Welcome to the website for the Knight Chair in Media and Religion. Our goal is to serve as a resource for journalists, including journalism educators and students seeking new models for covering politics, science, sex and gender among other key issues for the 21st century.
Key to that coverage is knowledge about religion, spirituality, faith and ethics. Commitments to these help explain why some people support political candidates for religious reasons and others seek biochemical explanations for spirituality. Why some men spend millions of dollars to film their religious vision while others submerge a cross in a jar of urine and call it art.Why some women dress modestly and others tattoo spiritual symbols over their bodies.
Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten predicted that successful newspapers would have more analysis and interpretation. That requires thoughtful coverage from knowledgeable reporters. We designed this website to assist all journalists, whether or not they're on the religion beat, to meet that goal. We post smart stories, useful resources, helpful ideas and, for students and educators, syllabi as well as book and film recommendations, and links to events. In addition to seeing what we've done, you'll soon be able to watch streaming video and (coming soon!) download our events as podcasts. In addition to content, we address media, too. Today's journalists work on multiple platforms, and the Web is a powerful tool for expanding and enhancing storytelling about beliefs and practices that may not fit into a traditional mainstream media pieces. (See the Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education for example.)
Here's what you will find on the site:
The Get: Need help writing about religion and (take your pick) politics, science, entertainment, sex and gender or the next big thing? This section has links to resources on all those topics. We'll feature websites, books, and films for starters. “The Next Big Thing” will take you to topics with buzz and “Web Work” will suggest resources and best practices for using new media. Under “Good Stuff” you'll find the best basic resources on religion, spirituality, ethics and values. If you have suggestions, please let us know!
The Scoop: What was smart (or not) about today's LA Times story on religion and Hollywood? Does Mitt Romney really have a Mormon problem? Why do we keep seeing faith versus science stories? My blog will examine BIG questions like these as well as some smaller ones: Which of the new “spiritual” television shows will stick? (Pushing Daisies definitely has the most hype, but is it the best? When will John from Cincinnati reveal himself? Who is the fifth Cylon?
The Story: We regularly post exemplars—and good reads—to inspire journalists, students and visitors. If you find something that we should put up, send it in.
The Headlines: Since 2004, the Knight Program has hosted thoughtful and thought-provoking events. You will be able to watch the video or, in the near future, download the podcast of author and former lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend discussing religion and politics, the Jesus Camp filmmakers on depicting evangelicals, and scholars like Scott Appleby and Jack Miles (among others) on Pope Benedict XVI 's foreign policy options. If you live in Southern California or plan to visit, come to one of the lectures, panels and conferences we regularly sponsor.
The Classroom: Only a handful of journalism schools offer courses in writing about religion. But anyone can integrate a unit on it into a reporting and writing class. We've posted syllabi from the Annenberg School's journalism class “Sex, Hollywood, Politics, and Science: An Introduction to Covering Religion” as well as the Spring 2007 News21 class. You also can find syllabi for my classes on American Religious History and on religion and media. We hope to develop or link to e-courses and classes at other institutions—again, send us your suggestions.
We're just starting so please email us with ideas and suggestions. There are already a growing number of websites and blogs that look at religion reporting and we hope to add to the good work they do by specifically focusing on resources for non-religion reporters (as well as those who cover the beat) and for journalism educators.
Welcome. Keep coming back and let us know what you'd like to see.
