Blind Spot

When Journalists Don't Get Religion

Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, and Roberta Green-Ahmanson

Why do the media so often miss or misunderstand major news stories? One reason is that, in today's complex and pervasively religious world, understanding religion is vital in accurately reporting and interpreting current events. The authors of Blind Spot argue that all too frequently journalists and commentators do not take religion seriously and therefore fail to grasp the religious context of the news. Blind Spot's essays examine news stories reported by major media sources in which key religious dimensions were ignored, overlooked, or misrepresented. These stories range from the 2004 U.S. presidential elections, to Iran, Iraq, and the papal succession. Blind Spot offers all readers -- whether people of faith or not -- an interesting and balanced analysis of the news media's uneasy relationship with religion and religious issues.

Blind Spot

When Journalists Don't Get Religion

Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, and Roberta Green-Ahmanson

Description

Why do the media so often miss or misunderstand major news stories? One reason is that, in today's complex and pervasively religious world, understanding religion is vital in accurately reporting and interpreting current events. The authors of Blind Spot argue that all too frequently journalists and commentators do not take religion seriously and therefore fail to grasp the religious context of the news.

Blind Spot's essays examine news stories reported by major media sources in which key religious dimensions were ignored, overlooked, or misrepresented. These stories range from the 2004 U.S. presidential elections, to Iran, Iraq, and the papal succession. Blind Spot offers all readers -- whether people of faith or not -- an interesting and balanced analysis of the news media's uneasy relationship with religion and religious issues.

Blind Spot

When Journalists Don't Get Religion

Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, and Roberta Green-Ahmanson

Author Information

Paul Marshall is Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom. Lela Gilbert is a freelance writer and editor who has authored or co-authored more than sixty published books. Roberta Green Ahmanson is an award-winning journalist and co-author of Islam at the Crossroads.

Blind Spot

When Journalists Don't Get Religion

Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, and Roberta Green-Ahmanson

Reviews and Awards

"It's not often that I let out a whoop of joy when I read a book, but I did while reading Blind Spot: When Journalists Don't Get Religion. I've been preaching this gospel for 15 years and it's great to see it so brilliantly argued and supported in these pages. The editors have assembled a top-flight team of scholars and writers to build the case brick by solid brick. It is now an unassailable truth: without an understanding of religion, a journalist can miss the greatest stories of our time. This is the book I -- and my students -- have been waiting for." --Professor Ari Goldman, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and author of The Search for God at Harvard

"Since press blindness is one reason for the declining circulations of standard newspapers and newsmagazines, Blind Spot should be required reading for journalists and journalism professors who hope to respond not only to technological changes but to cultural ones as well." --World

"This is an instructive book for practitioners. It is written by experienced analysts of religion who want reporters to deepen their knowledge of the subject... Blind Spot should make any religion reporter a more astute student of the journalistic craft." --Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly

"A provocative mix of painstaking scholarly analysis with lively samples of news reporting. The writing is cohesive and accessible, engaging and--occasionally--entertaining, and it could prove an effective point of departure for classroom use at undergraduate and graduate student levels."--Religion

"...Blind Spot is instructive for anyone who seeks to understand the world that we inhabit. After all, many of us, no less than journalists, need reminding that the world does not operate according to the dictates of our personal conscience, and that people very different than us can and will often surprise us both with virtue and with vice. Religion has always and will continue to contribute mightily to both; understanding that is critical to being not just good journalists, but ethical teachers and informed human beings. In that sense, Blind Spot does a great service not just to those who write and read news, but to all who seek to live on a planet imbued with religiosity." --International Journal of Public Theology