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KARL KEATING'S E-LETTER
TOPICS:
CHOOSING A NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Dear Friend of Catholic Answers:
On last week's "Catholic Answers Live" a caller asked me which weekly
Catholic newspaper he should subscribe to. He could afford only one and
wanted it to be the right one. I didn't tell him which to read, but I
explained to him what is available.
There are only four nationally-circulated weekly papers for Catholics:
the "National Catholic Reporter," "Our Sunday Visitor," the "National
Catholic Register," and "The Wanderer." I list them here, from left to
right along the political spectrum. Each paper looks at political
issues, and sometimes it's easier to categorize a religious paper by its
political stance than by its doctrinal stance. The two usually are
parallel, I've found.
I subscribe to all four papers--which is not to say I recommend them
equally. In my kind of job, you need to read (or at least glance at)
lots of publications. I don't have the time or the interest to read
these papers in their entirety, but, over the years, I have come to see
that each has strengths and each has weaknesses. There is no ideal
national Catholic weekly.
Let's me mention each paper in turn.
The "National Catholic Reporter" is somewhat mistitled because there is
not really much about it that is Catholic--at least not much that
supports the Catholic faith as promulgated by Rome. The "Reporter"
plumps for women's ordination, an acceptance of contraception, a more
"democratic" structure in the Church, and so on. It's all quite
predictable: the Catholic variant of the Democratic Party at prayer,
although the "Reporter" does not favor abortion.
If there is a common trait among the regular columnists of this paper,
I'd say it is snideness. There is a persistent and oh-so-cute
denigrating of Church leaders, save for a few bishops on the left-most
fringe. Maybe it's a sign of frustration. The "Reporter" is the flagship
publication of an aging constituency. You will not find many
thirty-somethings reading it.
If the "Reporter" has a strong point, it is its news coverage. Often it
will have feature stories on Church problems that the other papers don't
even mention, and its one-paragraph news shorts usually contain no
editorializing. There is an evident attempt to follow good journalistic
writing practices in these areas. Too bad the same standards aren't
applied to the sharp-tongued columnists.
The other three papers are doctrinally orthodox.
"Our Sunday Visitor" used to be the 800-pound gorilla of the Catholic
press. Its circulation once was over 300,000. Now it is a small fraction
of that, and I think its weekly page count is much less than it once
was. If I am vague about this it's because the "Visitor" is the paper I
have the least history with. I read it many years ago and then did not
see it for a long time, re-upping my subscription only recently.
The "Reporter" is physically a fairly attractive paper, but the
"Visitor" strikes me as dowdy. It has much more of a low-budget look,
even down to the quality of the stock it is printed on.
While orthodox, the "Visitor" is not known for being at the vanguard of
efforts to explain or defend the faith. Compared to the "Register" and
"The Wanderer," it is timid. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing:
There is an audience that prefers a low-key approach. Perhaps because of
space limitations, the "Visitor" does not offer in-depth articles, thus
reinforcing a "journalism lite" feel.
It wasn't so many years ago that the dowdiness crown was worn not by the
"Visitor" but by the "Register." In those years I used to chuckle at how
often the "Register" featured interviews with Polish economists--not
because great economic thinking was coming out of Poland but because one
of the paper's chief writers happened to live in Poland at the time.
This problem was not unique to the "Register." "The Wanderer" used to
run many stories about the Church in Denver because one of its stringers
lived there. More recently "The Wanderer" has run disproportionately
many articles on the Church in Rochester, apparently for a similar
reason. This kind of imbalance comes from having a small budget and a
smaller staff.
The "Register" was bought out by the Legionaries of Christ some years
ago, and in short order it underwent a thorough overhaul, both in
appearance and in content.
Nowadays it is the most attractive of the four papers. None of the
others approaches it in professional graphics or in legible layout of
text. The editors have done much to expand the stable of writers. (Full
disclosure: I am listed in the staff box as a contributor, even though I
have not had a piece in the "Register" for about a year.)
The "Register" provides deeper coverage of issues than does the
"Visitor," and its news reporting is every bit as good as that of the
"Reporter" (better, actually). Of the four papers it is the only one
that seems to be going from strength to strength.
When the Legionaries took over, there were distressingly few individual
subscribers. Nearly all of the copies were sent out in bulk to parishes,
where they languished in vestibules. Today the individual readership is
fairly robust, and proportionately fewer copies go out in bulk. It's a
good trade-off.
If the "Reporter" is thought of as a left-wing paper, "The Wanderer" is
its right-wing analogue. "The Wanderer" runs many articles on politics.
I don't much like this, whether a paper is on the right or the left. I
prefer to see religious coverage in a religious paper.
I once wrote a series for "The Wanderer." This was in the mid-1980s. It
was a very long series, and I was grateful that no editorial changes
were made to my weekly submissions. This was convenient for me--no need
to worry about doing rewrites.
Only later did I realize that this hands-off approach was indicative of
a problem at "The Wanderer." What is submitted is what gets printed.
This would be fine if there were nothing objectionable in a submission,
but each week "The Wanderer" prints pieces that cry out for the
editorial blue pencil.
One example must suffice.
More than a decade ago, before he became a cardinal, then-Archbishop
Roger Mahony of Los Angeles was offered the use of a helicopter. Mahony
was licensed to fly helicopters, and prominent L.A. businessmen said
they would underwrite his use of one if it would help him get around the
sprawling archdiocese. As one who used to live near Los Angeles and who
appreciates how much of a day can be wasted while stuck in traffic on
freeways, I saw this as a generous and sensible offer.
The "Reporter" immediately and in knee-jerk fashion complained because
the money for the rental of the helicopter could have gone to the poor.
True, but the businessmen wanted to make a gift to the Church in this
particular way, and they were free to distribute their largesse as they
wished.
In those years Mahony did not have the liberal reputation he has today,
but already "The Wanderer" regularly wrote against him. Its story on the
helicopter incident was written by a regular contributor to the paper.
The fellow didn't like the helicopter arrangement either, but not
because the money wasn't going to the poor. He just didn't like Mahony.
With Air Force One in mind, he wrote that "in some quarters Mahony's
helicopter is known as Apostate One." Ha ha ha--great joke, eh? Or so
thought the writer and the editors of "The Wanderer." I thought it was
in very poor taste. It was the sort of remark that should not have seen
print, but there it was. Where was the editorial blue pencil?
Aside from running stories that are not well (or at all) edited, "The
Wanderer" runs news articles that are not pure news. The articles are
laced with editorial comments. This is not a smart thing to do because
it weakens the overall effectiveness of the publication.
Of the three orthodox papers, "The Wanderer" must be called the
gutsiest. It discusses issues that the "Register" and "Our Sunday
Visitor" avoid, but it wastes opportunities because of sloppy writing
and non-existent editing.
"The Wanderer" also is the least attractive of the papers--big, gray
pages. This is not to say that graphics are mandatory; after all, there
are attractive publications that sport not a single image. They just use
type well. "The Wanderer" does not. A makeover would do it good.
Each of these papers has something to offer, even the "Reporter." None
is worthy of five stars, but I would give the "Register" dual awards for
being the most improved and the most attractive--not that looks override
other considerations, but the discipline needed to print a handsome
paper usually goes along with editorial discipline.
Which of these four weeklies should you subscribe to? If you have the
money, I'd say all four--provided you can read around the heterodoxy of
the "Reporter." Setting the "Reporter" aside, the choice among the other
three largely will be a matter of temperament.
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