Welcome to the website for the Knight Chair in Media and Religion. Our goal is to serve as a resource for journalists, including journalism educators and students seeking new models for covering politics, science, sex and gender among other key issues for the 21st century. Read more about our site here.
To ease your navigation, here is a quick reference: GET: Links to web-based resources SCOOP: Read Diane Winston's blog HEADLINES: Exemplary articles FEATURES: USC Knight Chair events CLASSROOM: Teaching resources
From Girl Scouts to Swanlights: Covering Queer Spirituality and the Religious "Nones"
Thursday January 26th, 2012
by Kevin HealeyIn the music section of yesterday's Village Voice, Andy Beta doled out advance praise for tonight's performance of Antony & The Johnsons at Radio City Music Hall. A transgendered artist/musician with an otherworldly voice, Antony Hegarty has risen to international prominence from the New York City underground art scene. His work joins themes of femininity, spirituality and the natural environment. Commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art, "Swanlights" is the culmination of years of work and will feature a 60-piece orchestra and elaborate lighting design. But even as Hegarty's work receives enthusiastic reviews, its relegation to the music and entertainment sections of mainstream papers and trade magazines highlights problems in journalistic coverage of the religiously unaffiliated—a.k.a. the "nones." ... read more
Knight-Luce Fellow Caryle Murphy will participate in a pair of events during her visit to USC. On Tuesday, Jan. 17 at noon, Murphy will speak at the Journalism School Director's Forum at USC Annen ... read more
Is Secularism Dead? Religious Extremists, New Atheists and the Fight for America's Soul
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 12:00pm Fishbowl Chapel, University Religious Center Lunch wi ... read more
Journalism and 9/11
Friday August 26th, 2011
In the decade since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the country, our culture and the world have changed dramatically. As has journalism itself. Over the next two weeks we'll posting a special serie ... read more
From Girl Scouts to Swanlights: Covering Queer Spirituality and the Religious "Nones"
Source:
Posted By: Kevin Healey
Thursday January 26th, 2012
Unless you're an aficionado of the alternative art scene or plugged into the circuitry of queer-feminist eco-politics, you might just be forgiven for not knowing a bit about AntonyHegarty. But only just. Hegarty has collaborated with the likes of Bjork, Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and Marianne Faithful, performed at Lincoln Center and the Sydney Opera House and won praise from the Guardian, le Monde and the Los Angeles Times. What does the reputation--and blinkered coverage--of this iconoclastic and deeply spiritual artist say about the ferment of our times and the challenges of our profession? Read Kevin Healey's blog here.
The increasing environmental consciousness of the spiritual-but-not religious cohort is reflected in an ecologically-minded revisioning of tenets and sacred texts among believers who want to reform rather than abandon institutional religions. The interplay between trends in secular culture, the social mores of the "nones" and the evolving theology of young traditionalists constitutes a rich mine of stories.
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Kevin Healey currently holds a Postdoctoral Fellowship through the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Kevin's research on media and religion appears in Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies, and Symbolic Interaction. His co-edited volume on the "prophetic" critique of popular media is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2012.
The Israel-Palestine Project2011
USC Annenberg journalism students who traveled to Israel-Palestine in March 2011 have created the Israel-Palestine Project 2011 to showcase their reporting. One of the key elements of the project is an innovative partnership with "On Being," American Public Media's talk show on meaning, religion, ethics and ideas. Please check out our work and let us know what you think.
