Source: Ecumenical News International
http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=2868
News coverage of the religious landscape in the United States has in recent years gained visibility because of increased interest in issues related to religion but now faces an uncertain future, given a state of flux in U.S. journalism, say prominent religion journalists.
"The religion beat is suffering collateral damage," reporter Michael Paulson, who covers religion for the Boston Globe newspaper, told members of the Religion Communicators' Council, an interfaith professional association, at its annual meeting, which took place in Boston from 26 to 28 March.
During a panel discussion, Paulson along with Rachel Zoll, who covers religion for the Associated Press news agency, and John Yemma, the editor of the Christian Science Monitor, told of frustrations and discouraging trends ranging from the reduction of staff to all-out elimination of sections devoted to religious reporting in U.S. newspapers.
The journalists noted that The New York Times now has only one reporter covering religion at the national level, instead of two, while the well-respected Dallas Morning News ditched its weekly section on religious news, which many observers considered the best in the field.
The problems of religious coverage hinge on what is happening to U.S. journalism as a whole.
Metropolitan areas are losing newspapers, and newspapers are cutting back on their news coverage because of declining advertising revenues and loss of readers. Many now blame the availability of what is called "free news" on the Internet for what is taking place.