Religious Conservatives Overwhelm "Liberal Media"

Media Matters for America, a media watchdog organization, conducted a study to determine how the so-called "liberal media" balanced coverage of conservative and progressive religious news and views:

In order to begin to assess how the news media paint the picture of religion in America today, this study measured the extent to which religious leaders, both conservative and progressive, are quoted, mentioned, and interviewed in the news media.
Among the study's key findings:

o 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.

o On television news -- the three major television networks, the three major cable new channels, and PBS -- conservative religious leaders were quoted, mentioned, or interviewed almost 3.8 times as often as progressive leaders.

o In major newspapers, conservative religious leaders were quoted, mentioned, or interviewed 2.7 times as often as progressive leaders.

o 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.

Reactions to these findings were presented at EthicsDaily.com:

"I have long felt the media have given Americans a distorted view of what people of faith believe," said Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches. "This research from Media Matters proves that."

"This important report makes a compelling case that Americans may be getting an incomplete story," said Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for Common Good. "It's a story that too often features strident commentary from the usual suspects, divisive culture warriors with a message that fails to speak to the fullness of our rich faith traditions."

But Robert Knight of the conservative Media Research Council found fault with the study.

"Religious liberals march in lockstep with the liberal, secular media, so they have to go to conservatives to get controversy, because that's what makes news," he said.

Knight said it isn't enough to say there are more conservatives cited in the media.

"It's what did they let them say," he maintained. "Often they'll let the liberal give a heartfelt argument for that point of view, and then they'll allow the conservative one of the weakest points a conservative made.

"Having been in journalism and seeing that side of it, and having been on the other side of the camera and the notepad, I can tell you often the most powerful points are just thrown into a wastebasket if you're the conservative."

People, at least book buyers, seem to be tuning out. According to this report from the Christian Post, sales of religious books dropped 10.2% in 2006 from the previous year.

Unfortunately, due to the judgemental rhetoric often offered by religious conservatives, I suspect they have soured people on reading books that actually could be a spiritual blessing to them, which also ties in to the rise of books on athiesim.