Religion and the media

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Religion and the media
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Religion in the U.S.

• The United States is the most religious of all
  industrialized countries, according to polls
• Religious representations in media are
  controversial
• Have tended to shy away from religion on
  television, in movies, etc.

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Religion in the media

• Religious content
• Electronic church
• Christian rock
• Religion as news
• Religion as a plot point
• Religious characters
• Demon possession, etc.
• Religious symbolism in other content
• Crosses, mystical themes, parables

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Religious representations are found in

• Music
• Music videos
• Movies
• News (especially print)
• Magazines
• Internet
• Less common
• Television

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The role of religion in TV series

• Generally speaking, religion plays no apparent
  part in the lives of entertainment series
  characters.
• (Harris, 1999)

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• In 1990, only 5 of prime-time characters had an
  identifiable religious affiliation, compared with
  89 of U.S. public
• Over half of the characters that had an
  affiliation were Roman Catholic
• Non-Christians rare, stereotyped
• (name, occupation, irritating New York dialect
  terrorists or oil sheiks with harems)
• (Source Skill, Robinson, Lyons and Larson, 1994)

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Concentration

• 46 of Christians in the study appeared in 3
  episodes24 Catholics in two episodes of Father
  Dowling Mysteries, and 9 Protestants in one Amen
  episode.

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Proportion of characters identified as linked to
religious group, organization of belief system,
prime time 1990
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Religious affiliation of speaking characters,
network prime time 1990
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Religious behaviors and references, prime time
1990
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Valence of religious behaviors and references
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• Often or mostly negative Slang references, God
  belief power, devil evil references
• Often or mostly positive Religious group
  reference, Prayer, Other religious themes

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Salience of religious behaviors and references
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Centrality

• Religious group reference often central

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Context of religious behaviors and references
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Conclusions

• The results of this study suggest that the
  religious side of prime time characters lives
  are not typically presented on television. Very
  few characters have an identifiable religious
  affiliation and even fewer engage in prayer,
  attend church, or participate in group religious
  activities.
• (p. 264)

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• 1) religion is most often presented as an
  emotional expletive during times of crisis,
• 2) religion is framed as a predominantly personal
  and private activity, and
• 3) religion is rarely central to the storyline or
  theme of a program

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2002 Prime Time

• 39 episodes, 548 speaking characters
• (Clarke, 2003)
• 55.5 hours, 549 characters
• (Clarke, 2005)

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of characters that could be coded as religious
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Level of devotion
U.S. population 2 or more times a month
devout, Once a month or less nominally
religious Never Not religious Source Clarke,
2005
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TV characters vs. U.S. religious denomination
Source Clarke, 2005
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Network influence
Source Clarke, 2005
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6 of 55 shows contribute 72 of religious
characters
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Salience of religious characters
Source Clark, 2005
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Religious professionals

• Outside of religious programming, they are
  underrepresented
• Mostly shallow portrayals
• Exception Father Mulcahy
• Touched by an Angel

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Religion in the news

• Personality centered
• Pope
• Flamboyant TV preacher
• Especially extremists
• Religious events covered
• Roman Catholicism
• Ceremony, pageantry
• Protestant Fundamentalism
• Dogmatic ideology political activism

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Treatment of religion

• Prime time broadcast, 2003-2004
• 2,344 treatments of religion, about one per hour

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Topics
Source Eichenberg, 2005