How much of your local news is religion-based?

[Ohhmm(bligo)]

Just wondering.  Our local news is constantly reporting on consolidating churches, new church locations, church outreaches, holiday church services, the local Catholic infrastructure, etc.

[MWOS]

There was one priest here who was dealing cocaine out of the church. That made the news.

[Deleted]

None?

[Ohhmm(bligo)]

So it IS weird. Stupid hicks.

[EmilieMadison]

None? Unless a church has burned down, or someone got sodomized, I guess. 

[milosh]

I think almost none? Sometimes there are vandals at a church or something and that will make the news, but that's it. Oh, and when they picked the new pope, they talked to people in the street about it.

[fuckyourcouch]

None....

[sonrisa]

none

[Deleted]

Yeah, pretty much none.

[litebright]

I don't know that it's a consistent percentage. I mean, there are Easter stories today. But we do have the headquarters of Focus on the Family in our state, so it seems like whenever they do something particularly outlandish that makes the news b/c they're "local."

[circa1978]

A fair amount. I live in a super Catholic city though, where most of the private schools are Catholic.

[rex]

None.

[blueballoon]

None

[cleo29]

Some, but most of the time it seems like news worthy stories to me.

[Deleted]

There's a decent amount here (New York). It was "breaking news" on the Today Show when Cardinal Dolan was appointed, and there was a lot of talk about him going to Rome for the conclave. There was tons of coverage of the papal visit a few years ago, but that was relevant to traffic and such (and is decently big news anyway). Sometimes religious schools get shut down, and that makes news just like when public schools close. I'd imagine if a new church etc. opened in New York City it would make the news. Holiday church services and such? Possibly whatever's happening at St. Patrick's, but otherwise no.

[pantsparty]

What is this "local news" of which you speak?

If I had to make a guess, I'd say very little? There are a couple mega churches out here, and last year one of them was sold, so I remember hearing and reading about that.

[jane6672]

Pretty much none.

[fluffaluff]

Only if its news worthy, ie. crime took place, or of course a Tim Tebow cancellation 

[Deleted]

some, i guess. i mean, they reported on protests by some assholes of a new mosque. that's newsworthy. and if anything happened to a church that would be reported on if happened to a secular institution (big fire, crazy scandal).

but nothing like you're talking about. "thanks jim, for that fascinating report on the continuing vaccine debate. and, in other news, st. joe's is having a clam bake this weekend. come on out!"

[livinitup]

I'd say nothing, and next to nothing in most of the places I have lived (Northeast mid-large metro areas). I do agree with V that Cardinal Dolan gets coverage in NYC but it's much along the same lines as any other major political/financial leader in the city.

[azurely]

Not much. Only if there is a crime or some big event associated with the church.

[lauralala]

This is one of the things we noticed about the news when we left the city and moved here - there is actually a segment called "The Power of Prayer" where reporters interview people about how God helped them, or something.

As soon as we got cable I went back to watching Houston news channels. There's not that much local info I need to see anyway. And since our local anchors can't seem to read the teleprompter, it is already torture to watch.

[Dusky]

My city's newspaper has a dedicated church news column which usually takes up 10-15% of the entire paper. I live in a super religious area.