Is Coverage of Liberal Religion a Media Fail?

[cbayer]

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/sarahposner/7695/is_coverage_of_liberal_religion_a_media_fail/

March 17, 2014 3:48pm
Post by SARAH POSNER

Anyone following the fortunes and controversies around the hottest new media start-ups last week saw criticisms that these ventures, led by white men, have failed to hire a diverse staff of reporters and editors. Much of the criticism was pointed at shortcomings and even abject cluelessness about hiring women and people of color. But one hire—Vox's writing fellow Brandon Ambrosino—sparked a side conversation about newsroom religious diversity, and the media's coverage of religion.

First, here's the history, in brief. At the Guardian on Wednesday, Emily Bell took aim at the new journalism projects launched, respectively, by Nate Silver (FiveThirtyEight), Ezra Klein (Vox), and Glenn Greenwald (First Look):

To be sure, the internet has presented journalists with an extraordinary opportunity to remake their own profession. And the rhetoric of the new wave of creativity in journalism is spattered with words that denote transformation. But the new micro-institutions of journalism already bear the hallmarks of the restrictive heritage they abandoned with such glee. . . .

Remaking journalism in its own image, only with better hair and tighter clothes, is not a revolution, or even an evolution. It is a repackaging of the status quo with a very nice clubhouse attached. A revolution calls for a regime change of more significant depth.

Slate's Amanda Hess added that when one also takes into account tech hires, "these online platforms represent the merging of journalism (which is a traditionally white and male-dominated field) with technology (which is even more so!). If anything, their marriage should only produce more powerful white men."

BuzzFeed's Deputy Editor-in-Chief Shani O. Hilton, who has worked at making BuzzFeed's newsroom more diverse, noted that how this takes far more effort than a few hires here and a few hires there:

In fact, "diversity" doesn't stop at hiring one person who represents each so-called different viewpoint, be it race or gender or sexual orientation or political leaning. Any newsroom in which the black staffer is expected to speak up for blackness while the white staffers only have to speak for themselves is a newsroom that's failing.

more at link

[TygrBright]

1. What does the quoted text have to do with liberal religion coverage?

Seems to be more about diversity in new media startups...

quizzically,
Bright

[cbayer]

3. Er, it's some historical information that gives background for the story.

[LostOne4Ever]

2. All I know is that other than here on DU

I never hear about liberal Christianity at all.

But then again, I live down in conservative christian central. We actually have a freaking doomsday cult around here (House of Yahweh or something like that) and at least 2-3 megachurches. I think we (by which i mean my general area not my small hick town) were one of the areas that Warren Jeffs was considering moving too iirc...not that Eldorado is that much further away either >.>

But all I ever hear is the steady drumbeat of conservative Christianity. I had a Jewish professor from NY for a couple of English classes, and it totally drove her nuts the two years she was here >.<

[cbayer]

4. I think the media has some responsibility for this.

Liberal/progressive christian groups just aren't as sexy as the screaming religious right. They aren't aiming for the entertainment hungry audience, but for more thoughtful people.

I'm not sure how that can be effectively addressed. I try to do my part by posting about them here, but frankly they get a lot less attention than the flame bait histrionics that so many are drawn to like moths to the flame.

[LostOne4Ever]

5. Well you do a good job of promoting it here

Like I said, I only hear about the religious left hear on DU's religion forum and maybe once from a liberal friend of mine on FB.

Anything that promote more tolerance and helping the poor Im in favor of though. Especially after having to live through a primary here in Texas.

Oh, god. I thought I was going to have to take an axe to my TV for a while there. Even the internet would not let me be.

Facebook: Hey this Texan has the human rights campaign, ACLU, Being Liberal, and Americans against the teaparty all liked on facebook! Lets recommend his some posts and ads from Greg Abott!

Hulu: Ah, this user is from Texas, time for some ads from all the republicans running for office there!

Me:

[cbayer]

6. I started my involvement in this group by posting my father's weekly article.

He is a very progressive activist minister and has been his entire life.

I won't go into, but the whole experience went very badly. He began to participate hoping for some discussion and debate, but that didn't really happen and after a while, he abandoned the site.

One problem the religious left has is that there is a great deal of hostility towards religion in general from some segments of the left. While understandable to some degree, it creates an environment which prohibits any chance for positive engagement.

It's a particular problem on the internet and generally not seen elsewhere. Religious groups that participated in OWS did not experience much pushback, but here it can be very intense.

As a Texan, I think you probably empathize. There are a lot of assumptions about you because of where you live and a lot of ugly things said about Texans in general that don't apply in any way to you.

