Mormon Media Observer: Amount of 'Mormon' coverage totals thousands of articles this year

Indeed, I continue to learn new things.

For example, in my research, I learned that Darrell Issa, the chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was raised by an LDS mother.

I have also been inspired. To take another example, Dr. Clayton M. Christensen, the LDS Church member who teaches at the Harvard Business School, appeared on PBS’ “Charlie Rose” show earlier this year to talk about his new book, “How Will You Measure Your Life?”

In the interview, Christensen described a youthful decision to obey the Sabbath day, even though it meant missing a championship basketball game in England. It was a remarkable decision shared in a remarkable interview.

Christensen said this on national TV: “And I looked back on that and, you know, it was just one Sunday in thousands of Sundays in my life, and surely just that once it would have been all right. It turns out that my whole life has been an unending stream of extenuating circumstances. And if I had gone over that once, the next time it comes up, I have to make the decision again and then again and then again. And if we make our decisions about whether we’ll hold to our standards on a case-by-case basis, there will always be a time when we say you’re right, just this once and I do it.”

Beautiful stuff.

Yes, the church has had images of one long Mormon Moment throughout its history, but its hard not to be astonished at the breadth, depth and beauty of coverage happening now.

Lane Williams teaches journalism and communication at BYU-Idaho. He is a former journalist whose scholarly interests include Mormon portrayals in the media, media and religion, and religion and politics.