George Conger of GetReligion.org
Podcast: Download (Duration: 23:07 — 9.4MB)
The Religious, Political and Cultural journalism of George Conger
Here is a link to an interview I gave to Lutheran Public Radio’s Issues, Etc., program on 14 May 2014.
Here is a link to an interview I gave to Lutheran Public Radio’s Issues, Etc., program on 7 April 2014.
3. Media Coverage of the Crisis in the Ukraine & Gay Bishops in the Church of England – George Conger, 4/7/14
Podcast: Download (Duration: 16:36 — 6.8MB)
Here is an to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 7 March 2014.
Here is an to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 27 January 2014.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 14:19 — 5.9MB)
Here is an to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 19 December 2013.
GetReligion contributor George Conger discusses a “Time” magazine story on gay rights in India.
Direct download: Crossroads_12_19_13.mp3
GetReligion contributor George Conger discusses an editorial by “The New York Times” on religious liberty and the Affordable Care Act and a Religion News Service story about C.S. Lewis
Here is an to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 17 October 2013.
5. Media Coverage of Bishop John Shelby Spong – George Conger, 10/16/13
George Conger of GetReligion.org
Podcast: Download (Duration: 14:21 — 5.9MB)
Here is an to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 9 September 2013.
GetReligion contributor George Conger discusses a “Daily Record” story about the involvement of Churches of Christ members at a primary school in Scotland
Here is an to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 19 July 2013.
1. Media Coverage of the Vatican Offering Indulgences and World Youth Day – George Conger, 7/18/13
Podcast: Download (Duration: 15:00 — 6.2MB)
Here is an to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 18 June 2013.
3. Media Coverage of a “Gay Lobby” at the Vatican – George Conger, 6/18/13
Here is an to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 24 May 2013
Podcast: Download (Duration: 14:22 — 5.9MB)
Here is an to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 25 April 2013
Crossroads 4 25 13.mp3
GetReligion contributor George Conger discusses international media coverage of a Philadelphia abortionist charged with multiple counts of murder.
Here is a link to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 21 March 2013
Here is a link to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 21 February 2013
3. British Media Coverage of Pope Benedict’s Resignation – George Conger, 2/21/13
Here is a link to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 22 Jan 2013
Here is a link to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 19 Dec 2012.
3. Media Coverage of Circumcision Laws in Germany – George Conger, 12/19/12
Here is a link to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on 19 Nov 2012.
2. Media Coverage of Adultery, Gays in Pakistan, and same-sex marriage in Spain – George Conger, 11/19/12
Here is a link to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on Sept 24, 2012.
2. Media Coverage of the Cairo and Behghazi Attacks, and Mohammad Cartoons in a French Magazine – George Conger, 9/24/12
In this week’s podcast Issues Etc. host Todd Wilkin and I discussed three recent GetReligion stories: Doggie Masses offered by Inclusive Catholics in Australia, one-sided reporting on Missouri’s Amendment 2, and the parole of Michelle Martin.
Todd opened the show asking why I had lambasted the coverage of the Public Prayer Amendment in Missouri in the report from RNS. The gist of my response was that the article was unbalanced. Offering man on the street responses from Columbia, Missouri (a liberal university town not representative of the state as a whole) was unwise. Having three “no’s” to one “yes” quotes when “yes” garnered 83 per cent of the vote was a text book case of how not to use man in the street quotes. The preponderance of negative coverage was in inverse proportion to the amendment’s support. A political reporter should not allow his own feelings of disgust with the ignorance of the electorate to color the story.
Our discussion of the coverage of the Inclusive Catholic Mass in Melbourne centered on whether or not the author of the article was making sport of the subjects of his story. I could not answer the question. If I had wanted to ridicule Inclusive Catholics I would have written the article the way the religion reporter for The Age did by showcasing the foolishness of the geriatric hipsters in the story. Todd suggested the reporter may have written the article in a sympathetic tone — and what I found absurd the reporter found enchanting. So we are left with the mystery of ridicule or reverence.
The discussion of the parole of Michelle Martin touched mainly on the diversity of the Belgian press — Catholic, secular, liberal, conservative. The original report in GetReligion prompted discussion in the wider blogosphere that I followed with great interest.
Writing in the American Conservative, Rod Dreher’s article “Belgian Nuns Help Free (Sort Of) A Monster” showcased the sharply divided opinions about the underlying story. It also pointed out the limits of GetReligion‘s coverage which focuses on the reporting, not on the underlying story.
This can be frustrating at times as there is a latent opinion journalists in every reporter — but at GetReligion we are charged with reporting on the reporting. However, part of the fun of appearing on Issues, Etc., is that I can let fly every so often with an opinion about the issues.
So GetReligion readers, drop on by the Issues, Etc, podcast page and hear me make fun of Inclusive Catholics offer sober analyses of religion reporting.
First printed in Get Religion.
Here is a link to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc. show of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on Aug 14, 2012.
Here is a link to an interview I gave to the Issues, Etc program of Lutheran Public Radio broadcast on June 29, 2012.
3. Media Coverage of Gay Marriage in Danish Churches – George Conger, 6/29/12
Category: Podcast
Tagged: Denmark, Gay Marriage, GetReligion.org, Media Coverage, Same-Sex Marriage, Seventh Day Adventists
In this week’s podcast Issues Etc. host Todd Wilkin and I discussed two recent GetReligion stories: Gay marriages in Denmark and the Lindy Chamberlain affairin Australia. Press ignorance quickly became the theme of the show.
Todd opened the show asking how I could say the Daily Telegraph had done a good job on reporting the story, yet made a rookie’s mistake by blowing its lede. The article claimed that all churches in Denmark would now be compelled to perform gay marriages, when the new laws apply only to the state Lutheran church.
I could not say what caused the mistake, but suggested ignorance might play its part. I did applaud the even-handed way in which the Telegraph reported on this issue — giving supporters and opponents equal opportunity to speak.
However, our conversation quickly turned to the implications for the rest of Europe and America about this issue. This is a live issue in Britain as the government has vowed to introduce gay marriage. The Church of England has voiced its strong opposition over this innovation — and it has dismissed government assurances that its ministers will be compelled to perform gay marriages. A promise today is not binding on the government of tomorrow, the church fears, while one never knows what the European Court of Human Rights may do next.
Ignorance was the central theme of our second topic, the Lindy Chamberlain story from Australia. Made famous in the U.S. by the Meryl Streep movie A Cry in the Dark, Lindy Chamberlain was jailed for murdering her baby after a jury rejected her claim that a dingo carried the child away. Behind the conviction — and a source of endless and unprofessional speculation in the press — was the role the Chamberlain’s Seventh-day Adventist faith played.
Did Seventh-day Adventists practice ritual sacrifice? What strange things were the Chamberlains, devotees of a strange faith, up to in the desert?
To this day the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia maintains a website page countering the more outlandish claims and stories arising from the Lindy Chamberlain case.
Tune in friends to Issues, Etc. for all the fun.
First published in GetReligion.
Here is a link to a radio interview I gave to Lutheran Public Radio‘s Issues, Etc. program first broadcast on March 29, 2012.
The topics was the New York Times coverage of religion news.
Here is a link to a radio interview I gave to Lutheran Public Radio‘s Issues, Etc. program first broadcast on May 11, 2012.
The topics were the vote by First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs to withdraw from the PCUSA and the press coverage of the Irish clergy abuse scandal.