US Media Coverage of Religion Still Needs to Improve, say US Religion Writers
WASHINGTON, September 21, 2005 — The U.S. media should be more open to the diversity of the evangelical movement in the United States, Mark O'Keefe, editor of the Washington-based Religion News Service, told IRP Fellows today.
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O'Keefe, an evangelical Christian, added that American journalists often don't cover the evangelical community effectively or evenhandedly. “Sometimes I run into these articles that are alarmist and along the lines of ‘can you believe these yahoos?'” he said of some stories that deal with evangelical Christians. “There's that added fear element.”
He was one of three speakers who discussed religion coverage in the U.S. and overseas at a recent meeting with the International Reporting Project Fellows. Kim Lawton, a managing editor and correspondent for PBS's Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, and Steve Herrick, media relations director for the American Academy of Religion, also spoke about their experiences and discussed how American media covers religion.
Lawton said President Bush's open talk of faith has lent more legitimacy to religion coverage in the past several years and has resulted in some improvements in domestic coverage of religion. But the panelists said they believe there is much room for improvement. O'Keefe said he believes many U.S. foreign correspondents have a “blind spot” in covering religious issues overseas. “They don't get it,” he said.
O'Keefe said Christians in the United States may experience a great deal of freedom but that's not the case for many other Christians living in different countries. In 1998 as a reporter for The Oregonian O'Keefe produced a series called “Christians Under Siege” that described the persecution of Christians in Pakistan, Burma, Sudan, Egypt, and China. He said much of that repression still exists.
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