Religion reporting is no easy task, especially when you ask to participate in usually private gatherings like Bible studies or ask to observe a worship service. And then some people want to pray with you or convert you, even if you’re trying to keep yourself out of the story like any other kind of coverage.
If you try to add a tape or video recorder, sources tend to get nervous or clam up. I cannot imagine the challenges reporters in public radio face when they pursue a religion story. Thankfully, we get to take a peak behind the scenes with former ombudsman Alicia Shepard’s last piece for NPR on making a radio story. Lucky for us, she chose to shadow religion reporter Barbara Bradley Hagerty through the origins of a story to its completion.
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