Religion and the Media
In the world we live in today people have revolutionized the image of
religion, so that it is now regarded as a pastime instead of it solely
being about God. In today's world media has evolved to be much more
powerful than religion, and therefore some say that media is taken
more seriously.
After observation of the TV channels broadcasting specific religious
programmes, I saw that all terrestrial TV channels had at least one
hour a week of religious programmes. The government issues the license
enabling TV companies to broadcast, and has a significant role in
deciding on what has to be shown. In each TV channels broadcasting
charter it is stated that they must "provide an average of at least
two hours a week of religious programmes." This means that if a TV
channel does not show this minimum amount their license could be
evoked.
It is very obvious why the government is concerned about religion in
the UK since only 48 per cent of UK residents claim to belong to a
religion, compared to 89 per cent in the United States and 92 per cent
in Italy. Also two-thirds of 18-24 year olds in the UK, say that they
have no religious affiliation compared to just a quarter in Spain.
Nearly all religious programmes are aired at non-prime time slots,
with the exception only being Songs of Praise on Sundays from
17.45-18.15. This suggests that the TV companies see broadcasting
religious programmes as something they must to do, and not something
they wish to do. We see further evidence of this by Reverend Ernest
Rea words, who was the head of religion and ethics at the BBC. Revd
Ernest Rea explains that "religion is...
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...e put more thought on deciding how
to end this moral issue, so there is a fair equilibrium on what the
Soap represents. I am not suggesting that they should exalt religion
and not take into consideration the moral side of things, but what I
am saying is that there has to be a fine balance.
Christians believe that life is sacred and that no one has the right
to take away this gift that God has given us. The sanctity of life is
first described in Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in His own image;
in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them".
From this biblical quote we can conclude that if God has created us in
the image of Himself, then therefore each human exists as an
expression of God and his character. Then this would surely mean that
human beings cannot destroy this sacred image in anyway.
Portrayal of Religious Individuals by Television The recent series of the BBC2 show, Coupling, presented an episode where a very religious Christian, James, was presented. In this episode, James was a presenter for a religious programme at a radio station, and meets Jane, who has an extremely stereotypical view on Christians. Jane is non religious herself, which is assured when she mentions that "I'm Christian too, I just happen to dress well" - which presents the typical outlook of many people nowadays, that believe Christians tend to wear 'out of fashion' clothing. James informs Jane that he is anti-premarital sex, which shocks her.
One of the major problems in the American media today is non-objective reporting which is also known as bias. This has been a trend since the early 1980?s and is very alarming for American citizens who watch the news for truth and honest reporting. Not only has bias been a problem in the broadcast media of ABC, NBC, and CBS, but it has also been a problem in mainstream newspapers such as The New York Times, The Sun, and The Boston Globe. For years, these media outlets have built their reputations on truth and now the trend is to lean left and not tell the whole story. Evidence of this has become very prominent in war coverage and election bias. Bias in the media is a big issue and causes lots of problems throughout the public such as losing trust in a once great source for news, people going elsewhere for information, being ill-informed, and leading to a low voter turnout.
Portrayal of Christianity in the Media In this piece of coursework I am going to write an essay about how Christianity is portrayed in the media. I'm going to write about mainstream shows such as Songs of Praise and Paradise found. I am also going to write about how a Christian issue is dealt with on Eastenders which was Euthanasia. Then I am going to write about how Homosexuality is looked upon in the film Philadelphia.
We all have some experience with religion. Whether our parents are religious, our own religious views, or others who try and convert you to a religion, we have all come in contact with a religion. But what do sociology and religion have to do with each other? The answer to this question is that religion meets sociology in the affects that it has on an individual or society (Schaefer, Richard T, 2009, pg 323).
In today’s world, it is not rare to walk into the living room and witness a man being violently shot in the head…in a television set. The general public seems to be constantly asking themselves where morality and values on television have gone. Taking a look back in time, it is easy to point out how violence in the media is much more evident than it was fifty years ago. Both in the past and now, the media has an ethical duty concerning the general public. Television’s content today has gotten incredibly dirty and contains content to detrimental for children. There have been advances in technology attempting to stop the violence from entering households with children. However it is still the responsibility of the media and the television industry to control the amount of immoral content shown on the air. While the media is only keeping up with the public’s distasteful demands, it has a responsibility to restrain the amount of offensive content because of the effect it is having on today’s audiences.
Religion is intertwined with culture, economics, politics, and modern social relationships on every dimension. Whether you attend a cathedral, a synagogue, or a mosque, habitually, intermittently, or abstain entirely, you simply cannot escape religion.
They are on Sundays on the BBC, which has God slots at A.M and P.M.