Perhaps that is why you are one of the more thoughtful and empathic posters in this group.

I would love to see more members post positive things about what the religious left is doing here. We might actually make a difference!

[LostOne4Ever]

7. Thanks for the compliment

As a Texan, I completely understand the animosity people have to my state.

But my attitude and tone of my post probably have more to due my experiences on the world of warcraft forums than anything else. Those forums are full of trolls and assholes, and sad to say(for my first two of my 4 years there) I was one myself.

Had you met me there, you probably would not have liked me. I was an elitist, self-righteous, know it all prick which is a complete 180 from the way I am in real life. When I realized that, I made a conscious effort to make my posts more like I was in real life.

[cbayer]

8. Wow, world of warcraft.

I used to play cards on the web and I was shocked at how horribly ugly people could be.

Then for a while, I played some simulation games like the Sims and Second Life and it got even worse.

I guess I was just naive, but I had really never spent time around people like this before.

You come across as very genuine and it's hard to even imagine you as you describe.

I'm glad that you are, though.

[Heddi]

10. Oh well that's quite a revisionist history of your father's participation here.

I noticed you neglected to add that the lack of discussion came from the repeatedly bigoted and hateful and exclusionary statements he made about atheists, agnostics, and other non-believers. And how when asked repeatedly to clarify his (multiple) statements that were found to be so offensive he just doubled down and kept making offensive statements about atheists, agnostics, and other non-believers.

But please, Cbayer, keep claiming that you're the lone soldier on the battle to raise the level of discourse in the Religion forum

Countdown to the arrival of The Staunch Defenders Of Cbayer Brigade. Motto: Why fight your own battles when you can just put people on ignore and have others fight the battles for you?

[Goblinmonger]

11. Oh, that's fucking rich.

Your dad was a peach alright.



So you think non-believers reacting to "who'd want to live in a world without religious morality" is because we all just hate religion?

You may want to crawl off that cross; easter is coming and Jesus will need it back.

[skepticscott]

12. No, your father hoped for

a fawning audience that would help him promote his agenda (and his books), and when he didn't get it, when he instead got the kinds of intellectual pushback that his ivory tower academic cronies never gave him, he ran away and hid. In thread after thread after thread. He'd drop one stinkbomb, pretend that responding to criticism of it was beneath him, and then start another thread along the same lines instead. Intellectually upstanding, so say the least.

[trotsky]

17. Honestly, cbayer, that is a big load of malarkey.

Last edited Thu Mar 20, 2014, 10:07 PM - Edit history (1)

Your father started right off by offending non-believers, telling us that "none of us" would want to live in a world that wasn't based on religious morality. When many of us called him on that bigoted statement, he didn't apologize. He didn't retract it. Instead, as others have pointed out, he doubled down. Much like you, he took any sign of disagreement with him as a direct personal attack. When he couldn't silence dissent in this open group, he whined to the administrators asking them to do it. Thankfully his demands were dismissed accordingly.

You cannot rewrite history. There are still too many of us that remember the truth.

[LeftishBrit]

9. Coverage of liberal anything is a media fail!

[Lordquinton]

13. So, lack of positive media coverage for the religious left

is a failure of the media, but the general perception of atheists being below criminals is their own fault?

Maybe the religious left needs to up it's game, they could start by denouncing th religious right, and maybe removing all the bits about rape and slavery from their holy book.

[cbayer]

14. Say what? Where did you get that idea from?

First, there is no "general perception of atheists being below criminals". I guess you are referring to the study about trustworthiness, but you are totally distorting the conclusions of that study.

Second, who has said that the trustworthiness issue (if that is what you are referring to) is the fault of atheists?

Third, what in the world does any of this have to do with this article?

Anyway, the religious left does denounce the religious rights frequently and loudly. Articles about it are posted here all the time. Oddly, I don't think I have ever seen you respond to or support any or them, despite you saying that you would like to see that.

And if your other requirement is that the bible be edited to suit you, you must certainly realize that that just isn't going to happen, so perhaps you should adjust your expectations.

[AtheistCrusader]

18. No, I will not adjust my expectations. I will point out they hold in their hands a book that

justifies and extolls homophobia, genocide, patriarchy, and a host of other issues.

It was written by men, it was edited by men, it can be re-edited by men who no longer share those values.

[mr blur]

15. Liberal Religion is an oxymoron. Running out of things to make you feel persecuted? nt

[cbayer]

16. Liberal religion is not an oxymoron. Why would I feel persecuted?