Study: Religion Portrayed Negatively on TV

[Behind the Aegis]

I am hoping this is not a dupe. I did look!! This is just an amazing story. More victimization from religious types! These people are getting way too pushy. Notice the title, then look at the stats they provide!

Dec 17, 9:01 AM (ET)

By DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK (AP) - Television entertainment programs mention God more often than they did in the mid-1990s but tend to depict organized religion negatively, a study released Thursday said.

The Parents Television Council watched every hour of prime-time on the broadcast networks during the 2003-04 season and logged 2,344 treatments of religion. They judged 22 percent of the mentions positive, 24 percent negative and the rest neutral.

The conservative group's last study, released in 1997, found far fewer mentions of the topic - an average of once per hour compared to three times per hour last season.

But any mention of a religious institution or member of the clergy was at least twice as likely to be negative than positive, the council said. The rest of the story

[DireStrike]

1. THE PARENTS TELEVISION COUNCIL

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

http://www.mediaweek.com/mediaweek/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000731656

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/parents-television-council-thank-you-for-saving-us-from-ourselves-027339.php

[Behind the Aegis]

6. I know!

Talk about a bunch of people with too much time on their hands! These bigots log in more TV time than I do and that is saying something! It is sad though that it was worded the way it was. I mean seriously, it could have read that most portrayals are neutral, but I guess that would have been too honest!

[evil genius]

10. neutral would be useless to them

[Warpy]

22. Let's see, 22% positive and 24% negative, with the remaining

54% neutral? It seems like a total of 76% non negative messages would suit anyone! It seems extraordinarily balanced to me.

I guess if it isn't all Jesus, all the time, these pathetic sacks of crap find it hostile.

[EFerrari]

34. Aren't these the people providing the cover for the FCC to

allow media monopolies? What a crock. Nice of the AP to give their 8 year old study so much space.

[Caution]

2. I wonder if they took into account the massive scandal

the catholic church just had exploded on them over the past year?

i'm really getting sick of this persecution BS.

[Behind the Aegis]

8. They did

It is further down in the article. It was treated dismissively, IMO. It was almost like they were saying we shouldn't have really discussed it. Whatever...what a sad bunch of losers they are!

[BlueEyedSon]

3. Not negatively enough for me!

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. The day that the Christian broadcasters start showing Christians

who believe in the separation of church and state; and who are angry at their own denominations for this religious take-over of America, will be the day that I'll give a damn about their complaints.

Besides, we live in a world where they helped destroy political correctness. Why should they be treated differently than anybody else?

[kysrsoze]

17. Amen!

[leftofcool]

5. Only 24% negative?

So what are they whining about? I am surprised that that negative isn't higher.

Left of Cool

[info being]

37. Right, since 99% of religion IS actually negative

They're getting a good deal!

[bloom]

7. I wonder what they think about shows

that depict Christianity as if it is based on magic.

[evil genius]

15. it is based on majic

they have convinced millions, many of them partially educated, that there's an invisible man who lives in the sky and watches everything you do, and he has a list of ten things he doesn't want you to do. And if you do any of them he will send you to a place of pain burning and torture until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you and he needs you money. He's all powerful, omnipresent and omnicient but he just can't seem to handle money. Organized religion takes in billions each year, pays no taxes and yet they always need a little bit more...

[truthseeker1]

23. Wow, that about sums it up

couldn't have said it better!

[DBoon]

27. I'm saving your statement

it is too good to pass by

[FiveGoodMen]

29. George Carlin couldn't have said it better! n/t

[VegasWolf]

9. but, but, how can you portray it positively? n/t

[aquart]

11. You mean the nun allergic to the cross-shaped IUD on House?

Or something else?

[lutherj]

12. The opiate of religion competing with the opiate of tv. n/t

[VegasWolf]

14. tv and video games will win hands down. n/t

[VegasWolf]

13. Since cities, i think in alabama, burned Harry potter books i guess

we won't see Potter on broadcast tv.

