Journalism and religion: A balancing act

Terry Mattingly would be the first to admit that being both a hard-hitting journalist and a practicing Christian is not easy. Regardless, Mattingly, a professor of journalism at Regent University in Virginia, explained to a small crowd of Penn students and faculty members at the Kelly Writers House on Wednesday night that it is indeed possible to be both in America today. Mattingly, who was brought to campus by both the Writers House and the Orthodox Christian Fellowship, spoke for nearly an hour about the various problems facing Christians who aspire to cover religious topics for newspapers and magazines. Mattingly captivated the audience by beginning his talk with a personal anecdote about his experiences in a Charlotte church with a spirited and lively congregation in the 1980s. He said he was sitting alone in a pew during a church service, quietly taking notes on the event for a column he was writing, when suddenly the priest directed the question "Brother, are you with us?" specifically at him. This question, Mattingly noted, had been a common one in his career as a writer who focuses on religious issues. Mattingly has been writing weekly columns about religion for the Scripps Howard News Service for 13 years. Mattingly said he and many of his fellow religion columnists find it difficult to respond when frequently asked about their own religions while conducting interviews. "It is impossible to avoid the fact that religion is a controversial issue," said Mattingly, an Orthodox Christian. "Even if you are of the same church as the person you are interviewing, things can still be uncomfortable." He explained that when a Christian journalist is asked to what church he or she belongs, the best response is simply to, "tell them you take the subject [of religion] very seriously and that you want to get the facts straight." It is also essential, Mattingly continued, to have respect for the interviewee's religion and beliefs. "I would try to report unto others as I would want them to report unto me," he said. "Everything would improve if we take other people's faiths as seriously as we take our own." "To me, the moral of what he said is if you want to be a good journalist, you have to show the person you are interviewing that you understand him or her," said Omar Harb, a first-year post-doctoral student in Biology. For Mattingly, the focus of the public tends not to be on religion. "Everybody wants to write about spirituality, feelings and things that are touchy-feely, instead of religion. Oprah's hot, the Pope's not," he explained. Mattingly said the manner in which Christian journalists deal with conflicts is only half the problem, adding that he hopes others will also approach problems differently. "Christian journalists should not be judged as Christians," Mattingly added. "They should be prepared to be judged as journalists. "I'd feel a lot more comfortable letting myself get judged as a journalist and letting my priest and myself take care of the rest."

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