It
would surprise few people, conservative or progressive, to learn that coverage
of the intersection of religion and politics tends to oversimplify both. If
this oversimplification occurred to the benefit or detriment of neither side of
the political divide, then the weaknesses in coverage of religion would be of
only academic interest. But as this study documents, coverage of religion not
only overrepresents some voices and underrepresents others, it does so in a way that is
consistently advantageous to conservatives.
As
in many areas, the decisions journalists make when deciding which voices to
include in their stories have serious consequences. What is the picture of
religious opinion? Who is a religious leader? Whose views represent important
groups of believers? Every time a journalist writes a story, he or she answers
these questions by deciding whom to quote and how to characterize their views.
Religion
is often depicted in the news media as a politically divisive force, with two
sides roughly paralleling the broader political divide: On one side are
cultural conservatives who ground their political values in religious beliefs;
and on the other side are secular liberals, who have opted out of debates that
center on religion-based values. The truth, however is
far different: close to 90 percent of Americans today self-identify as
religious, while only 22 percent belong to traditionalist sects. Yet in the
cultural war depicted by news media as existing across religious lines,
centrist and progressive voices are marginalized or absent altogether.
In
order to begin to assess how the news media paint the picture of religion in
Among
the study's key findings:
·
Combining newspapers
and television, conservative religious leaders were quoted, mentioned, or
interviewed in news stories 2.8 times as often as were progressive
religious leaders.
·
On television news
-- the three major television networks, the three major cable news channels,
and PBS -- conservative religious leaders were quoted, mentioned, or
interviewed almost 3.8 times as often as progressive leaders.
·
In major newspapers,
conservative religious leaders were quoted, mentioned, or interviewed 2.7
times as often as progressive leaders.
Despite
the fact most religious Americans are moderate or progressive, in the news
media it is overwhelmingly conservative leaders who are presented as the voice
of religion. This represents a particularly meaningful distortion since
progressive religious leaders tend to focus on different issues and offer an
entirely different perspective than their conservative counterparts.
Article
by: Media Matters. org