Quoting God charts the many ways in which media report religion news, how media use the quoted word to describe lived faith, and how media itself influence - and are influenced by - religious discourse and behavior in the public square. The volume intentionally brings together the work of academics, who study religion as a crucial factor in the construction of identity, and the work of professional journalists, who regularly report on religion in an age of instant and competitive news. This book clearly demonstrates that the relationship between media culture and spiritual culture is foundational and multi-directional; that the relationship between news values and religion in political life is influential; and that the relationship among modernity, belief, and journalism is pivotal.
Claire Hoertz Badaracco (Ph.D. Rutgers) is Professor in the College Communication, Marquette University. She is the author of Trading Words: Poetry, Typography, and Illustrated Books in the Modern Literary Economy (1995) and American Culture and the Marketplace (1992).
Acknowledgments Foreword John Dart, Christian Century Magazine Introduction: Quotation and the Life of Public Texts Claire Hoertz Badaracco, Marquette University 1. Journalism and the Religious Imagination John Schmalzbauer, College of the Holy Cross VIEW FROM THE NEWS DESK Radio in Tibet: A Portable Window on the Sacred John B. Buescher, Tibetan News Service, Voice of America 2. God Talk in the Public Square C. Welton Gaddy, National Interfaith Alliance VIEW FROM THE NEWS DESK Law and the Middle East Media: Between Censorship and Independence Mohammed el-Nawawy, Georgia State University 3. The First Amendment and the Falun Gong Paul Moses, Brooklyn College VIEW FROM THE NEWS DESK First Amendment and the Common Good Peter Smith, Louisville Courier-Journal 4. A Framework for Understanding Fundamentalism Rebecca Moore, San Diego State University VIEW FROM THE NEWS DESK Modernity and Fundamentalism in Mongolia Corey Flintoff, National Public Radio 5. Biblical Prophecy and Foreign Policy Paul S. Boyer, University of Wisconsin-Madison VIEW FROM THE NEWS DESK Post-9/11 Media and Muslim Identity in American Media Aslam Abdallah, Minaret and Muslim Observer 6. Last Words: Death and Public Self-Expression John P. Ferr? (R), University of Louisville VIEW FROM THE NEWS DESK Comedy and Death in Media Space Mark I. Pinsky, Orlando Sentinel 7. Collective Memory, National Identity: Victims and Victimizers in Japan Richard A. Gardner, Sophia University-Tokyo VIEW FROM THE NEWS DESK Religious Contradiction and the Japanese Soul Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times 8. Appalachian Regional Identity in National Media Howard Dorgan, Appalachian State University VIEW FROM THE NEWS DESK The Reporter as Participant-Observer Adam Phillips, Voice of America 9. The Virgin of Guadalupe as Cultural Icon Virgilio Elizondo, University of Notre Dame VIEW FROM THE NEWS DESK Desert Religions Richard Rodriguez, Pacific News Service 10 Reporting Complexity: Science and Religion Jame Schaefer, Marquette University VIEW FROM THE NEWS DESK Fairness and Pressure Advocacy in Controversial Science Joe Williams, New York Daily News 11 Vatican Opinion on Modern Communication Paul Soukup, S.J., University of Santa Clara VIEW FROM THE NEWS DESK Mocha and Meditation Mats David Crumm, Detroit Free Press Conclusion: A Relationship of Overlapping Conversations Gustav Niebuhr, Syracuse University Notes Bibliography About the Contributors Index
The essays in this book each make a unique contribution on a subject must discussed but little understood. -Michael Cromartie, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington Badaracco has assembled an impressive collection of essays by leading scholars and journalism professionals... Those who have, or will have, the responsibility for analyzing and reporting on religion should have access to this timely volume... Highly recommended. -- CHOICE
