Connecting faith and media

A popular YouTube video of strangers huddling together in a convenience-store cooler to survive the devastating Joplin, Mo., tornado vividly captured spontaneous prayers and acts of kindness among people in the throes of nature's fury. Was such behavior the exception or the rule? Little of the mainstream media's follow-on coverage of the tornado considered the poignant angle of faith and prayer even though the social media world was alight with its direct manifestation.

In "The Art and Craft of Feature Writing," the well-loved Wall Street Journal writer William Blundell encouraged beginning journalists to delve into "broad subject areas that interest you, that appear to touch the lives of many readers, and that the paper covers sporadically or barely at all." The two areas Blundell particularly recommended: faith and family. Why? Accordingly to Blundell, faith and family are the two topics "uncovered by practically everybody" in the news business although relevant to most readers.

In today's Deseret News, Michael De Groote and Allison Pond explore the disconnect between journalism and faith. The article explores a complex set of questions. Does the disconnect result from the education of journalists, the norms of the profession, the religious life of journalists, or the seeming inscrutability of belief?

Tellingly, the disconnect is not market driven. Religiously oriented stories and blogs at traditional news outlets drive significant online traffic. And why wouldn't they? As Robert Putnam and David Campbell document in their book "American Grace," Americans have very high rates of religious belonging, behaving and believing. Eighty-three percent of Americans report that they belong to a religion, 59 percent pray weekly, and 80 percent report an absolute belief in God.

If journalism wants to be relevant to its audience, journalism needs to connect to the religious sentiments of its readers.

But simply more coverage of religious topics and religious organizations is not precisely what Americans clamor for. Based on focus group responses from Deseret News readers representing a variety of faith traditions and geographic regions, there is a clear sense that readers believe standard journalism fails to reflect that religious belief and behavior are vital to almost every newsworthy story, not just those ostensibly about religion.