Some folks admire NPR for its quality of reporting. This is not an example of quality reporting.
The issue at hand is NPR’s claim that women have been ordained as Roman Catholic priests. Over at his blog, Fr Z is clear:
No woman can ever be validly ordained a priest.
This is not merely a rule, but it is also a teaching of the Catholic Church. The Church teaches that she is powerless to ordain women. For those who believe that the Pope has magical powers to declare anything to be true, and change teachings and rules on a mere whim, this must be difficult to understand. They are probably scratching their heads, saying, “What? The Catholic Church is powerless? That’s not my idea of the Catholic Church.”
Sadly, it is very hard for people to shake off their perceptions for what is real and true. At his blog, Father Z continues to correct a very flawed NPR article and over at her blog, Stacy Trasancos points out the meaning of “pretend”.
And this brings up an interesting point, how would NPR treat someone who was falsely but seriously claiming to be a U.S. senator or the CEO of a large corporation like GM? What if that person claimed she was a surgeon or psychiatrist?
Additionally, there are clues that the author of the NPR piece recognizes that a woman claiming to be ordained as a Catholic priest is a controversial issue. But as journalist Mollie Hemingway points out, the author of the piece ignores some basic rules of reporting:
Did I mention that nowhere in the entire story is an official within the actual Roman Catholic Church quoted? Isn’t that weird?
I know that stories about Roman Catholic Womenpriests and other similar groups are like catnip for reporters, but we shouldn’t just throw out all of our reporting principles. When the whole point of the story revolves around a disputed claim, it’s usually not a good idea to ignore one side.
This isn’t about picking sides or favoring one group over another but, simply, giving readers information. It’s a journalism thing.
