Faith in the News Pages: Religion Reporting’s Past, Present and Uncertain Future

In the September 8, 2008, issue of the Web newsletter Sightings, scholar and public religion advocate Martin E. Marty posted his thoughts about “the decline of print news,” in regard specifically to the death of religion sections and informed religion reporting by nationally recognized daily newspapers and other  media outlets. At a time, he said, when religion “secular news organizations are at last recognizing the role and power of religion,”(1) economic concerns are forcing editors to cut back on religion reporting. Marty says:

True, there are some wonderful examples of religious comment on TV and radio. …  But most religious news in such media has to be sensational, sound-bite length, accessed by those who are lured by grabbing headlines, and less frequently attracting attention by those who now learn much about religion in news because it leaps out from or sneaks into pages in which other items, mainly non-religious, are also being treated. (2)

However bleak this picture of religion news in daily newspapers might appear, there also seem to be some bright spots. Just as “faith isn’t just for Sundays,” as preachers often say, religion news isn’t just for the Saturday religion section or church page. Many newspapers in the United States do not have religion sections, but they, along with those that do, integrate coverage of religion throughout the entire paper.(3) The Religion Newswriters Association heralds the World Wide Web as the new home for in-depth religion coverage,(4) and that can be seen in the growth of religion-focused blogs. Some of these blogs are sponsored by the newspapers and are written by reporters, such as Manya Brachear’s The Seeker at the Chicago Tribune, Michael Paulson’s Articles of Faith at the Boston Globe, and the Religion Blog at the Dallas Morning News.

Other informative blogs or media portals are supported by think tanks: For example, GetReligion.org, a daily watchdog blog that examines news stories on religion for accuracy, depth and fairness, is a project of the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life; The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life posts links to religion-centered stories from newspapers, blogs and wire services; and the Religion Newswriters’ Association’s Web site features articles written by the association and association members, and its blog points readers to religion stories of interest. The Daily Kos, Huffington Post, BeliefNet and a host of other sites provides portals to religion-based commentary and information.

But for religion reporting in traditional media, such as the newspaper industry –– where the bulk of informed, researched articles about religion are born, no matter what page, Web or print, they originally appear –– religion reporting is in a state of change, and reporters and observers are still looking for the new models that will assure its future.

Religion coverage in newspapers has always had its cycles of boom and bust, as religion periodically takes a greater or lesser stage in local, national and world events covered by the daily print media. How religion is covered and the relationship reporters of daily newspapers have had with religious groups and the topic of religion itself has also waxed and waned in the history of American journalism.

What religion reporters face today is the challenge of presenting informative, responsible, multifaceted stories about an ever-widening variety of religious groups and  beliefs within a medium that is shrinking in both space and in diversity of viewpoints. This reduction in the journalistic landscape, along with newspaper management practices that have grown in the industry over the past several decades, have made it difficult for religion reporters to write stories that are responsible and informative rather than sensational and attention-grabbing, or plain and routine. In this environment, as newspapers struggle to find ways to revitalize their dying industry, the future of religion reporting may no longer lie with newspapers at all, and perhaps not within the traditional schemata of journalism itself.

Who, what and why

This series will focus on religion reporting by daily newspapers, as these are the primary sources for news stories used by other media, such as radio, television and Internet sites. I also will focus on daily newspapers because I have substantial professional background in this area. I have been a professional newspaper journalist for the past fifteen  years, and most recently ended my career as a news copy editor for The Oklahoman, the daily newspaper for the Oklahoma City metro area and the newspaper of record for the state of Oklahoma. Although I left The Oklahoman by choice –– in order to pursue my studies as a full-time Master of Divinity student at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa –– my departure coincided with a mass downsizing at The Oklahoman that led to the early retirements or layoffs of 15 percent of The Oklahoman’s work force.

In a September 3, 2008, article announcing the layoffs, The Oklahoman’s publisher David Thompson cited a number of typical factors that lead to the decline in sales and readership –– recession, losing readers to the Internet, increases in newsprint and transportation costs.(5) In early November, the newspaper announced that it would be cutting back its circulation.(6) I mention this to show that even a traditionally strong newspaper market like The Oklahoman’s is not immune to these changes that are unsettling the industry. However, I purposefully, in order to avoid any potential conflict of interest, did not focus on The Oklahoman and its practices in religion reporting.

In Two Weeks: The Evolution of the Religion Beat:
How Religious Journalism Started in the United States

Sources:
1 Martin E. Marty, “Religion Reporting,” in Sightings, September 8, 2008, http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2008/0908.shtml, (accessed October 28, 2008)
2 Marty, “Religion Reporting.”
3 Hannah Elliot, “Religion News Vies for Space as Newspapers Downsize,” Christian Century 124, no. 9 (2007): 17-18.
4 The Religion Newswriters Association, “The Basics: The Case for Covering Religion,” in Reporting on Religion: A Primer on Journalism’s Best Beat, ed. Debra Mason, http://www.rnasecure.org/guide/case.html, (accessed October 28, 2008).
5 “Newspaper to Cut Positions,” The Oklahoman, entry posted September 3, 2008, http://newsok.com/article/3292613 (accessed October 28, 2008).
6 “‘The Oklahoman’ Reduces Its Distribution,” Editor & Publisher, entry posted November 6, 2008, http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003888033, (accessed November 19, 2008).