Yellow Journalism?
28 April 2007 - 11 אייר 5767 by Huw
I’ve been reading the Times of London religion coverage for just about a year now in my RSS feeds. Ruth Gledhill has an agenda it seems: driving hits to the newspaper’s site. This is, of course, the same with any professional journalist whose job is not to inform me, but to make money for the employer. But Ruth seems to have an especial gift for scandal mongering. It’s interesting to note a pattern: sometimes one will find, in the lede itself or in the first paragraph, just one sentence that has *nothing* to do with the article, but yet is seeming proffered to shock the readers and taint the rest of the coverage.
Today’s example comes from her post, BBC celebrates gay Mass. Personally, I’m kinda surprised that the BBC would be covering a mass at an RC parish in San Francisco. I think that, in and of itself, would be a good story: “WTF?” But Ruth notes in her opening “San Francisco is home to the renowned Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, two of whom are pictured here.”
And, indeed, the article’s only pic is of the two SPI guys in full drag. What has this to do with anything? Not sure. I commented on Ruth’s blog - but it has not yet appeared - that it seemed odd. Does having the SPI taint all religion in San Francisco? If so, most major cities - including London - are thus tainted.
Hi, you are right to pull me up on this, I should have explained. I have now updated the blog with a note - the Sisters did have something to do with the story, albeit obliquely, and I should have made that clear at the start, Ruth
Hi - Thanks for the note and the correction!
And more, thanks for making the connection. Odd: bingo nights in SF used to be at a local Metropolitan Community Church. I’m stunned that they were moved to Most Holy Redeemer! (But then, I’ve not lived in SF for a while.)