would win a second consecutive term were in the middle of a theological maelstrom. The day of Biden’s inauguration, I penned one last column on the topic here.

I count the work I did on the prophets and my coverage on Cardinal Theodore McCarrick as among the best work I did for this blog.


Please respect our Commenting Policy

A salute from north of the border, care of CBC Radio veteran Anna-Liza Kozma

A salute from north of the border, care of CBC Radio veteran Anna-Liza Kozma

“What do you mean by blog?” I asked my friend Terry Mattingly nearly a quarter of a century ago in Jerusalem as we attended a conference on religion in the news, which took place just before Pope John Paul II's millennial visit.

“The style is informal and conversational,” tmatt explained. “And,” he promised, “It won't take you as long to write a blog post as it does a news story or a column.”

Terry's vision was to create an online place — we didn't use the word platform then — for journalists to write what he called orphaned religion stories. You know, religion ghost stories, stories with missing in action religion hooks, buried in plain sight.

I was fascinated and sceptical.

I was fascinated because I was writing and producing CBC radio's “spirituality” show and steering it towards the kind of unembarrassed religion coverage I'd grown up with on the BBC. As a career-long public broadcasting staffer who assuaged my writing itch by freelancing, I loved talking to unusual,thoughtful people. As a baptised Catholic turned Anglican via British Evangelicalism, I knew the religion beat was full of unheard voices. L'Abri and Os Guinness had taught me that journalism was as worthwhile a vocation as being a vicar or an academic or a mother. You could even combine them!

How I longed to be part of Terry's vision. But I was sceptical because as a full-time staffer at Canadian Broadcasting, I couldn't take on a regular commitment outside the Mothership. Worse still would be management perceiving my association with — God-Buddha-Allah forbid — a “religious” outfit of some kind making judgments about journalism.


Please respect our Commenting Policy

Kenneth Woodward: GetReligion, in so many ways, kept offering on-the-job training

Kenneth Woodward: GetReligion, in so many ways, kept offering on-the-job training

I never went to journalism school or took a journalism course. I learned on the job under a superb editor who never finished college.

Reading Terry Mattingly and his crew of smart contributors at GetReligion over the years was like that on-the-job training.

I especially relished the here’s-what’s-missing pieces pointing out the religion gaps in stories (“ghosts,” in GetReligion-speak), including essential questions that were not asked, core facts that were omitted and perspectives not sought.

Then there were the many can-you-hear-the-axes-grinding stories pointing out where ideology got in the way of basic reporting.

Also, there were the atta-boy pieces, too, that showered measured appreciation on work well done, angles found that no one else had noticed. That was the other side of the equation.

At Newsweek, where I labored for more years than Job had boils, once a story had been written and survived three layers of editors, we writers still had fact-checkers to answer to: Where’d you get that? Who was your source?

GetReligion did some of that too. But gently. More gently than I am inclined to do.

Mattingly and his mates could do all this because they think religion is an important dimension of public life and affairs, especially on matters tied to the First Amendment.

This would make them outliers in most newsrooms. I have the feeling that most of the folks who have written for GetReligion are religiously formed and convicted themselves, in various traditions. Which makes sense: I’ve always thought that those take their own religion seriously are better able than the religiously indifferent to grasp religions not their own.


Please respect our Commenting Policy

Doug LeBlanc bids farewell: I enjoyed my time in a journalism niche within a niche within a niche

Doug LeBlanc bids farewell: I enjoyed my time in a journalism niche within a niche within a niche

Terry Mattingly had been my faithful friend of about a decade when he invited me to help him launch GetReligion.org at the start of February, 2004.

The timing was right. I had reached a point of uncertainty about what new direction my journalism career would take.

GetReligion became a rewarding place to continue writing and learning basic skills in working with World Wide Web platforms. For any platform nerds who are keeping score, my favorite software remains WordPress.

I was never quite at ease as a religion-beat critic, but I found a niche of critiquing heavily flawed material and praising articles that reflected an understanding of religion’s importance in journalism.

Looking back, I think these posts best represent moments of enjoying my work with GetReligion.

* Johnny Cash’s table fellowship (Sept. 22, 2004)

* Jimmy Swaggart and the hairy swamp monkey (Sept. 23, 2004)

* NASCAR, Cabela’s — and Catholicism? (Feb. 18, 2005)

* Rick Warren’s tipping point (Sept. 10, 2005)

* Esquire explains it all for you (Nov. 6, 2005)

* Gangster of love (Nov. 13, 2008)

* Covering Rep. Gabbard’s American path to Hinduism, including some complex, tricky details (June 18, 2019)


Please respect our Commenting Policy

If a NFL coaching legend quotes scripture in a press conference, does it make a sound?

If a NFL coaching legend quotes scripture in a press conference, does it make a sound?

One more time.

For years, Bobby Ross, Jr., and I have written lots of posts about religion-shaped holes in mainstream sports coverage. Apparently, very few GetReligion readers were interested in this topic (as opposed to, let’s say, the American audience for a prime NFL game).

But we soldiered on. This brings me — one last time — to a curious case study involving my Baltimore Ravens (who are still in the Super Bowl hunt, at this point).

Recently, a commentator on one of the dozens of NFL commentary shows asked an interesting question: Why don’t we talk more about the ongoing success of John Harbaugh, the Ravens head coach since 2008? No one had a good answer.

But I will ask a related question: After the Raven’s 34-20 playoff victory over the Houston Texans, which video clip was easier to find? The one (a) with Harbaugh showing his dad-style dancing moves in the joyful locker room or the one (b) in which he opened his press conference, with a very serious tone of voice, with a favorite Bible quote?

