Religion and the Rhetoric of the Mass Media

Using content-analytic procedures, the authors investigate how American religion has been defined, described, and given "social reality" via mass communication. Six hundred and forty-eight religion sections appearing in Time magazine between 1947 and 1976 were analyzed in several ways. Statistical treatment of the data revealed that (1) religion is depicted as a conflict-ridden human enterprise, (2) denominational stereotypes and geographical biases affect media coverage of religion, and (3) media-based portrayals of religion differ sharply from demographic and sociological facts. Five conventional explanations of these data are discussed, but a sixth--a rhetorical understanding of mass communication activities--is preferred.