The Framing of Fundamentalist Christians: Network Television News, 1980- 2000

Scientific study of the mass media's depiction of religion has been paltry, and its results are often confusing and conflicting. This research assumes more clarity of the media's depiction can be obtained by dividing religion into its various faith groups, and then dividing the faith groups into more accurate segments along sectarian or doctrinal lines. Using this more focused method, the present research assesses the nightly national network news' portrayal of fundamentalist Christians between the years 1980 and 2000. As Fundamentalists have often claimed a bias in the media, this study probes for both explicit and implicit portrayals, examining the issues used by the media to frame discussions and the overall impression news clips offer about Fundamentalists. Results show Fundamentalists are reported in a consistently, but mildly negative manner. Politics is often the main focus of newscasts involving Fundamentalists, and conflict has been the most prevalent news value. While often portrayed as being somewhat intolerant, racist, violent and prone to impose their views upon others, Fundamentalists are also depicted as being somewhat patriotic. Differences between the networks are also discussed, and the broadcast data are compared with similar data regarding U.S. newspaper coverage of Fundamentalists, with little variation between the two noted. Finally, future research is suggested to not only better understand the portrayal of Fundamentalist Christians in society, but also, through the use of similar focused content analyses, to be able to compare this data with other denominations and religions, obtaining a better nuanced and clarified picture of the overall portrayal of religion by the mass media.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH is the author of 'The Framing of Fundamentalist Christians: Network Television News, 1980- 2000' with ISBN 9781423523543 and ISBN 1423523547.