Religion in the news [electronic resource] : faith and journalism in American public discourse / Stewart M. Hoover.

ISBN:

9781452251387

9781483328447

Title:

Religion in the news [electronic resource] : faith and journalism in American public discourse / Stewart M. Hoover.

Author:

Hoover, Stewart M.

Personal Author:

Hoover, Stewart M.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 234 pages)

Contents:

Religion in the news -- Approaches to understanding -- Discourses of contemporary religion -- The source of the problem? -- Looking at religion -- Reading and watching religion -- The audience for religion -- Religion and the media in conflict -- Religion and broadcasting -- The challenge of standards -- To be the discourse, or merely to cover it.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Mass media -- Religious aspects.

Journalism, Religious.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

1998

Publication Information:

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
302.230973 22	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Since the 1970s, more and more religious stories have made their way to headline news: the Islamic Revolution in Iran, televangelism and its scandals, and the rise of the Evangelical New Right and its role in politics, to name but a few. Media treatment of religion can be seen as a kind of indicator of the broader role and status of religion on the contemporary scene. To better understand the relationship between religion and the news media, both in everyday practice and in the larger context of American public discourse, author Stewart P. Hoover gives a cultural-historical analysis in his book, Religion in the News . The resulting insights provide important clues as to the place of religion in American life, the role of the media in cultural discourse, and the prospects of institutional religion in the media age.

This volume is highly recommended to media professionals, journalists, people in the religious community, and for classroom use in religious studies and media studies programs.

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Hoover (journalism and mass communications, Univ. of Colorado at Boulder) has produced a clearly written introduction to some prominent features of contemporary US culture as they are revealed in the ways that Americans publicly discuss religion and media professionals report on it. He explores American sensitivity and ambivalence about religion in the context of a recent rise of media religion (televangelism), national political debates on morality and family values, international politics involving an Islamic "revolution," and several instances of shocking deaths of followers of sectarian movements (the People's Temple, Branch Davidians, and Heaven's Gate). Hoover also considers such questions as when and how religion become newsworthy, who reports it and from what perspectives, what kinds of criticism are media professionals most likely to receive, and what sorts of situations are most likely to bring media and religion into conflict. Hoover is a thorough researcher and a good writer; he skillfully weaves statistical and anecdotal evidence into a readable account, giving attention to print and electronic media, commercial and public television. This book, along with his coedited Rethinking Media, Religion, and Culture (1997), complements and corrects the more narrowly focused critique of religion reporting in Mark Silk's Unsecular Media: Making News of Religion in America (CH, May'96). All levels. G. R. Thursby; University of Florida