Spring 2015
Tues. & Thurs. 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m
Bunnell 106
JRN305
The God beat: Religion and the
media
Instructor: Julia Duin, Snedden chair
Email: jduin@alaska.edu
Phone: 907-474-2608; cell: 202-3744782
Office: 105A Bunnell
Office hours: 9:30-11:30 Tues. and
Thurs or by appointment.
Overview
Course level and type
This course aims to equip student journalists with the basics of religious practice
and doctrine and equip them to intelligently evaluate and report on religious
groups.
Undergraduate, 3 credits
Goals
This course aims to equip student journalists with an understanding of the basics
of various faiths and doctrines and give them the tools to effectively report on
religious groups, individuals and practices. They will also learn what good
religion reporting is – and isn’t.
Required texts
Marshall, Gilbert and Ahmanson, editors; “Blind Spot: When Journalists Don’t
Get Religion.” Oxford University Press, 2009
Go to this link; http://www.rna.org/general/recommended_links.asp and
download Religion Primer and Religion Stylebook, both under “free tools and
resources.” Or go to RNA.org, click on “training and awards,” then click on
“tools and resources” and follow above instructions.
Participation
Because this course is in a seminar setting and the number of participants is
small, all students are expected to do the readings and participate in class
discussions. Anyone who sits out discussions will be graded down. Participation
and attendance is 15% of your grade.
The God beat: Religion and the media
About the instructor
1978-1990
Covered religion for newspapers in
Oregon, Florida and Texas.
1992
Earned a master’s degree in religion at
an Episcopal seminary near
Pittsburgh.
1995-present
Was assistant national editor and
religion reporter/editor for The
Washington Times, then from 2010
on did extensive religion coverage for
the Washington Post, Economist,
Wall Street Journal, CNN.com and
More magazine. Taught for a year at
Union University in Jackson, TN,
then earned a 2nd MA at the
University of Memphis. Named
Snedden chair in May 2014. Has
published 5 books with 2 more in the
offing.
1
Deities and deadlines: How to cover the religion beat
Most journalists are conversant with education, politics and sports but very few know how to cover
America’s most popular past time: religion. According to a famous 1994 article by the late Associated Press
reporter George Cornell, Americans spend millions on sports, but billions on religion. A typical sports section gets
more than a dozen staff reporters whereas few papers have more than one writer to handle a bewildering variety of
religions and sects. Radio and broadcast outlets are even worse off. None of the big three networks has a full-time
religion reporter. Fox is said to have one, but she is rarely heard from. However, religion blogs, such as CNN’s
BeliefBlog, are doing quite well and netting millions of hits each month. Religion, the queen of beats, is hardly
sought out by most reporters. Many reporters and editors are afraid of it, fearing that if they treat it like any other
beat, they’ll be deluged with acres of hate mail, spam or church bulletins.
Although that is nonsense, it is a mentality still alive in many newsrooms today. This course aims to equip
student journalists with the basics of religious practice and doctrine because unfortunately, most journalists barely
know the difference between a Buddhist, a Baptist or a Bahai, much less the tenets of their respective faiths. Even
if you don’t end up covering religion as a beat, many stories often have a religion angle. This course seeks to train
students on how to perceive those angles and include them in your stories. Religion is news, big news and a
person’s faith is not private any more, especially if he or she is running for office. Religion shapes news
worldwide. Its assumptions inform everything we do. It is much more than “party politics, pageantry or
pedophilia,” as CBS News senior producer Brian Healy once put it.
This course will explain the basics of most religions one will cover on a typical beat on a U.S. newspaper.
You will learn the terms, the customs, what to do and say and not do; ways to dress, act and talk in houses of
worship and with various clergy, how to investigate church finances and religious non-profits and how to feel
comfortable interviewing practitioners of any religion. You will learn a little American religious history and why
that matters today. Once you learn the basics, you will feel confident in knowledgeably covering everything from
prayer groups on Wall Street to Pentecostals in Brooklyn.
There will be frequent guest speakers in this course; either by practitioners of the faith under discussion or
a taped lecture by a religion reporter who covers that faith (i.e. Peggy Stack of the Salt Lake Tribune, the top
reporter in the country in terms of covering anything to do with Mormons). In my classes, you get a B if you
show up and do the work. An A is for work that is consistently excellent and shows extra effort and attention.
Course requirements:
1.
For each class, students will be expected to discuss a faith experience they’ve had that is
different from what they are used to or have grown up in. These need to be once every two weeks,
equaling seven visits this semester. I don’t want you reporting on your own church, temple or
denomination. This is to get you visiting other groups so as to train you on how to report on them.
