I was reading the morning newspaper, which included several stories and Op Eds on the Schiavo case, when "Face the Nation" came on. It dealt with the same story. So did "Meet the Press."
I turned off the Tube. In the beginning, I followed the case with interest, but it's been all-Schiavo-all-the-time and I cannot take any more.
The story will go from everywhere to nowhere soon, when Terri Schiavo dies. Right now, however, you cannot escape it for ther simple reason that our corporate news mediums (and pretend-mediums) love to wallow in a dramatic story, splashing it all over us.
It's a good story, of course, but not just a story. It's a chance, too, for newspapers and networks to satisfy our appetites for human misery. For cable to satisfy its huge hunger for raw material. And for talk radio to exacerbate social tensions.
Did I hear you say, "Bread and circuses?"
Yeah.
So my first point is that the Schiavo case is both more and less than a story. It's a mammoth entertainment.
Point number two - this case should spur newspapers, broadcast and other so-called news organizations to report on religion regularly.
To its credit, the Albuquerque Tribune runs a weekly religion column that is informative and well-written. And most newspapers offer sporadic coverage, with features on major holidays.
But the print press does not treat religion the way it does politics, courts, cops, sports, science, schools and such.
Those are beats. Reporters cover them daily, learning a lot about the subject matter and the players. So their work better informs us.
Given the menace to our lives of Islamic fundamentalism, the menace to American democracy of Christian fundamentalism and the explosion we will see in "right to die" episodes that will accomplany the graying of America, it seems clear that religion will provide lots of events and issues to report.
All the more reason for a religion beat.