LEFT BEHIND
The Skewed Representation of
Religion in Major News Media
MAY 2007
A Special Report by
Media Matters for America
Media Matters for America
is a not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring,analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.
Media Matters
is the first organization to systematicallymonitor the media for conservative misinformation every day, in real time. For more information, visit
www.mediamatters.org
.
1625 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, #300 • Washington, DC 20036 • (202) 756-4100 phone • (202) 756-4101 fax • www.mediamatters.org
Left Behind Media Matters for America 1
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
INTRODUCTION -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3
PRINCIPAL FINDINGS -------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
Newspapers and television combined -------------------------------------------- 6
Television news --------------------------------------------------------------- 12
Major newspapers ------------------------------------------------------------ 15
CONCLUSIONS -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19
PROFILES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20
Conservatives ----------------------------------------------------------------- 20
Progressives ------------------------------------------------------------------- 22
METHODOLOGY ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25
NOTES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26
Left Behind Media Matters for America 2
E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y
It would surprise few people, conservative or progressive, to learn that coverage of the intersection of religion and politics tends to oversimplify both. If thisoversimplification occurred to the benefit or detriment of neither side of the politicaldivide, then the weaknesses in coverage of religion would be of only academicinterest. But as this study documents, coverage of religion not only overrepresentssome voices and underrepresents others, it does so in a way that is consistentlyadvantageous to conservatives.As in many areas, the decisions journalists make when deciding which voices toinclude in their stories have serious consequences. What is the picture of religiousopinion? Who is a religious leader? Whose views represent important groups of believers? Every time a journalist writes a story, he or she answers these questionsby deciding whom to quote and how to characterize their views.
Religion is often depicted in the news media as a politically divisive force, with twosides roughly paralleling the broader political divide: On one side are culturalconservatives who ground their political values in religious beliefs; and on the otherside are secular liberals, who have opted out of debates that center on religion-basedvalues. The truth, however is far different: close to 90 percent of Americans todayself-identify as religious, while only 22 percent belong to traditionalist sects.
1
Yet inthe cultural war depicted by news media as existing across religious lines, centristand progressive voices are marginalized or absent altogether.
In order to begin to assess how the news media paint the picture of religion inAmerica today, this study measured the extent to which religious leaders, bothconservative and progressive, are quoted, mentioned, and interviewed in the newsmedia.Among the study’s key findings:
•
Combining newspapers and television, conservative religious leaders werequoted, mentioned, or interviewed in news stories
2.8 times as often
aswere progressive religious leaders.
•
On television news -- the three major television networks, the three majorcable new channels, and PBS -- conservative religious leaders were quoted,mentioned, or interviewed
almost 3.8 times as often
as progressiveleaders.
•
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 newsmedia it is overwhelmingly conservative leaders who are presented as the voice of religion. This represents a particularly meaningful distortion since progressivereligious leaders tend to focus on different issues and offer an entirely differentperspective than their conservative counterparts.
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