'Progressive' Christians Say Media Coverage Skewed to Religious Right
By Nathan Burchfiel
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
May 30, 2007
(CNSNews.com) - A group of religious leaders and liberal media critics on Tuesday criticized what they view as a media bias in favor of conservative evangelicals and against "progressive" Christianity.
Conservative religious leaders were quoted, mentioned or interviewed in television and print news stories 2.8 times as often as were "progressive" religious leaders, according to a report released by the liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America and the religious group Faith in Public Life.
The report, which examined coverage since the 2004 election, found an increase in coverage of religious issues but determined that "this increased coverage not only over-represents some voices and under-represents others, it does so in a way that is consistently advantageous to conservatives."
Media Matters Senior Fellow Paul Waldman said that when the media looks for a leader to comment on political and religious issues, "overwhelmingly those voices are conservative and the progressive voices by and large are getting ignored."
At the same time that the groups were releasing the study, the Faith in Public Life website hosted a statement by the group praising media coverage of religious issues in the aftermath of the death of Jerry Falwell on May 15.
"Presented with an opportunity to reflect not only on Rev. Falwell but on the movement he began, reporters have turned out story after story on new evangelical leaders and the priority they place on a whole spectrum of compassion issues," the website stated.
The statement pointed to six articles published after Falwell's death that examined the future of the evangelical movement from the perspective of the "progressive" or "emergent" church.
Katie Barge, director of communications of Faith in Public Life, told Cybercast News Service the positive comments shouldn't be taken as a sign that the report is already outdated.
"[W]hile we celebrate and are encouraged by the coverage of emerging evangelical leaders dedicated to a broad range of causes following Falwell's passing, we are well aware of the persistence of the overall trend in the media of overrepresentation of conservative religious views," Barge said in an emailed response to queries.
Brian McLaren, a pastor and author active in the "emergent" church movement, said at a news conference launching the report that most Americans do not subscribe to the views of leaders like Falwell and James Dobson.
Falwell and Dobson, along with Pat Robertson and liberal religious figures Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, were not included in the study's data, because they are "newsmakers," the report says.
The most mentioned religious pundit was conservative Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, who was mentioned almost 700 times. Jim Wallis, president of the liberal Sojourners/Call to Renewal, was mentioned 500 times.
"These names represent a kind of outgoing tide," McLaren said of the conservative voices. "There is a far broader range of voices than any of us are paying attention to."
"This report clearly indicates what we've always suspected - that the media prefer to see the world through a simple lens, a casualty of which is that the right and the conservative voice can often take control of the conversation," said Jim Forbes, a pastor and host of a radio talk show on the Air America network.
"Those of us ... who call ourselves progressives need to speak out and be heard," Forbes added.
Critics of the report questioned its depth of analysis, noting that it does not examine whether the articles mentioning conservative leaders are favorable or unfavorable.
"It's not how often you appear or get quoted, it's what they allow you to get out to the public and in what context," said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Media Institute. "Mere presence does not equate with fair coverage," he added.
The Culture and Media Institute is a division of the Media Research Center, the parent organization of Cybercast News Service.
"Most Americans have seen the late Rev. Jerry Falwell misportrayed as having 'outed' the Tinky Winky children's TV character," Knight said, "but how many people know about Dr. Falwell's founding of a crisis pregnancy center, or the fact that Liberty University, which he founded, has dominated the college debate championships for years?"
Knight also questioned the list of religious leaders used in the Media Matters study, saying that the list of progressive leaders "is missing some key people, who, if included, would eclipse any perceived advantage in coverage garnered by conservatives."
"When you leave out people like the Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and V. Gene Robinson, the gay Episcopal bishop from New Hampshire, you are trimming away literally hundreds of media hits," Knight said.
Waldman said it shows who the media picks as representative of religious Americans but that it did not examine whether the coverage of the religious leaders was favorable or unfavorable.
"We wanted to just ask the question of who gets quoted," Waldman said. He conceded that "it's possible" that the less frequent coverage of liberal Christians is more favorable than the more frequent coverage of conservatives.
