45: Why Is Religion Reporting So Bad?—Terry Mattingly

As a long time reader of GetReligion.org, I know you’ll understand why I know you’ll appreciate this interview with journalist Terry Mattingly, the “GetReligionista in Chief.” Terry is a Russian Orthodox Christian with great sympathy for the worldview of Catholics and other Christians of the small-o orthodox stripe. We can’t seem to get a fair hearing in the media, and Terry is the best commentator on this sorry state of affairs.

Yet, as you’ll learn in this interview, he is neither a doom-and-gloomer nor a paranoid conspiracy theorist. He knows well that some Christians will always do scandalous things worthy of negative press coverage.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The scandalous ignorance of so many religion reporters.
• The apathy of so many MSM editors regarding getting the facts right about religious faith (as compared with, say, the high standards of accuracy in matters of science, sports, or politics)
• How to spot biases when it comes to religion reportage (how about the “bad” Christianity of Tim Tebow and the “good” Christianity of Colin Kaepernick?

Rather than succumb to the temptation of throwing a nerf brick at your TV set (or laptop screen), do what I do and learn from Terry Mattingly.  Enjoy and share!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Pop Goes Religion: Faith in Popular Culture by Terry Mattingly
• My new free e-booklet, How To Handle Haters: Seven Tips for Christian Culture Builders. Click here to download it.

Join the Conversation

Question of the week:

• Why do you think religion reporting is so poor in quality?