Blind Spot

"It's not often that I let out a whoop of joy when I read a book, but I did while reading Blind Spot: When Journalists Don't Get Religion. I've been preaching this gospel for 15 years and it's great to see it so brilliantly argued and supported in these pages. The editors have assembled a top-flight team of scholars and writers to build the case brick by solid brick. It is now an unassailable truth: without an understanding of religion, a journalist can miss the greatest stories of our time. This is the book I -- and my students -- have been waiting for." --Professor Ari Goldman, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and author of The Search for God at Harvard "Since press blindness is one reason for the declining circulations of standard newspapers and newsmagazines, Blind Spot should be required reading for journalists and journalism professors who hope to respond not only to technological changes but to cultural ones as well." --World "This is an instructive book for practitioners. It is written by experienced analysts of religion who want reporters to deepen their knowledge of the subject... Blind Spot should make any religion reporter a more astute student of the journalistic craft." --Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly "A provocative mix of painstaking scholarly analysis with lively samples of news reporting. The writing is cohesive and accessible, engaging and--occasionally--entertaining, and it could prove an effective point of departure for classroom use at undergraduate and graduate student levels."--Religion "...Blind Spot is instructive for anyone who seeks to understand the world that we inhabit. After all, many of us, no less than journalists, need reminding that the world does not operate according to the dictates of our personal conscience, and that people very different than us can and will often surprise us both with virtue and with vice. Religion has always and will continue to contribute mightily to both; understanding that is critical to being not just good journalists, but ethical teachers and informed human beings. In that sense, Blind Spot does a great service not just to those who write and read news, but to all who seek to live on a planet imbued with religiosity." --International Journal of Public Theology