There are some on-campus groups that I’m OK with you visiting (ie there’s a graduate student
group of Hindus, an InterVarsity group and various Bible study groups on campus) but I prefer
you to get off campus. There’s Mormon groups, Seventh-day Adventists, a Taoist group that
advertises in the News Miner, zillions of Catholic and Protestant churches, a Buddhist-Tibetan
group on Third Avenue downtown and an organization called the Alaska Buddhist Center, one
local synagogue (Congregation Or HaTzafon) for your faith visits. Apparently there’s a Muslim
The God beat: Religion and the media
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2.
3.
group on one of the local military bases but the closest mosque is in Anchorage. Then post your
observations on the class’s Godbeat blog, which I have set up on Blackboard. This will be shared
just between us in the class, so feel free to give your opinion about whatever group you visit. This
needs to be at least one typewritten page’s worth and it will be 20 percent of your grade. You can
talk about whether their rites were familiar or alien to you; if the people involved were welcoming
or not; how well things were explained to you and your impressions of the group or service. I
hope to set up a running list on our blog of local religious groups and their contact info.
I will be asking for a weekly written critique of one piece of religion reporting. There are several
web sites you should be checking: getreligion.org, therevealer.org and the Religion & Ethics
Newsweekly page on Facebook. Also look for religionnews.com (Religion News Service),
Catholicnews.com (Catholic News Service) and any others you can find. One of the best sources
is at pewforum.org. Click on “religion” and then “religion in the news” to get their daily digest of
religion news from around the world. Getreligion.org is required reading and you’ll be expected
to discuss its findings in class. Your critiques should be at least one page in length – at least 200
words – and include a link to the article you’re dissecting. It will cover what you think of the
person’s writing, if you agree with the critiques of the piece in the comments section and – if you
think it’s badly done – how you would have covered it. Journalism majors are expected to
maintain AP style in all work submitted in this class. Non-journalism majors are not required to
do so. Everyone can learn how to discern quality (or the lack thereof) in different kinds of religion
coverage. Twenty percent of your grade is from this.
Midterm: For journalism majors, I want you to write three stories on a religion topic. (If you’re
into broadcast, this can be taped, but it has to be in a form that I can easily listen to). I want this
to be original with you; not rewrites of Associated Press or versions of stories you’ve done before.
Each needs to be at least 2 typewritten pages long, double-spaced and can be interviews, short
profiles, features or breaking news. The Sun Star is dying for articles, so good ones (about UAF)
can be published there. Or, if you have contacts at the News Miner and your piece is about
something in the community, see if you can get it published there. You will have to be working
on this from the beginning of the semester, as it will be impossible for you to do these all at once
by the middle of the semester if you don’t get started at once. If possible, choose several religious
groups or personalities outside your comfort zone. This is 20 percent of your grade. I’ll want you
to make present in class one of your articles, explain how you researched it, what you learned and
show us photos. For non-journalism majors, you are to read one of two books by religion
reporters reflecting about their years on the beat. They are Don Lattin’s Distilled Spirits: Getting
High, then Sober, with a Famous Writer, a Forgotten Philosopher and a Hopeless Drunk about
his years as a religion reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle. Or you could try William Lobdell’s
Losing My Religion about his years covering religion at the Los Angeles Times. I have a copy of
Lobdell’s book and there is a copy at the Noel Wein public library as well. You can order the
Lattin book off Kindle very cheaply. From them, you are to do a 5-6-page double-spaced paper
about the book, how covering religion influenced the reporter’s career and affected him
personally. Both experienced burnout regarding religion and one lost his faith. The other found a
sort of faith. I’d like to see some opinion from you on how you felt the reporter handled the
stresses of his job and whether you would have made the same decision. Please share also what
you learned – and others should know – about the religion beat.
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4.
Final: This will be on the content of our class discussions, the material we cover in Blind Spot,
what guest speakers say and some basic info about the religions we cover that people should
know after taking this course. Another 25 percent of your grade comes from this. It will probably
be a take-home test requiring several essays.
Course policies:
Regular attendance is expected, as is thoughtful participation in discussion. Anyone who sits
out discussions will be graded down. Homework assignments are due at the class start. If special
circumstances (illness, kid trouble or family emergency) that require your absence or tardiness,
you must notify me in advance. Emailing me after the missed class doesn’t cut it. Late work
(turned in after the end of the period in which it is due) is penalized at least one grade and may be
rejected. You get two unexcused absences a semester to use as the need arises. Any unexcused
absences after that is a loss of 10 points in your participation/attendance grade. Eight or more
unexcused absences is an automatic F.
