THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508250027
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
When ``Jane Roe,'' of Roe vs. Wade, was baptized a born-again Christian earlier this month, several readers praised the newspaper for ``being fair'' and running the story on the front page.
Call me cynical, but the implication was that our editors had momentarily abandoned their liberal, godless ways and given Norma McCorvey's conversion the play it deserved.
Foolish me. I would have said the editors just recognized a good news story when they saw one. After all, it isn't every day that the woman whose name is synonymous with legalized abortion finds spiritual rebirth through a pro-life minister.
But religion coverage is a touchy thing, and readers keep a close watch on it. Sacrilege is not to be tolerated, whether it's in a story, headline or cartoon. One reader didn't approve of the Tuesday editorial-page cartoon showing Mickey Mantle's glove reaching toward an outstretched hand, a la Michelangelo's pious Sistine Chapel fresco.
``I'll look for your response in Sunday's edition,'' he warned in his anonymous voice-mail message. Well, my response is that I found it a touching tribute to the late baseball great. But that doesn't mean I'm not sensitive to the caller's feelings, though his was the only complaint.
Two callers objected to a story, followed by a column, about church tithing. ``This is the second article attacking black churches,'' said a minister, after the column ran. ``Why are we being attacked by the newspaper?''
And another reader (but only one!) complained when church notices were omitted two weeks in a row due to lack of space. That left Betsy Wright's Issues of Faith column as the sole religion presence in the Daily Break those Saturdays.
And Wright knows all about controversy. Last month, her column on Gov. George Allen's ``un-Christian'' remarks triggered a stormy dialogue that went on for weeks.
But none of these issues comes near to being as touchy, collectively, as stories about CBN's Pat Robertson. So I was not surprised this week by more than a dozen heated calls over last Sunday's front-page article, ``What should one ask of God?''
What surprised me was the tenor of the calls. Usually, the newspaper is scolded for giving unfavorable coverage to Robertson. This time, callers were critical of giving him too much credibility, too much ``free advertising.''
The story, if you missed it, was about his prayers against Hurricane Felix, with viewpoints from clergy of different faiths about the power, and propriety, of prayer in such cases.
Some readers, I think, were simply uncomfortable at seeing this subject massively displayed, with photos and pullouts, on page A1. ``Can't you find any news to put on the front page?'' asked one woman. Praying to a storm, it seems, is just not news.
Others, I think, objected to the very large photo of Robertson and an evangelist, their faces ``all scrunched up in prayer,'' as one minister put it.
The minister added: ``Pat Robertson did not pray away that hurricane of a couple years ago . . . and he didn't pray away this one the other day, either. I just don't think that (kind of coverage) does much good.
I found the story to be fair - no judgments, no potshots, no single answer. But often, in journalism, words alone don't carry the message. The story concept, the size of the photos, their placement - all of these have an impact on us as readers, even when we don't read the text.
Well, theological debate may not be the norm for the front page, and I'll concede that the prayer story's presentation erred on the side of humongous.
But I'll take an interesting, timely and balanced discussion any day, especially one that adds diversity to our viewpoints.
RX FOR TROUBLE. Another front-page story this week riled a reader. It was Wednesday's Los Angeles Times article about a prescription drug that is being used as a ``Mickey Finn'' by criminals in Russia.
A local physician thought it was irresponsible for the newspaper to give the name of the drug, a fairly common prescription medication used for seizures, blood pressure and attention-deficit and hyperactive disorders.
``The drug is especially ubiquitous in this country,'' he said, ``and you've given a whole lot of people a whole lot of ideas. . . ''
I don't think that the people who ``get ideas'' are big on in-depth reading - and the name of the medication was well into the story.
But you didn't have to read it. A front-page graphic showed a colorful pill bottle with the name next to it in boldface type.
There I would agree with Dr. Restaino. It's a prescription for trouble. MEMO: Call the public editor at 446-2475, or send a computer message to
lynn(AT)infi.net by CNB