Louisa Andrusko-Blog 13-Outside Reading 4/17/11

In “How Religion Editors of Newspapers View Their Jobs and Religion,” Don Ranly explores the relationship between journalism and religion. Ranly argues that “perhaps more than ever reporters are expected to be specialists.” As a journalist and specialist, impartiality and an objective viewpoint are considered key characteristics. Interestingly enough, these religion journalists are reporting on something very subjective and diverse. Ranly categorizes the journalists into three categories: neutral, humanists, and traditionalists. While this is some disagreement between these journalists on the amount of influence religion should have in journalism, according to the study performed for this article, almost all of the journalists interviewed believed their research to be significant and relevant to readers.

Being an objective journalist seems more important now than ever, especially after the many public investigations of corrupt journalists. However, when reading this article, I had to wonder: What role does subjectivity play in religion journalism? Further, is subjectivity/impartiality even expected? In my opinion, religion journalists have targeted audiences that are aware of the biases that will accompany the news they receive. Just like non-religious news sources, people choose news sources that most closely align with their own beliefs. However, according to this study, religion journalists do feel they are looked down on more than their non-religion counterparts. The recognized and accepted subjective journalism that occurs may be a reason for this.

The intermingling of subjectivity and objectivity was very interesting to me. While religion has so many different interpretations to different people, the core of religion is still supposed to be unattested or questioned. Unconditional faith, it seems, is demanded in many faiths, leaving little to no room for questions. I believe we see this trend continue in religion journalism. Interestingly enough, religion journalism is objective in that it follows set rules, yet subjective in the journalist’s slightly different perceptions.

Ranly, Don. "How Religion Editors of Newspapers View Their Jobs and Religion." Journalism Quarterly 56.4 (1979): 844-849. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 16 Apr. 2011.