Co-editor's Introduction July 2007

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The AEJMC-RMIG Newsletter--Summer 2007

Co-editor’s Introduction

James Y. Trammell
Assistant Professor
Department of Communication/Journalism
St. John Fisher College

“He’s a fundamentalist!” I yelled to the TV, as if it could hear me. CNN had just reported that Jerry Falwell had been rushed to the hospital after collapsing in his Liberty University office. The anchors didn’t have confirmation yet that he died, so they filled airtime speculating about his legacy. As they tried to balance between speaking no ill of the dying and being honest about his public persona, one of the anchors asked the other, “Is Falwell an evangelical or a fundamentalist?” “I don’t know,” came the response as I remember it. “Fundamentalist!” I shouted again. “Gee whiz. Don’t you know the differences between evangelicals and fundamentalists?” I was pretty incredulous. I had spent that very morning editing a paper that covered the differences between fundamentalist Christianity and evangelicalism, so the distinctions were fresh on my mind. The CNN anchors, on the other hand, spent the morning covering the latest Paris Hilton drama, so they were not prepared to discuss the nuances of religious faith. The anchors’ debate, though, probably had more to do with being careful about the term “fundamentalist” than about understanding the belief system itself. Many stylebooks recommend caution when using the “fundamentalist” label, helping journalists avoid a term that tends to be used (and misused) pejoratively. There is a tendency in television news to reduce religious faith to simple terms and constructs. But at times, understanding what the faithful believe is crucial to the story, and journalists ought to have a requisite religious literacy to cover the story well. Paola Banchero writes how we can better prepare our journalism students to cover religious issues by teaching religious literacy. You read see her article here. On the subject of Jerry Falwell, Michael Longinow gives us an appreciation for his contributions to religion and media. You can read it here. The newsletter also features a rundown of RMIG sessions at the Washington, DC AEJMC convention. Read it here. Enjoy the newsletter. I’m going to go back to yelling at the TV.