Paul KeenanJohn Allen will increase Church coverage at US daily
Vatican expert and contributor to The Irish Catholic newspaper John L. Allen has been named as an associate editor with the American daily The Boston Globe as the publication seeks to increase the profile of its religious coverage.
Currently the senior correspondent at the National Catholic Reporter (since 1997), Allen has for many years been a contributor to this newspaper and has undertaken speaking engagements on Vatican affairs in Ireland as a result.
Set for his new post this February 1, Allen has expressed the hope that he and The Boston Globe can now “offer a model of what serious coverage of the Catholic Church will look like in a major secular news outlet”.
He added: “Fundamentally, what I hope is that this will lift up an example of what getting this story right would look like, so that in the end it’s not just The Boston Globe doing it, but I hope it has a kind of leavening effect in the media business generally…My rap on the so-called mainstream media for years has been that it doesn’t take religion seriously as a newsbeat; that is, it doesn’t invest the resources in religion coverage that it does, not only in things like politics and finance, but even in sports and entertainment.”
The Boston Globe is reportedly exploring the launch of a free-standing publication devoted to Catholicism. The Irish Catholic congratulates John and wishes him well in assuming his new post.
