GetReligion

Finally.

I think someone may have had a journalistic epiphany on the whole Health and Human Services thing.

But before we go there, stop and, for a moment, join me in contemplating the following journalism puzzle.

Read more on Pod people: Birth control or religious liberty?…

Did you hear the one about the atheist doctor asked to treat Jehovah’s Witnesses who don’t believe in blood transfusions?

Well, it’s no joke, as the Los Angeles Times highlighted in a Column One story — the newspaper’s most prime real estate — this week:

Read more on LA Times fails to draw religious blood…

What we have embedded here is one of the worst pieces of journalism I’ve ever seen. I probably shouldn’t announce this, lest tmatt tell me to pack my bags, but I rarely if ever watch broadcast or cable news. I read my news online. The last time I watched ABC News was probably in the 1980s. But I was notified that the ABC piece was bad and so I searched it out. I almost wish I hadn’t. The performance of the mainstream media over this Komen funding issue has not reflected well on journalism in general.

Read more on Media genuflect before Church of Planned Parenthood…

Eight years ago, the Rt. Rev. Douglas LeBlanc clicked a button with his mouse and GetReligion went live. I wrote the first post on Feb. 1, 2004, but the site actually kicked into gear the next day.

Read more on Eight GetReligion comments after eight years…

Earlier this week, I noted the surprisingly restrained coverage of the Obama Administration’s mandate that religious institutions provide health insurance that includes subsidized contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, even if that coverage would violate their religious beliefs and consciences. Even when Catholic bishops came out en masse against the Health and Human Service’s regulation, the coverage was pretty subdued, if it was even found.

Read more on Media discover Planned Parenthood is controversial…

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If an Muslim radical makes death threats against a university audience in London, and the BBC does not report it, did it really happen?

Read more on See no evil, report no evil…

Back in the Stone Age, when student journalists still cut out headlines with X-Acto knives and pasted chemically drenched text to layout sheets with hot wax, I edited my campus newspaper.

In my early 20s at the time, I felt reasonably confident that I knew everything there was to know about journalism.

Read more on College newspaper in the rough…

It is with a certain sense of fear and trembling that I note that The New Yorker has published a long, detailed and emotionally devastating feature story on the Rutgers University case involving Dharun Ravi and the late Tyler Clementi. The double-deck headline on this “Reporter At Large” feature by Ian Parker is simple and eloquent:

Read more on A disconnect, a webcam, suicide and ink…

Earlier this week, we looked at a rather confused article about one man’s quest to get his baptism annulled. Well, the New York Daily News decided to do a baptism article that is even more confused:

Read more on One baptism, for the remission of sins…

We don’t usually deal with columns here at GetReligion, but every once in a while, one touches at the core of why we exist, the reason why we advocate so much for religion in the daily newspaper.

Read more on Parading atheistic ignorance…

Sometimes it’s easy to spot those stories where you think, “Wow, you should not try to tackle that subject in 5,000 words.” Or 500 words. Or three minutes.

A local Houston television station has taken on the bold task of answering the following question: “What does it mean to be a Christian?” Here’s the reporter’s intro:

Read more on Local TV tries to explain Christianity in 3 minutes…

This weekend, Catholics all over the country heard from their bishops. Why? Well, it hasn’t been major news in the secular media (although it certainly has been news), but the bishops of the Catholic Church told congregants that the church’s teachings and practice are under serious threat from the Obama Administration’s Health and Human Services Department. At Masses throughout the country, bishops’ words were read to congregants warning them about the threat. The American Papist has been keeping track of which bishops have spoken out and which have had their statements read at Masses. The list keeps growing but as I write this, it’s at 93 of 195 dioceses.

Read more on Catholics outraged, media unimpressed (UPDATED)…

An Ontario jury has convicted three members of the Shafia family — father, mother and son of an Afghan family living in Quebec — of murder in what has become Canada’s most notorious “honor killings” case. There has been some great crime and court reporting in the Shafia case, and the articles in the major newspapers are really quite good.

Read more on Canadian honor killings and Islam…

As faithful readers of this weblog will know, your GetReligionistas are convinced that it is stunningly simplistic for journalists to talk about the “Catholic vote,” as if there was one mass of Catholics who agree on how they should apply centuries of Catholic doctrine to their actions in voting booths.

Read more on The Times, the White House & “Catholic colleges”…

Last week, I critiqued a Sacramento Bee story tied to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Mormon tithing.

The top of the Bee’s report:

Mitt Romney’s tax returns reveal that the Republican presidential candidate does something fewer Americans do these days: He tithes.

Read more on Pod people: More on Romney’s tithing…

NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday had a story about a 71-year-old atheist’s rather curious legal battle against the Catholic Church in France. Rene LeBouvier has taken the church to court over its refusal to let him “nullify” his baptism:

Read more on Wash away your affiliation…

It’s a subject that causes editors to sweat, knowing that their newsroom switchboards will almost certainly to explode if they dare to cover it. We are talking, of course, about (cue: drumroll) Mormon underwear.

Read more on BuzzFeed on Mormon, well, you know ……

On Thursday, we looked at the rather shocking slideshow at the Washington CBS affiliate. It was headlined:

Activists Hold Annual March For Life On Roe v. Wade Anniversary

But it somehow hadn’t shown a single picture of an activist at the March for Life! Instead, it showed multiple pictures of the same handful of pro-choice protesters who protested the massive March for Life.

Read more on Missing March for Life photos discovered…

The front page of Wednesday’s Independent is devoted to a story that chronicles the collapse of public and private morality in Britain.

The story entitled “Britain facing boom in dishonesty …”  reports that according to a study by the University of Essex, the British are:

Read more on Seinfeld nation…

One of the most poignant and complex stories in America the last few days has been the prolonged outpouring of grief at Penn State University for the legendary and, in some people’s minds fallen, football coach Joseph Paterno. The final memorial service drew 12,000 people and, naturally, it included remarks that touched on the Catholic faith of the deceased.

Read more on A few words (of faith) about Joe Paterno…