Religion and Media 2013 Abstracts
Silencing Religious Dialogue: Religious Communication Apprehension among Muslims in the United States • Mariam Alkazemi, University of Florida • Using the spiral of silence as a theoretical framework, the current study explores the degree to which the mass media influences dialogue about religion among Muslim Americans. Survey data were collected from members of religious and cultural organizations across the United States in the summer of 2012. Participants (N=166) responded to an electronic questionnaire that addressed several variables, including media use, religiosity, willingness to communicate about religion, tolerance for disagreement about religion, and receiver’s apprehension about religion. The results show that Muslims who watch more television are less likely to be willing to communicate about religion within the context of an interpersonal relationship. The current study contributes to the scholarship of media and religion by providing evidence of the spiral of silence phenomenon when the minority group is a religious one.
Use of Online Social Networking Channels for Religious and Political Communication:Examining the Distinct Role of Intrinsic, Extrinsic and Quest Religiosity Under Varied Circumstances • Mian Asim, University of Florida • In order to make more accurate determination of the role of personal religiosity on online social networks for religious communications, extrinsic, intrinsic and quest religiosity were identified, measured treated separately in hierarchical multiple regression models. Subsequently, religious communication was replaced by political communication under the same conditions to draw parallel comparisons. Results indicate that people have special circumstantial reasons to adopt online social networks as a routine communicative medium to incorporate in their respective religions.
Religion, Popular Culture and Social Media: The Construction of a Religious Leader Image on Facebook • Ioana Coman; Mihai Coman • In both media and religious studies, the investigation of the image the religious leaders have in popular culture, benefited unequally from researchers’ interest. Starting from recent Applebee’s social media crisis, which was triggered by a pastor, the present study investigated the frames and themes Facebook users employed in order to give meaning to the crisis, attribute responsibility, and more important, define the role of a religious leader in daily life.
Religious Leaders in Crisis: An Analysis of Image Restoration Strategies and Strategies • Melody Fisher • The following study employs content analysis to examine the crisis communication responses and audience reception of religious leaders involved in scandal. Benoit’s Image Repair Strategies and the Contingency Theory are used to determine the strategies and stances of mega-church leaders: Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard, Eddie Long, Henry Lyons and Jimmy Swaggart. News framing theory determined media and audience reception of the religious leaders’ crisis communication responses. The study concludes that the Religious leaders’ dominant strategies were bolstering and denial, and their media portrayals were balanced.
Relying on Divine Intervention? An Analysis of Church Crisis Management Plans • Hilary Fussell Sisco, Quinnipiac University; Randi Plake, Quinnipiac University; Erik Collins, School of Journalism & Mass Com., University of South Carolina • Research suggests (Kirkpatrick, 2011) that most individual churches have not taken the steps necessary to create coherent crisis management plans that take into account the concerns of their major stakeholders. Employing Coombs’ (2007) three-phase approach to crisis management as a guideline, the researchers conducted a qualitative analysis of church crisis management plans to investigate how prepared these organizations are for a potential reputational crisis
Muslim American Youth: Media Consumption and Identity • Patricia Hernandez, California Baptist University • Several studies have examined minority media portrayals and the impact on youth; however, there is a lack of research including religion as a minority group. Religion is understood to be a key aspect of racial and ethnic identity. This article explores the relationship between Muslim American Youth identity and media consumption. In addition the article demonstrates that media is one element of culture that can shape and constrain religious identity, ethnic identity, self esteem, and perceived discrimination.
Broadcasting Sharia: American TV News’ Illustration of Social Identity and the Emergence of a Threat • Jennifer Hoewe, The Pennsylvania State University; Brian J. Bowe, Michigan State University; Naheda Makhadmeh, Michigan State University • Using social identity theory, this study examined the portrayal of sharia on ABC, CBS, and NBC. A ten-year content analysis showed that sharia was continually paired with mentions of the United States, reinforcing its representation as the in-group, and non-Western countries, forming an out-group comparison. A significant and positive relationship between mentions of non-Western countries and connotatively negative topics positioned individuals associated with sharia – most often Muslims – within the out-group.
Overstating the “Mormon Problem”: Media coverage of Mitt Romney’s faith identity in the 2012 presidential campaign • Jesse Holcomb, Pew Research Center • A content analysis of media coverage during the 2012 presidential campaign finds that attention to candidate Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith was infrequent, yet when it appeared, was often negative in tone, and tied to a narrative of evangelical distrust. The study concludes that media figures may have overstated the notion that Mormonism was a liability for conservative evangelical voters, who were concerned about economic and social issues more than religious identity.
The discourse of ‘umma’ as defined by daily Islam • Faizullah Jan, School of Communication, American University, D.C. • News publications of militant organizations in Pakistan discursively create identities through a set of antagonistic relationships, articulating the identities of us versus them. The identity of umma, or global Muslim community, is created in opposition to the ‘Other’, which has real-life consequences for religious minorities within Pakistan and for the peace in the region and the world at large. These publications construct an ‘enemy’ whose identity is purely negative and cannot be represented positively in a given discursive formation. I have used Laclau & Mouffe’s (1985) discourse theory to analyze the discourse of daily Islam, which is published by a pro-al Qaeda militant organization. The main argument of this paper is to stress the importance of social antagonism when an identity of “us” is created in opposition to a constitutive outside. This constitutive outside becomes “them” or the “other”, which is demonized and dehumanized as the result of a successful articulation or ‘chaining’ of the subject in the flow of discourse.
