I'm still waiting, but that's not a complaint. If what I've seen in the legacy media is indicative of what he'd send, it would be an exercise in lyrical excess that says more about the reporter than the reported.

The weepies came a cropper this weekend with tales of loss and lamentation. In between the BIG WHY (why us?) and brutal HOW (how do we go on?) were praise-filled services (we will survive), ruined chapels (was every Catholic church really destroyed?), ecumenical hand-holding (Catholics and Protestant find common cause) and woo-woo Voodoo vibes. There were poetic descriptions and stunning photos, but no surprises: God is mysterious, survivors come together and we all pray for a better tomorrow.

Part of the problem is narrative. When a tragedy strikes, editors expect religion stories to address the problem of evil, the catharsis of suffering and the resiliency of faith. Reporters parachute in with set ideas of how to find and report those angles. (Hmm—let's go to Sunday Mass and hear what the priest says, then talk to widows, orphans and assorted victims.)

Let me be clear: the press corps in Haiti is doing important work in a horrendous situation, and the significance of their presence cannot be overstated. But reporting on religion in the midst of a catastrophe may be close to impossible: how to quantify, interrogate and quickly ascertain the meaning and impact of an upside-down world? Journalists turn to churches, rituals and priests for answers, but the real story may be found in small gestures rather than swelling services, quiet moments rather than Hallelujah choruses. This latest round of reporting reveals what American reporters deem religious, but I'm not convinced it's an accurate portrait of what Haitians think, believe or feel, much less what they are really doing to cope.

Whether it was the magnitude of the Haitian tragedy or cold shouldering someone else's scoop, the scant follow up on ABC's boffo Bible-codes-on-rifles story surprised me. The Washington Post was one of the few legacy news outlets to jump on this twisted tale of a Michigan company that imprinted Biblical verses on gun-sights used in Afghanistan.

It's an amazing story that plays into Muslim anxieties about a Christian American crusade; makes the Pentagon look bad (did leaders really not know?); undercuts the notion of church-state separation; and raises a thicket of theological issues (Christian-branded guns?).

When the student gets back from Haiti, I'll suggest he follow that trail.
 
Diane Winston