Did The New Pope Poop Out With The Media?

Read this transcript of CNN’s Reliable Sources and you can see that Pope Benedict XVI has a rocky road ahead of him because some media types already have him pigeon-holed and stereotyped. He just doesn’t live up to THEIR standards about the kind of PERSONALITY that is needed.

Here’s an excerpt containing a candid (which is why this is always such a good show) take on it in this exchange between host Howard Kurtz and religion writer Peggy Wehmeyer:

KURTZ: Any sense of disappointment, do you think, among some journalists, Peggy Wehmeyer, that he is 78 years old, he’s not as much of a telegenic figure, he’s not going to be a rock star like John Paul, as John Paul became. Do you think there is any disappointment?

WEHMEYER: Yeah, I think there probably is, and I think part of that is just because journalists want something new and exciting to cover, because it’s fun when there’s going to be a whole new turn. Here is a guy who is old, like the last pope, who believes exactly what the old pope believed — in fact, he enforced the old pope’s beliefs. And so, how do you make that exciting news to cover?

So I think there is some disappointment, and I guess I would say I think as a whole, American journalists probably would agree more — or be more excited about a pope who was much more, quote “modern,” and open to the ideas that most journalists would support.

KURTZ: (INAUDIBLE) will Pope Benedict get a lot less coverage after a couple of weeks and the novelty wears off? Will he fade as a big story?

WEHMEYER: I think it all depends on what he does. And I think the media has got to give this guy a chance. He had one slice of a job when he was cardinal. Now he is pope. We need to give him time to find out, is he going to expand beyond the enforcer of dogma? Is that all we define him as?

KURTZ: Some journalists barely gave him an hour.

Indeed, Kurtz hit the nail on the head.

You see, to many Catholics the Pope may be the Voice of God on earth.

But to some journalists who like to typecast and make snap characterizations there is something else that is the Voice of God on earth — and they require a mirror to see it. Read this.