After covering religion and spirituality for almost 17 years, Peggy Wehmeyer said Wednesday that networks have a long way to go in improving the resources and attention they give to social issues.
Wehmeyer, who left ABC last fall after being called the network’s “hot new religion reporter” when she began working on special coverage for “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings” in 1994, discussed her work with a group of about 80 students and faculty members at the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
Although most news organizations don’t prioritize religious coverage, Wehmeyer said citizens consider the stories to be important.
“I think the lack of knowledge about religion in the media is a problem for many reasons,” Wehmeyer said.
She said the media’s lack of religious knowledge creates biases, causes errors and allows for angles to be missed.
Brought to NU by the Garrett-Medill Center for Religion and the News Media, Wehmeyer, who has worked on “20/20” in addition to “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings,” declined to comment about ABC’s specific religion coverage due to ongoing contract negotiations.
But Wehmeyer did reminisce about some of her fondest memories during her time on the beat.
“The religion beat provides the passion and conviction for some of the greatest stories ever told,”she said.
“My job, in broadcast journalism was to make sure I got pictures of all of the right people,” she said.
“I’ve had to have a foot in both cultures,” she said. “I’m bilingual, although sometimes I will admit this has gotten me in trouble,” said Wehmeyer, describing the differing languages of religion and journalism.
Wehmeyer then told the story of when she covered Quakers in Toronto preparing a safehouse for illegal Salvadoran political refugees. Wehmeyer described trying to beat the refugees to the safehouse in order to get the story.
In a hurry to get to record the story, Wehmeyer said she did not have time to explain what she was doing.
“Quick, shoot them before they get into the house,” Wehmeyer said she had yelled to her cameraman.
She said she failed to consider that the refugees and Quakers did not know her journalistic language, and might have misinterpreted her directions to film the shot for the threat of gunfire.
She also said her interaction with different religious groups helped her discover hidden aspects of culture, admitting she learned more about Muslims by sitting around their dinner tables than by reading textbooks.
Wehmeyer said she was able to act as an ambassador between the media and religious groups because she communicated in a language both could understand.
Wehmeyer said her aim as a broadcast journalist was to make religious experiences understandable to the American public.
Audience member Bob Smietana said he came to see Wehmeyer because she spoke at a class he took over the summer and wanted to hear her again.
“She really has a great perspective about what being in both of these worlds is like,” Smietana said.
