Pray for the media to be disappointed

[DemBones DemBones]

and have to keep guessing for years to come! If, of course, that's God's will.



Pope's Ailments Keep TV Networks Guessing


Sun Mar 13,10:06 PM ET

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

NEW YORK - With Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II's health declining, CBS News executive Marcy McGinnis traveled to Rome to negotiate a 10-year lease for the rights to broadcast from the roof of a hotel overlooking St. Peter's Square when the pope dies.

That was nine years ago.

"I thought I was very smart making a 10-year deal," she said. "It should have been 15."

Or more, judging by the 84-year-old pope's tenacity. A papal succession is one of those big stories that television networks can assiduously prepare for, and they have. They just don't know when those plans will be needed at a moment's notice, and must make sure they're not outdated when it happens.

The pope's death will be a major story across the world that will fill many hours of airtime, and will be the first such succession in the era of 24-hour news.

"John Paul II in some remarkable way embodies the human experience in our time in a way that perhaps no other figure has since Churchill," said George Weigel, one of the pope's biographers. "When a gigantic figure like this leaves the stage of history, that is an opportunity to reflect upon that history and what it meant."

more. . .

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050314/ap_on_en_tv/tv_pope_preparations

Good long article analyzing how the media paln to cover what will be a huge news story, the first papal death since 24 hour television news coverage began.

[Reverend_Smitty]

1. lol...

thats kinda funny in a morbid way.

Sometime in April my music professor is traveling with a group to sing for the pope. As you might guess, he's very excited to do so.

[hedgehog]

2. Well , it is an event that can be anticipated.

Think back to the coverage of Diana's wedding or even the political conventions. It only makes sense for the news organizations to have plans in place. Newspapaers often maintain obituries and keep them up-dated for famous people. It's not really morbid, it's just the way news is gathered and spread.

[DemBones DemBones]

3. Sure, it's normal for the news business but it's also morbid.

Having a profile, if not a prepared obit, on any famous person, makes sense, because it can be used whenever it's needed, not only when s/he dies. It also makes sense they'd have a prepared obituary on older famous people, but it's still a somewhat morbid thing to do.

Renting out top floor apartments overlooking St. Peter's Square for years and years, however, isn't an absolute need for reporting a pope's death or a new pope's election.
They've essentially been carrying out a deathwatch on the pope for 10-12 years, maybe more, and that's quite morbid.

I was told ten years ago that various big media (Time, Newsweek, the networks, etc.) rent those apartments and hire someone to watch events there, all hoping to get the scoop when the pope does. The person who told me had been told this by someone who works for one of those companies, though I've forgotten which one. This article is just confirmation of the story.

It's especially weird since almost no American news media have a reporter assigned to report on religion -- yet they're paying for a Vatican deathwatch.

[hedgehog]

4. If that's the case, it's just one more reminder that

we are both in the world and seperate from it. I am constantly amazed ( or maybe I'm just a slow learner) at the attitudes dispayed towards organized religion and the Catholic Church in particular whenever the topic comes up in other forums. We are a source of fascination but at the same time many people don't want to see the real Church. They want to see something they can comfortably turn their backs on. The Church isn't perfect, but it trys.

[DemBones DemBones]

5. You're quite right and I don't think that

you're a slow learner. I think many of us are continually being surprised at the level of animosity toward the Catholic Church by those who consider themselves liberals. How did intolerance of the most deeply held beliefs of others become a liberal "value"? It's no wonder that the GOP has gained so many Christian votes, including Catholic votes.

It's only rather recently that I've realized that what Jesus said about being hated for His sake is quite true. It was never true in the world I grew up in but is increasingly true today. Many not only don't want to hear the name of Jesus mentioned, they don't want us to carry out the acts Christ called us to, unless those acts fit in with what they support. But of course Jesus didn't call us only to the things that have wide support. For example, "Love thy neighbor" may seem uncontroversial until it leads Christians to support low-income housing in an area inhabited by people with higher income levels, or to champion a group home for the developmentally disabled or for abused women in an existing "nice" neighborhood. It's not only racial integration that raises people's hackles; it's bringing in anyone who is "other."

If the people in such situations find out Christians are supporting the projects they dislike, we will learn again what it's like to hated for His name's sake. If we use that realization wrongly, becoming smug and self-righteous, we commit the sin of pride. What we need to do instead is keep on doing what Jesus called us to without being surprised that the world opposes us, in effect to expect to be hated and go on and do it, anyway. There's a secular saying that we can also remember: "No good deed goes unpunished."