"I’m just undone by what happened at the Capital Gazette," said my friend Carla Hinton, religion editor at The Oklahoman. "These are strange and heartbreaking times we are living in. Praying for my fellow journalists and their families."
"It's especially traumatic because so many of us started our careers at newspapers like the Capital Gazette," responded my friend Steve Lackmeyer, a longtime business reporter at The Oklahoman. "We know these people, we know these newsrooms..."
Amen and amen.
No, the senseless slaying of journalists isn't any more tragic than the mass shootings — at schools, churches and other businesses — that keep making headlines in America.
But for those of us in this profession, the Capital Gazette tragedy hits especially close to home.
Want to understand the heart and passion that make many journalists tick? Read this Twitter thread by Nyssa Kruse, an intern at the Hartford Courant:
Now, let's dive into the Friday Five:
1. Religion story of the week: The Supreme Court — both its decisions and Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement announcement — dominated the news this week. If you missed any of our posts on this subject, by all means, catch up now:
• No gay wedding flowers yet: Reporters puzzle over what Baronelle Stutzman ruling means
• Double standard? Religious animus? Five links to help dissect SCOTUS ruling on Trump's travel ban
• Re-Up on #MuslimBan post: What did religious liberty have to do with SCOTUS decision?
• Is the open U.S. Supreme Court seat a religion story? Do we even need to ask that?
• After Kennedy retirement, you'll find thousands of the nation's happiest people in ... Wichita, Kan.
2. Most popular GetReligion post: For the second week in a row, Julia Duin's important and insightful post on "The scandal of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and why no major media outed him" remains No. 1.
3. Guilt folder fodder (and more): The death of longtime Religion News Association member Kathleen Shaw drew notice from the Poynter Institute.
In a piece headlined "After 'Spotlight,' an unsung hero soldiered on, Poynter's David Beard noted:
The movie “Spotlight” ends with the first story published about the clergy scandal that would mushroom around the world.
The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team followed that story — but an unsung hero was a journalist from central Massachusetts named Kathy Shaw.
Shaw, who died Sunday night, worked on a clergy Abuse Tracker that became a reference to journalists worldwide who were following the story. Those who worked with her speak of her dedication, tackling the issue of church abuse from the early 1990s on. Though not famous or from a big town, Shaw showed how a journalist, even late in a career, can make a difference.
4. Shameless plug: Finalists for the Religion News Association's awards for excellence in nonfiction religion books were announced this week.
Congrats to my GetReligion colleague Julia Duin, whose book "In The House of the Serpent Handler: A Story of Faith and Fleeting Fame in the Age of Social Media" made the cut.
Winners will be announced Sept. 15 at the RNA annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio.
5. Final thought: Yep, that's a typo: