What Peggy Noonan Gets Right and Gets Wrong On the Media and The Catholic Church

I referenced this column yesterday but wanted to go to Church today before I talked about, Get Religion has the links plus commentary and PLEASE NOTE THE COMMENT section. See Peggy Noonan opens a vein

Let me say I agree with much of what she says about the press and about the how they made the Church confront matters. I also think about 90 percent of the Catholics that have been outraged over the NYT's article would agree with that.

However this does not give the press a free pass in everything. It appears to many of us that the NYT noticing that the Church will have to come terms to a sexual abuse crisis in it's history in Europe felt left out.

They then wrote a story that many of us, and I think this is where the understandable outrage is from, that was misleading. It further ran an editorial that appears to have slandered Cardinal Egan for no reason and they seem in no hurry to retract it.

The victims are and indeed should be the center of this story. However that does not mean that no one can not be critical of the press at all.

In a way I think the NYT piece was the straw that broke the camels back as to some in the laity , the Bishops, and the Vatican. Whether it is on the Latin mass, on issues dealing with abortion, on issues dealing with Anglicans, or can we recall the issue with the excommunications and the Traditionalists the reporting has not been steller.

Further this is 2010. We are not just talking about the U.S. press but a tabloid like British press that is now even more quoted and read by Americans and influences American news coverage.

It did not help that not only was this misleading story done right before Holy Week, which got people on the defensive, but then the Times decides to have of all people Dowd comment on this in her particular snarky style. Then we see the Washington Post have of all people to give an Op-ed to Sinead O'Connor on this matter. As to the NYT the past couple of weeks I have seen nothing that matches the important work the Boston Globe has done in it quality.

That has what got people upset. The voices that are registering complaints generally are not attacking the press coverage of the horrible situation in Ireland. We think it is needed.

Again it is a issue of fairness and getting facts right.