Final grade components:
Participation/attendance: 15 %
Faith experience blogs: 20 %
Weekly religion reporting critique: 20 %
Midterm: 20 %
Final: 25 %
Final grades will be determined on a 10-point scale applying UAF’s plus-minus standard,
reflecting this philosophy:
A: Excellence and completion of more work than is regularly required
B: Indicates above average effort
C: Satisfactory performance, minimum grade required under J-major requirements
D: Lowest passing grade
F: Failure
Classroom standards:
Please turn off your cell phones before class. Laptop, notebook and tablet computers are for taking
notes only. No texting or surfing.
Neither plagiarism nor fabrication will be tolerated. Any student found to have plagiarized or
fabricated will fail the course. Turning in a paper that has been used in another class will also
The God beat: Religion and the media
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receive an automatic “F” grade. When choosing a book to review, choose something you have not
previously reported on in other classes.
Special needs: If you have any kind of learning disability, no matter how unimportant you think it
might be, please let me know. Accommodations are sometimes possible through consultation with
UAF's Center for Health & Counseling.
Disability Services
e-mail. fydso@uaf.edu
tel. 907-474-5655
tty. 907-474-1827
Whitaker Building Room 208
www.uaf.edu/disability
Lecture and assignment schedule (subject to change):
WEEK ONE
Jan. 15 – Course intro. Go to guidestar.org and create an account for yourself.
WEEK TWO
Jan. 20 – How to find a good religion story and why journalists often fail at it. Do some looking about the Internet
beforehand about what religion stories about Alaska are available. Have Paul Marshall’s intro to Blind Spot read as
well as Chapter 8 by Terry Mattingly. Then read this link:
http://www.poynter.org/uncategorized/27172/confessions-of-an-alienated-journalist/. Next, read this:
http://www.poynter.org/uncategorized/28376/help-wanted-on-the-religion-beat/.
Jan. 22 – You need to have your first religion story selected by this time. Guidestar and public records. Bring your
laptop. Have this read beforehand: http://www.tmatt.net/tmatt/freelance/Quill83.php.
WEEK THREE
Jan. 27 – America’s largest religious group, the Roman Catholics. Have Chapter 7 in Blind Spot read.
Jan. 29 – More on Catholics; Guest speaker. Have Chapter 6 in Blind Spot read.
WEEK FOUR
Feb. 3 – Evangelicals, concentrating on Baptists, America’s largest Protestant group
Feb. 5 – Guest speaker Eric Johns of Bethel Church, more on Baptists and evangelicals.
WEEK FIVE
Feb. 10 – Covering Jews
Feb. 12 – More on Jews. Guest speaker
The God beat: Religion and the media
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WEEK SIX
Feb. 17 – Covering Muslims. Have Chapters 2 and 3 in Blind Spot read.
Feb. 19 – More on Muslims
WEEK SEVEN
Feb. 24 – Eastern religions: Buddhists, Taoists, Sikhs and Hindus. Have Chapter 9 in Blind Spot read.
Feb. 26 – More on Eastern religions. Guest speaker, hopefully.
WEEK EIGHT
March 3 – Covering the ‘nones’ – a fast-growing demographic
March 5 – Pentecostals: the world’s fastest-growing (and least covered) religious group.
WEEK NINE
March 10 – Midterm presentations
March 12 – Midterm presentations
WEEK 10 – SPRING BREAK
WEEK 11
March 24 – The ‘others:’ From Scientologists and Satanists to Seventh-day Adventists
March 28 – More on the ‘others,’ including the Unification Church, paganism, Gaia, etc.
WEEK 12
March 31 – Covering Mormons
April 2 – Tape from Peggy Stack at the Salt Lake Tribune on how to cover Mormons
WEEK 13
April 7 – Religion in the courts
April 9 – More lawsuits involving religion
WEEK 14 –
April 14 – Religion and politics. Have Chapters 1 and 5 in Blind Spot read.
April 16 – Religion and pop culture. See http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/screenwriter-faith-gets-supporting-roleexodus/?hvid=5eI6xA. Also: http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/about-hollywood-in-toto/.
WEEK 15 –
April 21 – Orthodoxy, Alaska’s first religion
April 23 – Mainline Protestants. Guest speaker, hopefully.
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WEEK 16 –
April 28 – Religion and causes. Have Chapter 4 in Blind Spot read.
April 30 – Religious persecution.
FINAL –
10:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m., Wednesday, May 6
The God beat: Religion and the media
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