Note to Reporters Covering Pagan Events
A helpful hint. When you cover Pagan events, you must make the same considerations that you make covering any other religious event. For instance: if you interview a Christian priest, you find out which denomination he is. Otherwise we have no context for that priest’s beliefs or actions. The same holds true for Wiccans and other Pagans.
“With peacock feathers dangling from her ears and rings on all fingers except her left thumb and pinky, Lady Silverwolf (Micheline Vogt) could be mistaken for a witch. And she is, but not like most people think of one. By her definition, she’s a WITCH: Woman In Total Control of Herself. The third-degree high priestess of the pagan faith who reads tarot cards shared the history of paganism Saturday at the third Cape Fear Pagan Pride Day.”
Now many Witchcraft/Wiccan traditions have a three-degree structure, but there is a vast array of beliefs within different ‘trads’. Is she Gardnerian? Alexandrian? Blue Star? 1734? Black Forest Clan? Thalia Clan? Or is it a small tradition started by her (or possible by local people she knows)? While this may not seem like a big deal (especially for a local-interest piece on Pagan Pride Day) it can mean quite a bit to modern Pagans reading the article and to those interested in Paganism looking for a contact. When reporting religion, context (and doing your homework) is everything. If we don’t know what she believes, then how can we make any sort of judgment on what she says about her faith?
2 responses so far
Thank you! Now if the media will pick up on it.
To some extent, we should also make such things abundantly clear when interviewed, and insist on their inclusion. That way, if the reporter fails to make the distinction, it’s more arguable as deliberate negligence, rather than apathetic ignorance. That being said, I agree that the reporters who wish to report on anything Pagan (or Heathen, for that matter) should do their homework…some simply don’t care enough to take that extra step, though.
Bjorngrimnir.