Category Archives: The Scoop

by Kevin Healey In the music section of yesterday's Village Voice, Andy Beta doled out advance praise for tonight's performance of Antony & The Johnsons at Radio City Music Hall. A transgendered artist/musician with an otherworldly voice, Antony Hegarty has … Continue reading →

by Laura J. Nelson A four-minute YouTube clip of a young rapper, produced in the style of an MTV video or a late-night digital short, has inflamed the blogosphere with a controversial message: love Jesus, not organized religion. “I mean, … Continue reading →

by Richard Flory In an effort to rally evangelical support for one Republican candidate in the upcoming South Carolina primary—and beyond—”evangelical leaders,” according to the New York Times, met last Saturday to vote on who that candidate should be. Through … Continue reading →

by Benjamin Gottlieb The violent death of Gilles Jacquier, a 43-year-old French videographer killed on assignment in the conflict-ridden Syrian city of Homs, shook the international press corps last week. His story serves as a unnerving reminder of the dangers … Continue reading →

by Jason Kehe Certain stories require that we zoom out and ask, Why is this news? But sometimes we forget to do that because the story seems to speak for itself. Such was the case this past week, when a … Continue reading →

by Arlene M. Sánchez-Walsh Somewhat overshadowed by the Romney campaign's gathering head of steam are reports this week of the GOP frontrunner's Mexican back-story. The relatively sober headline at MSNBC ran, “Mitt Romney's Family in Mexico Reveals Candidate's Heritage South … Continue reading →

by Nicole Neroulias Secular and religious media alike exhaustively report on the faith of presidential hopefuls, especially when it comes to Republicans, whose candidates have to fight for the souls as well as the hearts and minds of their primary … Continue reading →

by Sandi Dolbee Journalists are great at covering epidemics. There's the AIDS epidemic. The housing foreclosure epidemic. The obesity epidemic. The blistering epidemic of Texas wildfires. School bullying. Suicides among gay teens. And so on. But are reporters missing another … Continue reading →

A handful of recent headlines—angry Orthodox Israelis wearing yellow stars, expected wins for Egypt's Islamic parties and religious coexistence in Kerala, India—underscore religion's potency in global politics. But at the very moment when intelligent and insightful coverage of religion's role … Continue reading →

by Lee Gilmore As the consumerist spectacle of the “holidays” winds up to a frenetic finale this week, reporters might find themselves struggling to find yet another angle on these annual events. It's a repetitive exercise, not unlike being subjected … Continue reading →