Pew Surveys Religion Coverage p. 17

By: Debra Gersh Hernandez

THE LATEST SURVEY from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Washington, D.C., focuses on religion, but includes questions about media coverage of religious people and the media's influence on people's thinking.
The survey posed two separate questions about media coverage, with one question posed to about half of the respondents and the other question to the rest.
One question asked was whether people thought the media, who are often accused of a bias against certain people, were fair in their treatment of fundamentalist Christians, or if the media made them look better or worse than they actually are.
Thirty-six percent of respondents said the media made fundamentalist Christians look worse, 29% said coverage was fair, 18% thought it made them look better, and 17% didn't know or refused to answer.
The other question was phrased similarly, but substituted the words "very religious people" for "fundamentalist Christians."
The results were nearly the same: 35% said coverage made very religious people appear worse, 29% said it was fair, 19% said they thought it made them look better, and 17% again said they didn't know or refused to answer.
In addition, the survey asked people to choose from a list of influences on their thinking about various issues.
Options included personal experience, friends/ family views, media, religious beliefs, education or something else.
The results showed that among those who cited the media as influences, the percentage generally (not always) was higher for influencing thinking on political issues and was lower for personal/moral issues.
For example, 35% said the media were their biggest influence on their thinking about sending U.S. troops to Bosnia, but only 9% cited the media as an influence on their thinking about allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally.
Other examples where people cited the media as the greatest influence on their thinking were: the death penalty for convicted murderers, 21%; abortion, 7%; the extent of the government's role in helping the needy, 22%; the breadth of environmental protection necessary, 24%; and women in the work force, 7%.