Misconception of Barack Obama’s religion: A content analysis of cable news coverage of the president • Joseph Kasko, University of South Carolina; Webster Larry, University of South Carolina; Heflin Frank, University of South Carolina • A 2010 Pew Research poll found 18 percent of people wrongly identified Barack Obama as Muslim and only 34 percent correctly identified him as Christian. This was a shift from previous polls that showed roughly half of respondents could identify his religion. This work examines cable news coverage of Obama’s religion from November 2007 to July 2010. The authors suggest that media coverage of Obama’s ties to Islam may have helped to fuel the misconception.
Hijab Hip Hoppers: Constructing Narratives of Struggles and Identity Through Hip Hop Music • Nancy Katu-Ogundimu • This paper is a textual analysis of the lyrics of selected female Muslim rappers from the United States and Europe. The paper examined how music as a strategic communication tool is providing a platform for female Muslim rappers to construct narratives about their struggles and identities as post-September 11 Muslims. Findings reveal that Muslimahs are challenging traditional Islamic narratives about their gender, religion and career choice.
Religion on Social Networking Media • Hyojin Kim, University of Florida; Mian Asim, University of Florida • This paper reports findings of an exploratory study that religious involvement such as frequency of worship and membership in a religious organization are significant predictors of individuals’ engagement in religious activities on social networking sites as well as on the Internet. In addition, variations in individuals’ cultural orientation are found to be significantly related to the degree of individuals’ online religious activities. Suggestions for future research and implications for utilizing social networking media as an active channel of religious communication are discussed.
Tebowing: The Role of Religious Primes on Disposition Formation and the Appreciation of Sports News • William Kinnally, University of Central Florida; Megan Fitzgerald, Nova Southeastern University • The purpose of this study was to use priming and affective disposition theories to examine how religious primes in sports news can influence judgments of media characters (disposition formation) and appreciation of the media content. Participants (396) were randomly assigned to read one of three sports news features in which an athlete expresses a religious association (either Christian or Muslim) or no religious association. Disposition toward the athlete was more positive for the articles including the expression of religious affiliation compared to the control article. However, the article in the Christian condition was evaluated more positively than the other two articles. Linear regression was used to examine the impact of sports interest, religious affiliation, and religiosity schemas on disposition and appreciation for each condition. Religiosity and sports interest explained disposition toward the athlete and appreciation of the article in the Christian condition while only religiosity explained appreciation of the article in the Muslim condition. This study extends the literature by examining how attribute cues such as religious affiliation in media coverage of athletes can prime cognitive and affective constructs that relate to disposition formation and media appreciation.
What Are They Really Selling? A Content Analysis of Advertisements During Religious Television Programming • Stephen Gray, The University of Kansas; Alexandra Inglish; Tejinder Singh Sodhi; Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas • This study quantitatively analyzed the content of television commercials aired during religious programs to determine the categories of products being promoted and the primary method used by advertisers to appeal to highly religious consumers. Medical and life related products are the largest category. Fear-related appeals occurred in the advertisements at the high rate of 81%. The results suggested that marketers attempt to appeal to Christian fundamentalist viewers with fears, anxieties and doubts.
Death, Rebirth, Love, and Faith: Theological Narrative in Secular Cinema • Kangming Ma, Hampton University Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications • As a narrative medium and art form, film has been one of the best ways in which any aspect of culture can be reflected and become rich theological resource. This paper examines how themes in five secular films—freedom of will, death, loneliness, love and faith—echo those in the Bible. The results show that today it is still possible for Christians to influence the society by interpreting the divine message transcended through secular films.
Having the last word, but losing the culture wars: Mainstream press coverage of a canceled evangelical benediction • Rick Moore, Boise State University • This study examines how mainstream news media reported the withdrawal of a popular pastor from the 2013 Obama inaugural ceremony. Louie Giglio was originally chosen for a role in the event, but withdrew when focus was placed on a sermon he once delivered about homosexuality. Analysis of framing and sourcing of the stories raises serious questions about the role media played in reporting about this skirmish, which is clearly part of the larger culture wars.
“The Grandest, Most Compelling Story of All Time!”: Dominant Themes of Christian Media Marketing • Jim Trammell, High Point University • This manuscript analyzes the marketing campaigns of five best-selling Christian books and albums to identify their dominant themes. The literary/critical analysis notes how Christian media marketing lauds the artists as Christian role models, projects themes of inspiration and empowerment onto the media, and addresses the media’s aesthetic qualities. Ultimately, the marketing campaigns perpetuate a definition of “Christianity” that privileges how the consumer feels about him or herself over other Christian beliefs or themes.
Downloadable and Streaming: Using the PodCred Framework to Assess Religious Podcasts • Richard D. Waters, University of San Francisco; Anneliese Carolina Niebauer, University of San Francisco • Through a content analysis of one-half of the top religious podcasts in iTunes (n = 90), this study examines whether the PodCred framework can be used to determine which podcasts are more popular and rated more favorably than others. Findings indicate that religious podcasts moderately incorporate the four dimensions and reveal that PodCred dimensions significantly correlate to increased downloads but not necessarily to user ratings. Findings are connected to literature on religious communication online.
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