Click those Google links and you will see that, once again, the role that Christian faith (Catholic, to be specific) plays in the life and work of this future Hall of Fame coach is a “conservative” news story. Period. The viral dancing moves are much more important.

Which element of these two elements of Harbaugh’s personality is the most important in his life and work? The most accurate answer is “BOTH.”

However, I suspect that Harbaugh would say that his faith is more important. This brings me to the point that Ross and I have tried to make about the faith-shaped hole in most sports news coverage (and Clemente Lisi has noted this in global soccer coverage, as well). We are not stating that it is automatically news when sports personalities talk about their faith. It is new when they consistently cite their faith as a crucial factor how and why they do what they do in their career and life.

In this case, Fox News (naturally) went with the basic facts: “Ravens head coach John Harbaugh recites Bible verse to open press conference after playoff win.”


Please respect our Commenting Policy

Reporters! Seek a variety of 'Internet' priests when covering hot-button Catholic issues

Reporters! Seek a variety of 'Internet' priests when covering hot-button Catholic issues

The Vatican’s decision to allow priests to bless couples in what they called “irregular relationships” continues to get lots of media attention.

The language in this confusing decree, issued last month, included individuals in same-sex relationships, which unleashed a flurry of news coverage. The issue was kept alive in the news after bishops — primarily from Africa — pushed back. That forced the Vatican to issue a clarification last week aimed at quelling dissent.

Journalists working on this story have largely done a poor job in quoting diverse views about this topic from the very men who are supposed to bestow such blessings — priests. I did that very thing on Jan. 4 at Religion Unplugged, where I serve as executive editor, when the Vatican issued a news release to clarify their original declaration. Here’s what I wrote for those of you who need a refresher:

Three weeks after announcing that Catholic priests could bless individuals in same-sex relationships, the Vatican published a clarification … following backlash — and even widespread confusion in many cases — from prelates across the world.

The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said in a news release that it wanted to “help clarify” the many reactions to Fiducia Supplicans, a decree issued on Dec. 18. In it, the Vatican urged a “full and calm reading” of the entire document to better understand “its meaning and purpose.”

The original decree had been signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernandez, who serves as the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Dec. 18 document, the Vatican said, was “clear and definitive” in regards to Catholic doctrine regarding church teaching on marriage and sexuality. Again, the Vatican said any blessings are for individuals — not the union — and must not be “liturgical or ritualized.”

“Evidently, there is no room to distance ourselves doctrinally from this declaration or to consider it heretical, contrary to the tradition of the church or blasphemous,” the latest statement added.

Quite of few bishops, especially in Africa, were doing quite a bit of explicit doctrinal distancing, if not outright slamming. That’s a newsworthy development, for sure.


Please respect our Commenting Policy

Thinking (with Clemente Lisi) about faith angle among the major White House hopefuls

Thinking (with Clemente Lisi) about faith angle among the major White House hopefuls

The 2024 presidential race will intensify in the coming weeks and months as we enter the primary season. The election season begins in earnest with the Iowa Caucuses on Jan. 15 and the New Hampshire primary eight days later.  

The Republican primary field has narrowed in recent months following a string of debates — although most polls show former President Donald Trump with a huge lead

President Joe Biden, meanwhile, faces some primary challengers, but is expected to be the Democratic Party’s nominee once again. 

As always, moral and cultural issues linked to religious faith are playing a major role in the White House campaign. Thus, here is some basic information to ponder about the major candidates.

REPUBLICANS

Donald Trump — Former president of the United States

Age: 77

Religion: Raised mainline Presbyterian, now a nondenominational Christian 

Bio: Trump is a real-estate mogul who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Despite a myriad of legal issues and the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, Trump remains the GOP’s frontrunner for the nomination.

On religion: “I grew up going to church with my family in New York City. My parents taught me the importance of faith and prayer from a young age. Though I was confirmed at a Presbyterian church as a child, I now consider myself to be a non-denominational Christian.” 


Please respect our Commenting Policy

Fiducia Supplicans news flashback: 5-star case of the medium being the message

Fiducia Supplicans news flashback: 5-star case of the medium being the message

Here is a fact from life on the religion beat. Several times a year, a religion-beat reporter is going to be approached by an editor who wants him or her to make a photo-assignment for a religious holiday or a story with some kind of religion hook.

They don’t want Southern Baptists in gray suits (or even megachurch tropical shirts). They don’t want Pentecostal believers in church clothes with their hands in the air. (Well, if there were snake-handlers in urban zip codes near elite newsrooms, they’d be big hits with newsroom photo-desks.)

Reporters know what editors want — pictures of Catholic rites. Catholics photograph well. That’s why there are 100 movies about Catholics for every one movie about run-of-the-mill Protestants. (Episcopalians will do, every now and then, especially since they always are several decades ahead of Rome on the historic “reforms,” such as female bishops, etc.)

This brings me, belatedly (I’ve had other things on my mind), to Fiducia Supplicans and what makes that complex and, I would argue, intentionally confusing document so newsworthy and historic.

This was a papal chess move that, in the fine print, stressed that its creators did NOT want to produce photo ops that looked like same-sex marriages. But the big news is that it did precisely that in the media that matter the most — newspapers and television networks in New York City and other deep-blue media environments.

It’s all about the staged visuals. If you look at Fiducia Supplicans from a photo-op perspective, the key New York Times story was perfect. The headline: “Making History on a Tuesday Morning, With the Church’s Blessing.

These blessing rites had been taking place in Europe for several years now (and privately, we can assume, in North America). The elite press ignored those events, even though — from a church history perspective — they were just as important as blessing rites In. New. York. City.

But anything in New York City, with America’s most important (and Pope Francis favored) priest in a starring role is obviously more important than something in Germany. Right? Now it’s time to celebrate.


Please respect our Commenting Policy