By Caroline Eichenberg
<snippety>
http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/reports/religionstudy/main.asp
Article about the study:
Hollywood Slighting Americans' Belief in God, Study Finds By Randy Hall CNSNews.com Editor December 17, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - A new study by a television watchdog group finds that television's treatment of religion has become increasingly negative and doesn't reflect the viewpoints of a majority of Americans.
The study, entitled "Faith in a Box: Entertainment Television and Religion, which was released Thursday by the Parents Television Council (PTC) in conjunction with the National Religious Broadcasters, also found that NBC by far leads the other major networks in terms of the number of negative depictions of faith.
"Religion and the public expression of faith is a crucial element in the lives of most Americans. Our findings should challenge Hollywood to accurately reflect this in television content," said L. Brent Bozell, founder and president of the PTC.
Bozell, who is also president of the Media Research Center and founder of CNSNews.com, pointed to a 2003 Harris Poll that indicates 90 percent of Americans believe in God and 80 percent of those polled believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Though portrayals of religion have increased over the past six years, they still do not reflect the importance of the topic or the breadth of interest in it, as evidenced by the recent success of both films ("The Passion of the Christ") and books ("The Purpose Driven Life") with religious subject matter.
"This comprehensive study shows a clear disparity between the religious beliefs of most Americans and how these beliefs are reflected in television programming," said Dr. Frank Wright, president of the National Religious Broadcasters.
A total of 2,385 hours of primetime entertainment programming on the seven commercial broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Pax, UPN and the WB) were analyzed and contained 2,344 treatments of religion.
In the PTC's previous study on religion, which was done in 1997, the council found only 551 treatments of religion in 1,800 hours of programming.
Major findings
-- NBC was the decisive leader in broadcasting negative depictions of faith and religion. NBC programming had 9.5 negative treatments for every positive treatment of faith. Fox followed with 2.4 negative depictions for each one that was positive. WB and ABC tied with 1.2 negative for each positive, followed by UPN with 1 negative for every 1.1 positive, CBS with 1 negative for every 2 positive and Pax which did not have a single negative depiction.
-- References to faith were the most common (582 of the 2,344 treatments) -- and the most positive. Less common, and more likely to be shown in a negative light, are more specific elements of religion, such as a particular church and its teachings, devout laity and the clergy.
-- The treatment of religion in an institutional or doctrinal context -- such as a reference to a church service, a particular denomination or to Scripture -- was strikingly negative. More than 32 percent of TV's treatments of religious institutions and doctrine were negative, while only 11.7 percent of such treatments were positive.
-- Negative depictions of clergy were more than twice as frequent as positive depictions -- 36.2 percent negative compared to 14.6 percent positive.
-- Representations of devout laity tended to be negative more than positive, but to a lesser degree than in the past: 33.3 percent negative compared to 20.4 percent positive. In the 1997 study, only 7.9 percent of the treatments were positive, whereas a staggering 78.9 percent were negative.
-- Negativity toward religion grew steadily with each passing hour of prime time. During the 7 p.m. hour, religious content was negative 16.9 percent of the time. In the 8 p.m. hour, 20.8 percent of instances were negative. In the 9 p.m. hour, 27.5 percent of instances were negative, and in the 10 p.m. hour, 28.2 percent were negative.
"These findings lend credibility to the idea that Hollywood accepts spirituality but shies away from endorsing, or even tolerating, organized religion," concluded Bozell.
However, Jonathan Rintels, president and executive director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media, which is "dedicated to preserving in America's media the original, independent and diverse creative voices," told the Los Angeles Times that he wonders if the PTC accurately reflects viewers' opinions.
"The real statistics that matter to the networks come from the biggest hit of the season, 'Desperate Housewives,'" the LA Times quoted Rintels as saying. "It's not on the Parents Television Council's approved list. (Yet) it doesn't seem to have any great impact on the public watching it."
The full study, including the statistical index, is available on the Parents Television Council website.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=%5CCulture%5Carchive%5C200412%5CCUL20041216d.html
"We live under the Confederacy. We're a podunk bunch of swaggering pious hicks."
--Bruce Sterling