Two-thirds of the American public says religion coverage is too sensationalized in the news media — a view held by less than 30% of reporters, according to the results of a first-of-its-kind survey of both reporters and the audiences they serve by the Knight Program in Media and Religion at the University of Southern California (@USCedu) and the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron (@uakron).
Less than one-fifth of journalists, or 18.9%, say they’re “very knowledgeable” about religion. Most reporters in that minority say they’re mainly familiar with their own religious traditions, not the wider array of faiths and practices, the survey showed.
“News organizations are rightly worried about creating smart business plans and developing cutting-edge technology. But they’re overlooking their most basic resource: knowledgeable reporters,” said Diane Winston (@dianewinston), Knight (@knightfdn) Chair in Media and Religion at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism (@USCAnnenberg). “News consumers want more reporting on authentic religious experience and a lot less on polarizing religious politics. But reporters can’t do that if all they know about religion is what they hear in church or — ironically — what they read in the news.”
· A majority of both the public and reporters agree the news media “does a poor job of explaining religion in society,” with 57.1% and 51.8% agreeing, respectively.
· Both the public and reporters rank TV news lowest in the quality and quantity of religion coverage compared to other media with 28.1% of the public and 8% of reporters responding that broadcast news provides “good” religion coverage.
· The American public sees religion in starkly polarized terms. Nearly half, or 43.6% believes religion is a source of conflict in the world, while a narrow majority, 52.6%, sees it as a fount of good. Most reporters, 56.1%, consider religion to be a mixed bag, offering both benefits and drawbacks for society. But only 3.8% of the general public shares this more circumspect angle on religion.
· Not surprisingly, then, most reporters believe their audiences want personality-driven religion news related to specific institutions and events. But despite the aforementioned polarization, 69.7% of Americans say they’re interested in more complex coverage that looks at religious experiences and spiritual practice.
· A strong majority of the public, 62.5%, says religion coverage is important to them, but nearly one-third of the rapidly growing cohort of those with no religious affiliation say they aren’t interested in religion coverage.
· Christians from ethnic minorities constitute over a third of news consumers who say they’re generally very interested in the news and have a particular interest in religion. In contrast, white evangelical Protestants tend to care specifically about religion news, but less about the news in general.
Read the survey results in full.
Also see online journalism resources, such as Religion News Service (@ReligionNewsNow) and the Religion Newswriters Association‘s (@ReligionReport) ReligionLink, Religion Stylebook, and Reporting on Religion: A Primer on Journalism’s Best Beat.
Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you plan your strategy to communicate your brand’s message in the most effective way.
And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Research and the Religion News tabs.
