The Ignorance of the Media about Religion

July 15, 2012 By

Here is a helpful post by Larry Hurtado with link to an even more helpful survey of the media’s general ignorance of religion among other things.

Religion in the News Media
by larry hurtado

A recently-published survey of American views on the reporting about religion in the news media is very interesting. Here’s the link to the survey:

http://annenberg.usc.edu/~/media/PDFs/winston-bliss.ashx

There are a number of interesting findings in the 40-page survey, among them the following: “One-half of reporters say the biggest challenge to covering religion is a lack of knowledge about the subject. Only a fifth of reporters say they are “very knowledgeable” about religion, and most of these are mainly familiar with their own religious traditions, not the wider array of faiths and practices” (p. 1).

Well, yeah, it would be difficult reporting intelligently on a subject about which you’re not competent, now wouldn’t it? Anyone else see any problem here, or am I just peculiar? We have, for example, news people with expertise in economics and investment doing the reporting on economics and investment. But it’s considered unnecessary for news people to acquire any proper expertise in religion before they go off writing about it.

There are hundreds of departments of religion/theology where future news media people could gear up to report intelligently on religions. There are experts in these departments who could be contacted by reporters researching a story to help them grasp things better. But day after day this is not done, and when the news media report, more often than not, it’s a sensationalized and mis-informed result.

The published survey has lots of other interesting findings well worth the time to read them.

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  • PastorM

    Recently, I had to switch channels to get away from Barbara Walter’s special on heaven because of this very problem. One of the absolute worst interviews that I ever saw occurred years ago on TODAY when Tom Brokaw had Hal Lindsey as a guest–Yuck!

  • david carlson

    http://www.getreligion.org is a great blog that focuses solely on the fact that “the press …. just doesn’t get religion. They dont take positions on religion, simply talk about articles/coverage and how well, or not, the press gets it. Highly recomended

  • Lori Broschat

    PastorM, you are right on about that Walters special. At one point I believe I heard her say that the object of being a Christian was to go to heaven and become an angel!

  • DaveAlan

    I know that this is off topic, but it’s an emergency–Somebody call Sir Hugh Corbett!!
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2173848/French-demand-Crown-Jewels-Queen-1499-murder-Edward-Plantagenet.html

  • RickC

    JP Morland put up a rebuttal to the Barbara Walters program! You can read it here: http://www.jpmoreland.com/jps-blog-2/

  • RickC

    Oops…apologies for misspelling Dr. Moreland’s name!

  • http://restoringsoul.blogspot.com Ann F-R

    I hate to spoil anyone’s optimism that “We have, for example, news people with expertise in economics and investment doing the reporting on economics and investment.” Prior to seminary, I earned a degree in economics, worked for the FRB in economics research, and in the financial markets (capital markets, gov’t bonds, asset-backed securities & swaps/derivatives). There are some journalists who have expertise to write on these subjects (e.g., Paul Krugman is an economist), but many of those opining on TV news and in print are also woefully ignorant and spout nonsense cloaked in economic verbiage.

    I think it’s thoroughly safe to say that too many people are writing with, formulating opinions about and basing legislation upon (the worst!!) inadequate knowledge in many areas. There are so many “experts” and so many words that it has become incredibly difficult for the majority of people to know whom to trust. Perhaps that’s why they’re leaning toward trusting what they can see — i.e., material goods and wealth?

  • http://desertmountaintimes.com/ Dan Bodine

    Not much from reporters here. Delicate but sensitive topic flushed out by a good short commentary. As a longtime reading fan of Dr. Ben–who once spent 20 years in reporting, editing, and even weekly publishing in Texas newspapers–let me suggest the answer may be the nature of news itself. Can’t speak for electronic media; it’s a different cat! Especially with wages. Newspaper people though are usually among the lowest paid professionals (all but the giant dailies probably) and ‘loaded double’ just keeping up with current events–i.e. courthouses, city halls and school boards, chambers of commerce, hundreds of civic activities for community improvement, sports and school activities, etc. The key to getting other publicity, even here, is lobbying–if your church or organization doesn’t have a link on a reporter’s or editor’s ear, your handicapped already!

    I see some parallels, too, in religion coverage now and agriculture back in the 70s and early 80s. The big metro dailies had ‘farm & ranch’ reporters then–who shared other duties even at that. The mid-size dailies like I experienced? Usually it ended up on a regional or general assignment desk somewhere. ALWAYS, it seem, we were getting complaints we were giving bad coverage.

    But again, news media (especially those on tight budgets) are driven by the nature of news events. The farmers finally figured this out; they rallied behind the American Agriculture Movement and their ‘tractorcades’ and other protests for several years shut traffic down in many large cities. Generated tons of news coverage. But too late. It was the explosive Sunbelt and their jobs already were being exported.

    OFTEN I’ve wondered, would today’s agriculture scene–the bonding glue family farms once provided to communities and their economies–be different today, if they had organized earlier, say, in the early 60s? And if integral parts of all that (the SOUL of America) could’ve been saved, how much better off than a ‘torn-up’ society would we be today? Just some thinking out loud. Sorry it’s so long.

  • http://desertmountaintimes.com/ Dan Bodine

    Edit that second sentence in the first graf for me, please. Remove ‘but sensitive’ in the sentence. It’s repetitive and I missed it. Sorry! Should only read: Delicate topic flushed out…

  • http://www.stevekenney.blogspot.com Steve Kenney

    Totally agree with this article and with Ann F-R above. In my former life, I would watch television coverage and read newspaper articles of cases I was actively prosecuting in court and think “that’s an awful lot like the case I’m in right now!” :)

    I used to say that the papers, TV coverage and radio spots should have a disclaimer: “Inspired by true events!” When the media chooses legal “experts” they’re often people who have marketed themselves to a biased news perspective. I’d rather they not have an expert for the most part because the title “expert” suggests a certain professional objectivity which is usually woefully lacking!

    Yet it seems that the people I’m around know that these media outlets aren’t good sources for legal education. On the other hand, it seems they buy the religion coverage as factual. Remember, it’s often done by showing clips of some religious extremist. So the lack of knowledge discussed in the blog above isn’t perceived as such a big problem by the public because the extremist viewpoints are simply being heard in sound bites.

    I suppose it is asking a lot to have Fox News or Jon Stewart discern the difference between Jeremiah and Hananiah!

    Grace & Shalom,
    Steve Kenney

  • David Rogers

    With regard to TV journalism, the following kinds of stories should be ignored by the viewing public. There is a high liklihood that the “report” will be worthless in conveying the actual facts and reasonable analysis. In other words, hit the mute button.

    Religion
    Science
    History
    Economics

  • David Rogers

    If a reporter cannot answer the following, he or she should be constructively rebuked that they cannot report on a Christian religious issue from a properly informed background.

    What beliefs unite the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Evangelical groupings of Chrsitianity?

    What are some basic characteristics of each of the above groupings that distinguish them from one another?

    What beliefs distinguish Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses from the above groupings?

    Who do you and who should you call when seeking information about a Christian theological question?

  • http://irregularchristian.com Casey Taylor

    Reading a book on the Civil War. Based on the excerpts from newspapers of the time, “journalists” of mid-19th c. America weren’t experts in much of anything except coining a headline. Moral of the story: it ain’t gettin any better.