[Just Me]

16. Oh, please. These people are looking for ways to shove their version,...

,...of religiosity down everybody's throats and "playing" victim, BIG TIME. I wish they'd go get a damned life and leave the rest of us alone!!!

Anyway, all they are really accomplishing is ultimately pushing people further and further away from Christianity.

I wish these people would disappear back into the woodwork. They're ugly.

[VegasWolf]

18. Ok, let's run the "Salem Witch Trials" and "Inquisition 101". n/t

[info being]

38. Now that would make for good reality TV

[TahitiNut]

19. I wonder what Roma Downey is doing these days.

:eyes: McAoNuUgRhE!

[fugop]

20. Oh please!

I'd love to see more examples of what they consider "negative" references. HOw is the comment on Will and Grace (about turning a church into a gay bar) negative about religion? First of all, it's a statement from a consistently shallow/sniping character, so it's no more negative than anything else she says. Even so, it ain't negative about religion! It's just meant to be goofy and FUNNY, for God's sake!!!!

Everytime I read about this damn group logging their billions of negative TV moments, I find myself wishing for more detail on what they consider to be negative. I was reading some of the examples in their recent "study" (I think about marriage) and it was the same stupid shit. They log stuff as negative that has NOTHING negative to do with the topic at hand. It's sensationlism at its purest.

Have I mentioned that I hate these people with the heat of a thousand suns?

[illflem]

21. Next thing you know

They'll be counting how many times the word 'duck' is said preceded by a word that starts with F

[JPace]

24. Watch out people....

George's God is going to zap our t.v.'s.

Hollywood should be thinking about starting a news cable channel to counter Fox. If they keep letting the cancerous religious right grow unchecked it will eventually buy out Hollywood and only pro republican, pro God pictures will be made after that.

[qanda]

25. When they say organized relgion

Do they include Islam and other religions or just Christianity?

[leftofthedial]

26. maybe if they'd stop lying, hating and killing people

thier image would improve

oops! lying, hating and killing people is the reason religion exists in the first place. my bad.

[Bono71]

28. What a great job---getting paid to watch television.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

30. Study: Religion Portrayed Negatively by Real Life Fundies. n/t

[TankLV]

31. Welll, if "religion" pervs would stop doing illegal/immoral/unethical

criminal/hypocritical shit, maybe there would BE so much crap about the "negative aspects" of religion to report in the first place!

Maybe if these self-serving fucks would MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS instead of TRYING TO FORCE THIER BULLSHIT DOWN OUR THROATS every chance they get, then there would be a more favorable opinion and all!

Ya think?

[JHB]

32. And what was counted as negative?

Negative examples varied widely: from comic Jimmy Kimmel joking on the American Music Awards that winners should resist thanking God, to a Catholic priest admitting on "The Practice" that he had had sex with a woman who was later murdered.

Yeah, like those spots really balance "7th Heaven" and "Touched by an Angel"

[w4rma]

36. Maybe the fundies think those shows teach too much peace and love

and not enough hate toward folks different from them? And the women in those shows aren't subsurvient enough, also, for them.

[JerseygirlCT]

33. Ok I'm no mathematician, but

if 24% are negative and 22% are positive, how can it be more than twice as likely to be negative?

Huh?

And who's defining "religion"?

More of the rw persecution complex, I'd guess.

[daleo]

35. They should include the dozens of Christian shows on TV

TV as a whole has plenty of positively themed religous shows - whole networks are devoted to positive reinforcements of religious belief and dogma, in fact. It seems unfair to just ignore this fact. It's like saying there is not enough sports on TV, if you ignore ESPN, the Golf Channel, the Hockey Channel, etc.

[Sandpiper]

39. This gets my vote for Bullshit Headline of the Day!

22% of mentions are positive, 54% are neutral for a total of 76% non negative mentions of religion.

Which makes the title of this headline sensationalist garbage.