Religion and Media 1ai): Today’s Terrestrial television presents many different varieties of programs for its viewers. There are different styles of programs for certain days and time periods. When religious broadcasting first became known on terrestrial television the main target audience was Christians; Christians who regularly went to church and accepted the traditional church beliefs. Most of the religious broadcasting on terrestrial television today is closely related to Christianity. This is because Christianity is the main religion of the British community, and has been for many years.
This paper is from a catholic feminist’s perceptive that the church, as an institution, is structured as a pyramid modeled on the patriarchal family with the custom of father-right. The patriarchal decision-maker has the power to shape, form and control the “poor of the world” (McCormick, pg. 240) mirroring the aspect of the conflict theory. The poor of the world are the people who work for the institution of the Church controlled by the patriarchal power elite. These established masses of people feel no control, which cause anxiety and they continue to perform their means of production as a formed unit. The power elite’s fear of being overthrown by the poor of the world is fueled with sheer determination and consistency to stay on top. In the article “Sociology and Sexuality” women and women’s sexuality is stated to be oppressed with the poor of the people and is examined through human rights, religious desacralization, religious sacralization, women’s human rights and social conditioning.
It's clear to see the media focuses on various reports, television shows, and even sitcoms regarding all forms of psychology. While watching television one can say media basically relies on psychology. The media of psychology views psychology through means of common sense versus an actual science. Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processed. Behavior is anything you do that can be observed. In the media we can observe people through the television screen. Through our observations we learn from their behavior. For example in a famous experiment conducted by Albert Bandura called, "Bobo Doll Experiment," a preschool child is working on a drawing. An adult in another part of the room is building with Tinkertoys. The child is watching this adult through a television screen and watches as the adult gets up and for nearly ten minutes pounds, kicks, and throws around the room a large inflated Bobo doll, while yelling hurtful sayings such as, "Sock him in the nose" or "Hit him down" and even "Kick him". After the adult was done, the child was taken to another room and demonstrated the same actions as they have seen through the television screen to the Bobo Doll. It's clear to see from the experiment the media teaches society many aspects of psychology. From a psychological aspect we see a child observing violent behavior from what the media has presented. Humans learn through observation and in a world where technology is advancing, the media plays a large role.
Earth Show, which can be seen on BBC1 at 10.00am, in the god - slot
Culture is a way of life that allows a diverse group of people to interrelate with one another. It is usually passed down from one generation to the next by communication and imitation. The term itself has a set definition, but it normally relates to the behavior, beliefs, values, and symbols that are accepted by a group of people. Culture can also be used to describe the time period and events in history. In the sense of what was deemed as popular during a specific stage in time and its impact on the culture surrounding it. Micro-historian have been dissecting and interpreting the meaning of popular culture and the courses of action that lead up to the events.
Religion utilizes popular culture as a method of attaining people’s interest. It’s proven psychologically that people tends to get attracted to the content hidden in media commercials or in films. Variety of today’s big corporations are interested in using religion as in their media advertisements. Enormous corporation machines like Coca-Cola, and Apple use their products, which became big parts of pop culture, to overlap the barriers of society. They needed a topic that is excessively useful in a way of advertising. Some of the corporations chose the method of mixing religion and popular culture.
For many years we have heard about the separation of church and state. Despite being written as part of the First Amendment in the Constitution, can the two really be separated? What law actually dictates the separation of church and state? The truth is that the government has never passed a law implementing a separation of church and state. What is actually written in the Constitution is: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." America is one of the few nations in the world whose sole existence is due to religion. The pilgrims were the first to settle in America. They came in search of religious freedom, as did many others after them. Many of America's early documents, laws, and freedoms were based on religious beliefs. We could look at several similar examples. The fact is that freedom of religion, speech, press, peaceful assembly, and to petition the government are all covered in the First Amendment. The first of these firsts is the freedom of religion. This most likely means that when the authors of the Bill of Rights prepared the first ten amendment to the Constitution, the first thing on their minds was protecting or possibly creating a freedom of religion; but what about the separation of church and state? If our founding fathers intended the separation we are now levied with would their earliest documents contain phrases such as "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…" This is part of the Declaration of Independence. Here is another example from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, "…that is this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." Even in the Pledge of Allegiance the nation is referred to as "…one nation under God…" Religion also plays an important role in politics. As once stated by Ronald Reagan "politics and morality are inseparable, and as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related.
There are many institutions of technology that have influenced Christians to support or oppose the media as a whole. Even to this day, there are differing opinions of how Christians should approach media. Some say that we should avoid it all together, and some say that we need to be fully involved with the media. It ultimately comes down to one’s world view and their approach to being the light of the world that Christians are supposed to be.