By Nathan Burchfiel
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
May 30, 2007
(CNSNews.com) - A group of religious leaders and liberal media critics on Tuesday criticized what they view as a media bias in favor of conservative evangelicals and against "progressive" Christianity.
Conservative religious leaders were quoted, mentioned or interviewed in television and print news stories 2.8 times as often as were "progressive" religious leaders, according to a report released by the liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America and the religious group Faith in Public Life.
The report, which examined coverage since the 2004 election, found an increase in coverage of religious issues but determined that "this increased coverage not only over-represents some voices and under-represents others, it does so in a way that is consistently advantageous to conservatives."
Media Matters Senior Fellow Paul Waldman said that when the media looks for a leader to comment on political and religious issues, "overwhelmingly those voices are conservative and the progressive voices by and large are getting ignored."
At the same time that the groups were releasing the study, the Faith in Public Life website hosted a statement by the group praising media coverage of religious issues in the aftermath of the death of Jerry Falwell on May 15.
"Presented with an opportunity to reflect not only on Rev. Falwell but on the movement he began, reporters have turned out story after story on new evangelical leaders and the priority they place on a whole spectrum of compassion issues," the website stated.
The statement pointed to six articles published after Falwell's death that examined the future of the evangelical movement from the perspective of the "progressive" or "emergent" church.
Katie Barge, director of communications of Faith in Public Life, told Cybercast News Service the positive comments shouldn't be taken as a sign that the report is already outdated.
"[W]hile we celebrate and are encouraged by the coverage of emerging evangelical leaders dedicated to a broad range of causes following Falwell's passing, we are well aware of the persistence of the overall trend in the media of overrepresentation of conservative religious views," Barge said in an emailed response to queries.
Brian McLaren, a pastor and author active in the "emergent" church movement, said at a news conference launching the report that most Americans do not subscribe to the views of leaders like Falwell and James Dobson.
Falwell and Dobson, along with Pat Robertson and liberal religious figures Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, were not included in the study's data, because they are "newsmakers," the report says.
The most mentioned religious pundit was conservative Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, who was mentioned almost 700 times. Jim Wallis, president of the liberal Sojourners/Call to Renewal, was mentioned 500 times.
"These names represent a kind of outgoing tide," McLaren said of the conservative voices. "There is a far broader range of voices than any of us are paying attention to."
"This report clearly indicates what we've always suspected - that the media prefer to see the world through a simple lens, a casualty of which is that the right and the conservative voice can often take control of the conversation," said Jim Forbes, a pastor and host of a radio talk show on the Air America network.
"Those of us ... who call ourselves progressives need to speak out and be heard," Forbes added.
Critics of the report questioned its depth of analysis, noting that it does not examine whether the articles mentioning conservative leaders are favorable or unfavorable.
"It's not how often you appear or get quoted, it's what they allow you to get out to the public and in what context," said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Media Institute. "Mere presence does not equate with fair coverage," he added.
The Culture and Media Institute is a division of the Media Research Center, the parent organization of Cybercast News Service.
"Most Americans have seen the late Rev. Jerry Falwell misportrayed as having 'outed' the Tinky Winky children's TV character," Knight said, "but how many people know about Dr. Falwell's founding of a crisis pregnancy center, or the fact that Liberty University, which he founded, has dominated the college debate championships for years?"
Knight also questioned the list of religious leaders used in the Media Matters study, saying that the list of progressive leaders "is missing some key people, who, if included, would eclipse any perceived advantage in coverage garnered by conservatives."
"When you leave out people like the Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and V. Gene Robinson, the gay Episcopal bishop from New Hampshire, you are trimming away literally hundreds of media hits," Knight said.
Waldman said it shows who the media picks as representative of religious Americans but that it did not examine whether the coverage of the religious leaders was favorable or unfavorable.
"We wanted to just ask the question of who gets quoted," Waldman said. He conceded that "it's possible" that the less frequent coverage of liberal Christians is more favorable than the more frequent coverage of conservatives.
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