Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Jim: Is this part of our problem?
Media Matters highlights a report that demonstrates significant media bias toward presenting conservative Christians over liberal Christians in various forms of media. Could this have something to do with the disconnect between my view of "average Christians" and Matt's?
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3 comments:
Matt: Certainly this is part of our problem, as is self-reporting polling bias as we've discussed before.
Matt: So I've read the article more closely, and it's misleading. It shows how much more conservative religious leaders are quoted and sited than progressive leaders, except for these five celebrity religious leaders: Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton, where Jackson and Sharpton are mentioned far more than the conservative three. So conservatives are out there more than progressives except when they're not. Except for when any of us is noticing, in which case it's these two guys who dominate.
Looking very closely at the numbers, the amount more that Jackson and Sharpton are referenced than the other three is greater than the difference between the non-celebrity conservatives vs. the non-celebtrity progressives. So in actual fact, progressives are mentioned in the media more than conservatives.
In the conclusion they wrote:
Our hypothesis was proven correct: In newspapers and in televised news, coverage of conservative leaders dwarfed that of progressive religious leaders across the board.
and:
If religion is an important topic for news media to explore -- and it plainly is -- then they have a responsibility to do so fairly and accurately. Our results suggest that in recent history they have failed to do so.
I won't go into confirmation bias, but I would argue that progressives might be more diverse in their political opinions, hence harder to paint in quick brush strokes. If that's the case, how could the media do a better job?
Jim: And this is why conversation is so powerful. I would not consider Rev. Jesse Jackson & Rev. Al Sharpton religious leaders. Thiat is completely silly for two reasons: 1) they are religious leaders and 2) they represent the civil rights movement which I personally think is the model that the Christian & secular left need to remember.
So, I need to read the whole study more carefully. I'm not sure celebrity religious leaders are the folks we've been concerned with. Nonetheless, you pointed out a BIG problem that I was blind to. Thanks.
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