Comments about ‘Reporter fascinated by LDS’

According to my son, who has worked for a half dozen major U.S. daily newspapers, the reporting staff is almost entirely agnostic or atheistic - and that also applies to religion writers.

That explains why they are generally either unsympathetic or openly antagonistic to religion.

he said he know's little about the mormon way's,
how good can his writting be about them ?

"he said he know's little about the mormon way's,
how good can his writting be about them ?"

Umm... Have you ever heard of objectivity?

-LDS church member

He said that before his current job he knew very little about them. Not now.

Comment @ 12:06pm

With all due respect for your son: I don't know how he could make such a claim. US laws prohibit asking about a person's religious beliefs (or lack thereof) as part of a job interview.

Beyond that wouldn't it simply be bad business for a newspaper to employ a non-believing person on the "religion" beat? They are in business to sell papers and, believe it or not, disinformation doesn't sell papers. If you have bought into the "liberal agenda" conspiracy theory, I would remind you that points of view different than your own do not neccesarily equate to said theory.

The media have had surveys done on their membership several times in the last 10-20 years or so. Typically they are 90% or better self identifying as liberal, and the majority also identify as atheist or agnostic.

It doesn't take an actual conspiracy to look at media coverage of various politicians and see the difference. Personal bias is plenty to explain it all. Romney couldn't meet with the media for months without defending his faith, and he wasn't the one who brought it up.

I love the smell of fresh jello in the morning.

Why should it matter what religion - or lack thereof - a religion beat reporter is?

A reporter can't be a member of EVERY religion. Any story reported in a perceived negative way will be claimed to be biased based on the reporter's religious beliefs.

An X-ian reporter will be called unsympathetic to a story about atheism; an atheist reporter will be called unsympathetic to every religious group.

What truly matters is the reporters objectivity. To be able to cast aside his feelings about the actual story and report the news. This is true about ANY beat: religion, crime, or what have you.

I have read a number of Paulson's articles pertaining to Mormonism and have twice written to him during the past couple of years to thank him for his excellent research and fair portrayal of our faith and activities.

I wish every major news outlet had a religion reporter with his ability and impartiality.

Tracy Hall Jr
hthalljr'gmail'com

"Mormons have incredible internal communication".

To maintain a faith based Cult-ure this long, and continue to gain, obedient,tithing paying members, and in becoming the wealthiest faith-based cult-ure, with incredible amount of political power, completely supports this statement.

I know I've emailed this author before. I believe it was just prior to the Republican primary and he made a few minor mistakes and I wanted to let him know.

There was no "internal communication" for me, just one individual keeping up with the election.

A writer who specializes in religion for 9 years and has written 51 stories that refer to Mormonism and he says he isn't an expert on the LDS church?

Good grief, by now he oughta be...

"Anonymous | 4:47 p.m. April 3, 2009
"Mormons have incredible internal communication".
To maintain a faith based Cult-ure this long, and continue to gain, obedient,tithing paying members, and in becoming the wealthiest faith-based cult-ure, with incredible amount of political power, completely supports this statement."

"Cult-ure???"

Wow, no biasedness there....

I agree with the comment from Anon about reporters not needing to have a religion themselves in order to report on religion - after all, you wouldn't expect (or want?) a criminal to be a crime reporter. And not being LDS does not automatically make a person bad, any more than being LDS makes one good.
I also like the statement on 'internal communication' - it's what makes us united as a church, as a people, and as a culture - from the bottom up. :)

Thank you for you comments-isn't it wonderful that we live in a free country where we CAN pick our own religion and our own point of views
Keep up the good work

One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.

The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.

A bigot and ignoramus is generally the character of any individual who is critical of the LDS faith or culture. I've patiently listened to personal beliefs as well as diatribes regarding the Mormon Faith that are based on false teachings and testimonies of others with no regards to truth or even common sense. Sadly such criticisms, or worse, deceptions for political or social agendas has become the accepted behavior for the media and entertainment industry.

In these times when recession is headed towards depression, who do you really want for a friend and neighbor.

Anyone who is objective and unbiased should be commended when it comes to reporting. It is time that we begin to listen to the voice of reason.

Our Freedoms are not guaranteed. As sure as there is a God in Heaven, He blesses His people. America has been a blessed country, but the hearts and minds of many of the people are turning away. Are we going to become as Israel of old?

The Boston Globe, an enemy to Mitt and an enemy to the church. Leftist all the way. Why give this Gadianton a pulpit?

Being an American we have our right to freedom of speech. It's even nicer if the one speaking has a pure knowledge of the subject of choice, so he might be objective in his remarks. I find this to be especially true when referring to the press and their columns they write. Otherwise we may just as well re-name our newspapers, "Fictionpapers" to entertain the gullible or to trick those truly seeking knowledge. My advice is "study the subject, before making yourself look silly in written form, no matter if it's reporters or individuals expressing their opinions!" It would be nice to see this done with all subjects not just religion.

I get real tired of all the criticism on both sides. We are all children of our HeavenlyFather and it hurts him just like it hurts us to see our children be so rude and mean to eachother. Why don't we focus more on what we have in common and if we are decent people. Of corse I want everyone to be LDS like me because I love the gosple of Jesus Christ and want that for all but I also respect others opinions of religion. If we get mad about all the articals written from someone who isn't educated about the LDS church than we are not being very Christ like. Why get upset if we know the truth? Isn't your relationship with the Lord just between you and him? Why would anyone believe someone 100% about any church who isn't a member of that church. If I want to know about the Catholic church I would go to the Catholic church not read an artical especially in a news paper. About the cult comment that's just ignorance big time!

Lee, etc.

I'd suggest that it's important to not be overly judgmental of anyone -- no matter their employer.

As a former resident of MA and a longtime reader of the Boston globe I've found Michael Paulson to be a fair, objective reporter on a variety of religions. He seemed to put much effort into understanding the issues involved. As one not familiar with the nearly infinite intricacies of our faith and culture not only were his articles on the LDS Church generally appropriate but accurate. And he has kindly responded to several of my email communications.

As has been shared by others, there is much good to be found in others - both in and outside our faith.