I was once in line for the position of religion editor at theGlobe and Mail, which calls itself Canada's national newspaper. I lostthe job because the managing editor of the paper, the person who wouldhave hired me, wanted more hard news, and I told him that most religiousnews was soft news. I see two major differences between religious and commercial. One is that business of soft news and hard news. But there is an event, thatcan be reported.
Soft news is essentially analysis.
It involvesrecognizing and explaining trends. It is hard news if Hans Kung renounces Catholicism, andannounces that papal infallibility is a sham. Something has happened. But if no one immediately follows him, it quickly becomes non-news. Nothing is happening.