Thursday, June 14, 2007

Left Behind: The Skewed Representation of Religion in Major News Media

Actually, we are not anti-religion around here, but we do realize how dangerous religion and government can be, when enter twined; dogma, ideology...spells really big trouble, if not disaster.

Media Matters - Left Behind: The Skewed Representation of Religion in Major News Media:

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 over-represents some voices and under-represents 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.

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