Anderson Cooper 360 focused on religion tonight in a special entitled "Selling Jesus," interviewing, among others, born-again evangelical Christian Baldwin brother Stephen and "The Rising" author (and co-author, with Tim LaHaye, of the massively successful "Left Behind" series) Jerry Jenkins. Covering religion is a win-win for cable news: it either offends or validates the viewer (which is, I guess, the definition of "provocative.") In either event, the viewer is engaged.
Interspersed heavily throughout the 7pm hour, which focused on the commercial side of modern faith--merchants in the temple or capitalizing on faith with God's blessing? etc. etc.--were promos for Paula Zahn's 8pm hour interview with New York superhooker Natalia McLennan.
So, is the hour of Jesus meant to somehow preemptively absolve CNN viewers for the time they'll spend with Paula and Mary Magdalene, aka Natalia? For the record, Natalia seems intelligent, engaging, personable, even and thoughtful--even when being asked, in Paula's patronizing, faux-girlfriend tone, how she "dealt with having sex with up to four strangers a day!?" (Translation: "Isn't it just icky not to have had any advantages in life, Natalia?")
Who's the media whore here, anyway?
