CJR on the Increasingly Timid Catholic Press;
Thank God For the National Catholic Reporter

"This idea that a Catholic publication should only print what Rome agrees with is essentially un-Catholic,” said Tom Roberts, editor-in-chief of the independent Catholic newspaper National Catholic Reporter. “Our tradition shows, much as people would not like to admit this, that the church has changed its mind on some very significant issues.” Roberts’s national weekly, along with Commonweal, a Catholic biweekly, both criticized the firing of Reese on their editorial pages. But unlike America, both are published by lay people, not priests, and therefore are not subject to discipline by church authorities. Church-run publications were not so willing to offer up a challenge. In May 2005, at a meeting of the Catholic Press Association, Meinrad Scherer-Emunds, executive editor of U.S. Catholic, proposed that members issue an official statement expressing their concern over Reese’s dismissal. But the association is composed mostly of journalists from church-run publications, and some members backed off. “In the beginning, it seemed as if people were going to support the statement,” said Scherer-Emunds. “But then the atmosphere in the room changed to one of fear. Several respected editors spoke out against it, and eventually it was voted down.”
--From an article in the current Columbia Journalism Review