Skip to main content

Advertisement

A GetReligionista looks back on some of his — and his colleagues' — most-clicked posts of 2018

By

I write more than 200 posts a year for GetReligion.

My pieces range from our bread-and-butter critiques of mainstream news media coverage of religion to our weekly Friday Five columns highlighting each week’s major (or just plain quirky) developments on the Godbeat.

At the end of each year, I’m always curious to see which posts caught the attention of the most readers.

What makes a GetReligion post go viral? In 2017, key ingredients included Joel Osteen, same-sex wedding cakes and the Mark of the Beast. The previous year — 2016 — Donald Trump’s “Two Corinthians,” Merle Haggard’s Church of Christ mama and a rare opening of a Chick-fil-A on Sunday were in the mix.

2018? Well, let’s check out the top five posts for GetReligionista Julia Duin, GetReligion editor Terry Mattingly and myself.

We’ll start with Julia, for reasons that will become obvious:

5. How journalists can nail down the rest of the Cardinal McCarrick story – for good

4. Cardinal Ted McCarrick, Part II: The New York Times takes a stab at this old story

3. Catholic News Agency pulls off investigative coup in the 'Uncle Ted' McCarrick saga

2. Another #ChurchToo: The Chicago Tribune investigates Bill Hybels in 6,000 words

1. The scandal of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and why no major media outed him

See any common thread there? That’s right — McCarrick and the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal were huge news and big traffic drivers to GetReligion in 2018, as was the related #ChurchToo news that also made headlines.

Hybels shows up again in tmatt’s top five. But there are other compelling topics here, too (think aliens, Chris Pratt and Donald Trump, albeit not together):

5. Faith-free thinking about aliens: Oxford experts say we probably are all alone in universe

4. So a Chicago priest who was once abused burns a rainbow-cross flag: All heck breaks out

3. Can I get an 'Amen'? For the press, that was the White House correspondents' dinner from hell

2. Chris Pratt uses MTV as pulpit for his faith: Were his 'nine rules for living' news or not?

1. She kept stacks of journals: Bill Hybels drama enters a shocking new #MeToo chapter

And my top five? Look for a hero Southwest Airlines pilot, an adulterous Bible Belt mayor and a Texas serial bomber among my most-clicked posts:

5. Reporters delve into the religion of Mark Conditt, the dead man identified as Austin's serial bomber

4. Friday Five: Chick-fil-A, Southwest pilot's faith, Waco anniversary, clergy sex abuse scandal and more

3. A Bible Belt mayor, an extramarital affair and a newspaper savvy enough to cover the religion angle

2. Duck, duck, goose: Three different approaches to covering Mormon church president's death

1. 'Dear Jesus, send some angels': More notes of faith and prayer inside Southwest Flight 1380

I mentioned the top five posts of our regular contributors who post three or more times a week. We have other wonderful, experienced journalists — including Richard Ostling, Ira Rifkin and Clemente Lisi — who regularly offer brilliant analysis but do so less often. Suffice it to say that I am blessed to work with such a wonderful team here at GetReligion.

The end of one year and beginning of another is an excellent time for reflection and feedback. If you have thoughts on what you like about GetReligion or what we could do better, please don’t hesitate to comment below or tweet us at @GetReligion.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Facebook

Ads

Popular posts from this blog

Here's Why CBS' 'Clarice' Television Series Can't Mention Hannibal Lecter

By
Clarice is a new series coming to CBS in just a few months that will continue The Silence of the Lambs franchise. However, there’s one thing that the television series can’t do, and that’s mention anything about Hannibal Lecter. According to executive producer Alex Kurtzman , who spoke with Entertainment Weekly , the series can’t do this because the rights to author Thomas Harris ’ characters are actually divided between MGM and the Dino De Laurentiis Company. READ : CBS ‘Silence of the Lambs’ Sequel Series Finds Its Clarice! But, the CBS show will have all the other characters mentioned in the book, like Clarice Starling, her colleague Ardelia Mapp, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Paul Krendler, the late serial killer Buffalo Bill, and a few others. “I’m still trying to understand how the rights are divided,” Alex shared with the magazine about the legality of it all, but he’s okay with that too. Turns out that not having access to Hannibal hasn’t been limiting. “It’s bee...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sóller hike followed by a healthy vegan lunch

By
We got a group of friends together (of various ages and fitness levels) to hike around the hills surrounding the Mallorcan town of Sóller, in the northwest of the island. There are many quite easy trails but usually, it involves a bit of hiking up and downhill. We began our walk at the first roundabout after the tunnel and climbed for about 25 minutes uphill after that it was reasonably flat for the next hour or so. The final part was decent into the town of Sóller where we had booked a private vegan brunch for our group. Barbara and Martjin opened Ecocirer in March 2018 as a vegan hotel with 6 bedrooms in the town of Sóller. It is the ideal accommodation for a family celebration if you would like to enjoy healthy vegan food with plenty of activities to get you out into the beautiful nature surrounding the picturesque town. The expe...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jay Z Takes Aim at Donald Trump, Donald Sterling on Van Jones Show

By
Jay Z Takes Aim at 2 Donalds -- Trump and Sterling 1/28/2018 7:03 AM PST Jay Z thinks it was a huge setback for race relations when Donald Sterling was booted as owner of the Los Angeles Clippers because of his racist comments ... because it sends racists the wrong message. Jay appeared on Van Jones ' news CNN show Saturday night and explained his thoughts ... that when Sterling was thrown out of the franchise, it sent a message to racists to just continue that hateful thoughts, comments and actions on the QT.  Jay Z said, "Once you do that (boot him from the franchise), all the other closet racists just run back in the hole.  You haven't fixed anything.  What you've done was spray perfume on a trash can." [embedded content] The mogul also took aim at Trump in an interesting way, saying even if the African American community is benefiting economically now, saying, "Treat me really bad and pay me well.  It's not going to lead to happiness ... Ev...
Post a Comment
Read more