For all their talk about diversity in the newsroom, mainline journalism is monolithic when it comes to religious reporters/editors/publishers/stringers. That’s highlighted in this report from the AP, which is surprisingly positive toward those of faith.
The article suggests that evangelicals tend to leave mainline papers in favor of Christian publications:
Many evangelical journalists start out in secular news organizations but they soon join Christian media that offer an environment more accepting of their beliefs and more family-friendly than the long hours and low pay of secular journalism, said Robert Case II, director of the World Journalism Institute, which offers seminars for young evangelicals seeking work in secular media.
Martha Krienke, 26, who attended one of Case’s seminars in 2003, worked for two secular newspapers in Minnesota before she finally took a job as an editor at Brio, a magazine for young girls published by Focus on the Family.
At one paper, Krienke disagreed with the edit of an opinion piece about what Christmas meant to her.
“My editor wanted to change several paragraphs, and it totally changed the tone and message of my opinion,” she said. “Going through that situation just confirmed to me why I wanted to work for a Christian magazine.”
The article also highlights a Pew Research Poll that found a significant difference between journalists and average Americans in attendance at religious institutions. Eight percent of journalists said they attend church or synagogue weekly, compared to 39 percent of the general population. Boy, isn’t that a shocker.
Near the end of the article, the AP quotes Scott Bosley, executive director for the American Society of Newspaper Editors, who says:
I don’t think the sole measures of the effectiveness or success of newsrooms in reflecting their communities depends on having precise quotas of folks representing all different ideologies, be they Christian or not. We have a lot of generalists in newsrooms and they tend to have to learn about a lot of things.
When translated, “generalist” means “left-wing ideologue, hiding behind a veneer of objectivity” (some enlightening stats on that).
Of course, there could be another reason journalists of faith are leaving the mainlines — namely, that the industry is imploding.