I think that reporters often have a hard time keeping their stories unbiased. With the understanding that everyone, especially reporters, have strong thoughts and opinions how do we get neutral stories?
Religion is a common point of controversy in today's society. People dedicate hours every week to their faith. It becomes a part of them and affects their beliefs in almost every situation. Religion is intensely personal and shouldn’t be treated like a mass produced product. I think we all can understand how this bias would alter our journalistic integrity.
Most people can’t write a neutral story about religion. I think that in most cases when a religion is reported on, it is done very poorly. The journalist never gets the whole picture and often times fails to even grasp the most simple aspects of their faith. If you are going to report on a religion at least get the facts right!
As a member of the church it is always entertaining to see what the newest stories are about the church or high profile church members. Right now with two mormons in the presidential campaign, it is especially interesting to see how the media is painting their beliefs. Mitt Romney had a fairly accurate story written about him and his beliefs on http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/06/05/mormons-rock.html.
The newest Tony award winning musical is all about the mormon church and there is an HBO television show about polygamy. While the TV show is not even really about the church, most people associate the church with polygamy. http://www.hbo.com/big-love/index.html, http://www.bookofmormonbroadway.com/home.php I have found that a lot of reporters take what they see in these programs as fact. They report them as if they are totally true and that leads to a false story. If they want true religious fact, go to the source.
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