mormon culture

The Washington Post takes a quick look at why there are so few Mormon journalists. From a different culture, clashing personal politics, to low salaries it sounds like a tough match.

Besides more amateurs engaging in the new media, there’s a need for more Mormon professionals in the old:

Stephen Stromberg, a church member who writes for the Economist, says, “Mormons often have large families to support, and journalists’ salaries aren’t as high as what you might get doing something else.”

In reading coverage of Mormon matters, says Stromberg, a former Washington Post editorial writer, journalists “get details wrong all the time, to make the church look totally nuts. It seems like the writer might be trying to hint, ‘My gosh, look at these crazy people.’ ” . . .

All too often, [Joel Campbell, a professor at Brigham Young University] says, only Christian leaders are quoted in stories about Romney and religion. “What bothers me about the coverage is that journalists usually go to experts in other faiths,” he says

Here’s a twist, a British columnist suggests looking to Utah as a model for dealing with the UK’s alcohol problem. The usual trope is that Utah has byzantine and oppresive alcohol regulations where Europe is much more progressive and trouble free.  During the 2002 Olympics, Mayor Rocky Anderson biggest concern seemed to be showing that not everyone in the state was as “uptight” and took reporters bar hopping.

And while government officials in Russia are asking people to take a day off and make babies, the U.S. Census just announced that Utah has the highest rate of married couples with children in the U.S.

The title sounds like an anti- site, at first glance it looks like it may be a NSFW site, but no, it’s a beefcake calendar for ostensibly returned missionaries.  I deferred comment and its received notice elsewhere, but after seeing its press release (safe link) I couldn’t help but want to share in the laughter:

 . . . Las Vegas-based [natch] Mormons Exposed was created to encourage different groups of people to look beyond the stereotypes of race, religion and political affiliation to achieve a greater understanding of one another.

I’m sure there are many who will appreciate their continuing service to society.