Center on Religion & the Professions

Improving religious literacy among professionals.

Journalism and media: Articles

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  • “Writing the news: A comparison of objective, religious, and political opinion presses” by Jennifer Young Abbott. Journalism. Vol. 12, No. 4 (April 26, 2011).
  • “Faith and Values: Journalism and the Critique of Religion Coverage of the 1990s” by Fred Vultee, Stephanie Craft, and Matthew Velker. Journal of Media and Religion. 9, no. 3 (2010): 150-64.
  • “’Misunderestimating’ Religion in the 2004 Presidential Campaign” by C. Danielle Vinson and James L. Guth. Blind Spot: When Journalists Don’t Get Religion, 2008.
  • “Keeping the faith and other issues journalists face outside the newsroom” by Debra L. Mason. Quill, a publication of the Society of Professional Journalists, May 2008.
  • “Cartoon Crisis: Islam and Danish Liberalism” by Robert Cane. Society. 44, no. 1 (2006): 80-8.
  • “‘A Dozen Best’: Top Books on the History of Media and Religion” by John P. Ferre. American Journalism. 23, no. 4 (2006): 135-43.
  • “Religion and Freedom of Speech: Portraits of Muhammad” by Robert Post. Constellations: An International Journal of Critical & Democratic Theory. 14, no. 1 (2007): 72-90.
  • “Fatwa on the Bunny” by Fred. Vultee. Journal of Communication Inquiry. 30, no. 4 (2006): 319-36.
  • “Frameworks for studying media and religion” by Paul A. Soukup. Communication Research Trends, June 22, 2002.
  • “The study of religion and the education of journalists” by Eric Kevin Gormly. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, July 1, 1999.
  • “Belief in the Media: Cultural Perspectives on Media and Christianity” by Peter Horsfield, Mary E. Hess and Adan M. Medrano. Journal of Religion and Popular Culture. Ashgate, 2004.
  • “The Media Gets Religion, The only problem is that, according to a new study, they get it wrong” by Fred Barnes. The Weekly Standard, May 6, 2003.
  • “Faith and Values: Journalism and the Critique of Religion Coverage of the 1990s” by Frederick Vultee, Matthew Velker and Stephanie Craft. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, TBA, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 21, 2008
  • “Judge chastises papers; Sun Media; Stories on Raelians were abusive.” The Gazette (Montreal), May 8, 2009.
  • “Journalistic Ethics and Responsibility in Relation to Freedom of Expression: An Islamic Perspective” by Ali Mohamed. Media ethics beyond borders: a global perspective. Stephen J.A. Ward (ed.). Taylor & Francis, 2010: 142-54.
  • “Hamas says reprinting of Prophet cartoons ‘transgression’ against Islam.” BBC Worldwide Monitoring, Feb. 14, 2008.
  • “Public interest in religion remains strong” by David Ward. PR Week (U.S.), April 28, 2008.
  • “The Chronicles of Me: Understanding Blogging as a Religious Practice” by Pauline Hope Cheong, Alexander Halavais, and Kyounghee Kwon. Journal of Media and Religion. 7:3 (2008): 107-131.
  • “New Labor, new censorship? Politics, religion and internet filtering in Australia” by Brian Simpson. Information & Communications Technology Law, 17:3 (2008): 167-183.

