Religion and Ethics Newsweekly Going off the Air

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meltzerboy

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This weekend marks the end of a 20-year run of the PBS show, “Religion and Ethics Newsweekly,” which I watched religiously (pun intended). The show presented political stories dealing with ethical and religious issues, portraits of religious and spiritual leaders, some of whom are not well known, religious customs and practices, and sundry other items dealing with religion and ethical values. It covered a whole host of religious traditions and provided equal time for various viewpoints on hot-button issues. It was hosted by Bob Abernathy, who was also its executive editor, as well as featuring several excellent journalists.

I will miss the show. Has anyone else been a viewer?
 
No I haven’t but it sounds like a fantastic show. Any media which seeks to promote understanding and education between people from various religious and non-religious backgrounds is a good thing. Not enough of that type of media around, especially in my neck of the woods. It’s a pity they are cancelling the show.
 
I’ve heard of it and can watch PBS from north of the border but it’s too early. It’s quite unfortunate news.
SAVINGRACE said:
No I haven’t but it sounds like a fantastic show. Any media which seeks to promote understanding and education between people from various religious and non-religious backgrounds is a good thing. Not enough of that type of media around, especially in my neck of the woods. It’s a pity they are cancelling the show.
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There’s ‘Heart and Soul’ on the BBC World Service and ‘Sunday’ and ‘Beyond Belief’ on BBC Radio 4, all of which are accessible online to those outside the UK.
 
Oh, this is sad. My TiVo often would surprise me by recording this show on its own – always a welcome occurrence.
 
Yes, I often watched that show through the years, depending on when my schedule and their programming schedule coincided. I hadn’t seen it for some time recently though. I do like hearing episodes of “Heart and Soul” on BBC radio, and NPR still runs the show “On Being” which I sometimes enjoy as well.
 
Michael_Mayo said:
Yes, wonderful program. Funding or what?
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I wasn’t a regular watcher but I’m not surprised it’s coming to an end. Not much of a market out there anymore for any attempts at even-handed reporting on controversial topics such as religion.

I was unfortunate enough today to watch part of a local news program, that is meant to feature journalists interviewing local politicians in a “Meet the Press” type format. Usually there are two journalists interviewing two politicians, one a Democrat, one a Republican. Standard Sunday morning fare, I usually keep it on in the background while I make breakfast.

But today’s episode was all about the 2 journalists venting about how horrible Trump is, and how they personally felt insulted by his comments about the media, and asking their guests “you agree with me, right”?

Now, the 2 guests today weren’t actual elected politicians, but “political scientists”, one was conservative and one was liberal. But even the liberal one seemed to be a little taken aback per the look in her face, I think she was thinking something like, “Um, it’s OUR job to rant and rave about politics and politicians, not yours!”

The 2 journalists involved were actually proving Trump’s point, at least when it came to themselves. They were obviously not even attempting to be objective towards him.
 
Michael_Mayo said:
Yes, wonderful program. Funding or what?
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I don’t know. Maybe it is due to funding or maybe there is not enough demand for such a program. Bob Abernethy, the host, is now 89 and perhaps he wishes to retire. Still, I’m sure PBS could find someone else to replace him if it wanted to.
 
I watched the show although not as faithful as I had previously. Hopefully they will make a similar show. It will be missed.
 
I watched it a lot when it first came out but I then understood it was really just another PBS program / news program, politically liberal (in my opinion), and not much positive coverage of the Catholic Church.

They did talk a lot about other world religions which was interesting.

I still watched it occasionally; the last program I saw was towards near end of 2016 which featured a segment with the program’s two main Journalists Bob Abernathy and Kim Laughton; and E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post, and a few other people discussing “2016: The Year in Review.”

Bob Abernathy towards the very end of the discussion remarked that one of the most overlooked news stories of 2016 was that Pope Francis attended a “Commemoration” of the Protestant Reformation in Sweden. Kim Laughton pointed out to Bob that the Vatican had told reporters that the event was not a Commemoration but some sort of Ecumenical event, and Bob sheepishly grinned and said something like "Well . . . " which, for me, pretty much sums up, their coverage of matters Catholic over the last 20 years.

If you’re a Journalist and not going to pay attention to the importance of words in as an important a subject as religion, where words matter greatly, that’s not doing your job well as a journalist in my opinion.

The Archdiocese of Detroit’s Catholic Television Network of Detroit which broadcast the “Religion and Ethics Newsweekly” program until around 2011 when it became an an affiliate of Boston-based CatholicTV Network, eventually had to run a Disclaimer before airing the program stating that the show was independently produced and did not reflect the opinions of the Archdiocese of Detroit or the Catholic Church, I presume due to complaints to CTND.
 
That’s unfortunate (though I have to admit I haven’t watched it in recent years).
 
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