ABSTRACT
In Chapter 8, Pepinster tackles the problem presented by the public good of journalism as uncovering the truth. For one thing, journalists are keenly aware of their target audience, and frame their stories for them, but this framing is not always in the interests of objectivity – a problem Pepinster explores through looking at the example of coverage of the abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic church. This chapter was written before the Leveson enquiry (briefly discussed in chapter 1 and the conclusion) was established. Nevertheless, the issues raised remain topical. In religion reporting, she argues, depth and discursive analysis are often sidelined in favour of covering ‘spats’, thus distorting the significance of what might otherwise be marginal disputes. Pepinster offers an intriguing explanation for this lack of depth: virtue is harder to talk about than utilitarianism, and whereas the one characterises religious discourse, the other has the monopoly on journalistic accounts.
