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Could I’ve a quick second, please, to ask a query to my fellow religion-beat reporters?
I’ve a mode query for you of us. Has the ever-evolving Related Press stylebook addressed the difficulty of whether or not the information beat on which we work can also be referred to as the “God beat,” the “Godbeat,” the “godbeat” or possibly the “gods beat”?
Simply asking. I asking that query as a result of many GetReligion readers might have seen the Faith Information Service piece by Bob Smietana that ran with this double-decker headline:
After 20 years, Terry Mattingly bids farewell to GetReligion
Faith reporting nonetheless issues, Mattingly says, however the web’s ‘preaching to the choir’ algorithms have gained out
In that information piece for mainstream newspapers, Smietana went with “ ‘God beat’ specialists” when describing religion-beat professionals. That’s fascinating, since I’ve at all times seen “Godbeat” because the official nickname (no less than for old-timers like me).
I ought to stress that Smietana and I talked for 90 minutes for this piece, after fairly just a few lengthy conversations over time. It’s a remarkably form piece, though I actually wished another GetReligionistas had been quoted.
I used to be glad that Smietana did this story. Final yr, the media-ethics professional Aly Colon of Washington and Lee College requested me to appoint some audio system for a pair of Poynter seminars for journalists who, whereas they don’t work on the faith beat, their work incessantly veers into faith territory. Smietana was one of many first reporters I discussed, stressing that “whereas Bob and I’ve argued about numerous issues for a few years” he’s a “professional’s professional on the beat who is aware of his stuff and he must be there.”
On this RNS function, Smietana wrote:
A proud curmudgeon, Mattingly is thought for his outspoken opinions and blunt criticism, in addition to his loyalty and willingness to make mates with individuals he disagrees with.
“I don’t write individuals off. I don’t need them to jot down me off,” mentioned Mattingly in a current interview from his house within the mountains of Tennessee.
He additionally famous that for the “final 20 years, Mattingly has been finest generally known as editor of GetReligion.org.” Properly, that could be true amongst journalists and folks on the platform beforehand generally known as Twitter, however I might argue that there are extra readers of the “On Faith” column, which fits out to a number of hundred information publications of assorted kinds.
Nonetheless, I perceive that this was an advanced reference and arduous to deal with in a concise method. I’ve been writing that weekly column for 35 years and it started with the Scripps Howard Information Service (#RIP), earlier than switching (after 25 years) to what many nonetheless name the Common syndicate. The title, lately, is Andrews McMeel Common after just a few years as Common Uclick. Like I mentioned — it’s sophisticated.
Nonetheless, there are two necessary topics that I wished to thank Smietana for dwelling on on this function. The primary is the roots of the entire “running a blog” phenomenon and the beginning of GetReligion. Here’s a chunk of that (though I’d like to notice that my pal and colleague LeBlanc spent a while in mainstream religion-beat work earlier than shifting into Anglican information platforms):
When he first launched GetReligion in 2004, with the assistance of Christian journalist Doug LeBlanc, Mattingly mentioned there was no long-term plan. As an alternative, he was intrigued by the concept of running a blog, which then was starting its heyday. He was impressed by Andrew Sullivan, a former senior editor of The Atlantic whose “Day by day Dish” made him one of many so-called blogosphere’s first stars.
“The entire concept that you simply go surfing with no set phrase size, and this was key — have hyperlinks to tales — satisfied me that this could possibly be completed. I knew it will at all times be controversial, and it will make individuals mad. However I at all times wished individuals to have the ability to simply click on a hyperlink and go learn the story for themselves.”
The positioning’s title was impressed by a remark from former New York Occasions editor Abe Rosenthal, who as soon as complained that journalists don’t “get” faith, which prompted them to overlook necessary tales. That remark, mentioned Mattingly, reminded him of the southern phrase about “getting faith.”
“We wished individuals to understand that when you don’t spot faith, you miss tales,” he mentioned.
Rosenthal was definitely an inspiration, however I might observe that he was speaking — in that quote — concerning the failure of journalists to “get” the significance of a selected story, as within the rising pool of blood surrounding the persecution of spiritual minorities around the globe. I had additionally heard Invoice Moyers of CBS Information use an identical wording years earlier. Additionally, I linked that, in my thoughts, with the feminist mantra “they only don’t get it.”
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