Journalism and media: Books

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  • A Guide to Religion Reporting in the Secular Media: Frequently Asked Questions by Debra L Mason and Cecile S. Holmes (editors) (Westerville, Ohio: Religion Newswriters Foundation, 2002).
  • About Arab Americans: A Journalists Guide by the Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan: Knight Ridder, 2003).
  • Bridging the Gap: Religion and the News Media by John Dart and Jimmy Allen (Nashville, Tennessee, First Amendment Center, 2000).
  • Religion in the Media Age by Stewart M. Hoover (New York: New York: Routledge, 2006).
  • Reporting on Religion: A Primer on Journalism’s Best Beat by Debra L. Mason and Diane Connolly (Westerville, Ohio: Religion Newswriters, 2006).
  • Reporting on Religion 2: A Stylebook on Journalism’s Best Beat by Debra L. Mason, Diane Connolly and Mary Gladstone (editors) (Westerville, Ohio: Religion Newswriters, 2007).
  • Religion in the News: Faith and Journalism in American Public Discourse by Steward M Hoover (Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, 1998).
  • Reporting News about Religion: An Introduction for Journalists by Judith M. Buddenbaum (Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1998).
  • Religious Liberty in America: Navigating the First Amendment in the Newsroom and Beyond by Bruce T. Murray (Pasadena, California: Foundation for American Communications, 2005).
  • A Journalist’s Guide to Islam (Canada: Islamic Social Services Association, 2003).
  • A Journalist’s Guide to Judaism by Ron Csillag (Alberta, Canada: Centre for Faith & the Media).
  • A Journalist’s Guide to Christianity (Alberta, Canada: Centre for Faith & the Media).
  • A Journalist’s Guide to Sikhism (Alberta, Canada: Centre for Faith & the Media).
  • A Reporter’s Guide to Buddhism in America by Bill Aiken and Clark Strand (Santa Monica, California: Soka Gakkai International, 2005).
  • A Journalist’s Guide to Hinduism (Alberta, Canada: Centre for Faith & the Media).
  • Dieties and Deadlines: A Primer on News Coverage by John Dart (Nashville, Tennessee: First Amendment Center, 1998).
  • Blind Spot: When Journalists Don’t Get Religion by Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, and Roberta Green-Ahmanson (United States: Oxford University Press, 2008).
  • Islam: Reporting in Context and With Complexity. The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Vol. 61 No. 2. Summer 2007.
  • Encyclopedia of Religion, Communication, and Media. Daniel Stout (ed.). Routledge, 2006.
  • Religion and Media (Cultural Memory in the Present) Hent de Vries and Samuel Weber. Stanford University Press, 2001.
  • Journalism in Good Faith: Issues and Practices in Religion Reporting by Eric G. Loo and Mustafa K. Anuar. Marshall Cavendish Corp., 2009.
  • Media, religion and democratic participation: community communication in Zimbabwe and Norway. Knut Lundby. Sage Publications, Inc. 1997.
  • Religion, Media, and the Public Sphere. Birgit Meyer and Annelies Moors (eds.). Indiana University Press, 2005.
  • Quoting God: How Media Shape Ideas about Religion and Culture. Claire H. Badaracco. Baylor University Press, 2004.
  • Readings on Religion as News. Judith M. Buddenbaum and Debra L. Mason (eds.). Wiley-Blackwell, 2000.
  • Religion, Media, and the Marketplace. Lynn Schofield Clark (ed.). Rutgers University Press, 2007.
  • Jews, God, and Videotape: Religion and Media in America. Jeffrey Shandler. New York University Press, 2009.
  • From Yahweh to Yahoo!: The Religious Roots of the Secular Press. Doug Underwood. University of Illinois Press, 2008.

Journalism and media: More links

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Media websites and blogs

Journalism and media: Case studies

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  • Islam: Reporting in Context and With Complexity. The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Vol. 61 No. 2. Summer 2007
  • “Popular religion in the media age: An Israeli case study” by Michele Rosenthal. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the NCA 93rd Annual Convention, TBA, Chicago, IL, Nov 14, 2007.
  • Belief in media. Peter G. Horsfield, Mary E. Hess and Adán M. Medrano. Chapter, “The U.S. Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Scandal: A Media/Religion Case Study” by Frances Forde Plude. Ashgate Publishing, 2004.
  • MacGregor, Phil. “Blame and the messengers: journalists as a puritan prism for cultural policies in Britian.” International Journal of Cultural Policy. Vol. 17, No. 2 (March 2011): 244-61.

Journalism and media: About the discipline

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Religion coverage tends to be downplayed in mainstream media, both in terms of front page or top-of-newscast appeal as well the percentage of content.  Still, current events have revealed that religion plays a key role in many stories considered non-religious, such as the war on terror and politics. Journalists are learning that religion can be covered in a more “wholistic” way by identifying religion as a key factor in a news story, and that it does not have to be restricted to the topic of religion. [Read more…]