Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Pretty Good Mission Statement

The great thing about the Web is how way leads on to way. You can forget where the trail started. That's how I stumbled on this essay at a publication called Ekklesia: A New Way of Thinking.
As someone who has hung out with the Religion Newswriters Association (RNA) types for a half century, I’d argue that the problem results not from villainy or bias so much as from the nature of things, and have come up with a formula: if religion is covered as news, the bad stuff will predominate; if it appears as features, the good side gets a chance to show.

News waits for someone to embezzle or kill or seduce another in the name of God. Features allow for creative reporters to get up close to believing and behaving people who use their imagination, faith, energy, and communal spirit to serve others.

(To read the full note at "Bad news and good news in religion reporting.")

The author uses a story in the New York Times to point out how these feature stories tell another side to religious infighting. Here it is: Kim Severson, 'For Some, Helping With Disaster Relief Is Not Just Aid, It’s a Calling,'

That's the goal at the Georgia Bulletin's story telling

What do you think? How do you think we are doing?

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