Journalism Is Itself a Religion

Today is a birthday. A new journal has its official launch on the World Wide Web. It is called The Revealer, a daily review of religion and the press. I am the publisher and founder, with Jeff Sharlet, the editor. Sharlet, a journalist, is the co-creator of Killing the Buddha, a much talked-about site for "people both hostile and drawn to talk of God." Now he works for the Journalism Department at NYU, where the journal will be based, thanks to a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts and its religion and public life program.

The Revealer is a weblog with certain features of a magazine, including original content by professional writers. Currently, Chris Lehmann, an editor at the Washington Post book section, examines the rise of the "media church," new houses of worship where faith is suffused--and sometimes confused--with the culture of marketing and entertainment.

The Revealer will point to significant work in journalism about matters of faith. It will tackle controversies in the coverage of religion. It will impart ideas. Jeff himself will comment on what he finds. And we plan to offer resources for reporters and writers on what is sometimes called the "God beat," a title we considered before settling on The Revealer. I hope readers of PressThink will check out the new journal and pass along to us their reactions.

Fair warning, friends: The piece that follows is some 4,800 words.

JOURNALISM IS ITSELF A RELIGION:
Special Essay on Launch of The Revealer

by Jay Rosen

"In my view, journalism is a secular enterprise, and there is no specifically Catholic way to do it," writes John L. Allen Jr, Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter. "You try to tell the story as best you can, covering the church the way you would City Hall or the White House."

Terry Anderson, formerly of the Associated Press and a hostage in Lebanon for seven years, has a slightly different view: "You can be a Christian and a journalist. But you know, you cannot be a Christian and be a bad journalist," Anderson says. "That doesn't work at all. You cannot practice Christianity and a journalism that takes away dignity, that has no compassion, that exploits pain and misery. That's not good journalism, and it's certainly not anything that Christ taught."

But isn't journalism, that secular enterprise, itself a kind of religion? In what follows, I come at the question eight ways, so as to open room for comment by others who know more than I do. (And click the comment button if you are one.)

1.) J-School as School of Theology
2.) The Journalist's Creed
3.) The Orthodoxy of No Orthodoxy
4.) Practicing Journalism But Not Understanding It
5.) The First Amendment as Press Religion
6.) The God Term of Journalism is the Public
7.) A Breakaway Church in the Press
8.) Interview at the Axis of Evil

One: J-School as School of Theology

At Columbia University you can study for a degree in religion and journalism. But they are two separate programs, joined by some fine courses in how to report on religion. Nowhere can you study for a degree in the religion of journalism-- that is, the belief system shared across editorial cultures in the American press. It would make a great course at Columbia, or NYU: "The Religion of the Press." Or even better: its priesthood:

Article Author: Jay Rosen

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