By Susan J. Douglas

No matter how much columnists and media critics bemoan the sorry state
of American journalism, no matter how low the press sinks in the
estimation of the American people, the news media, particularly on
television, remains defiantly abysmal. Now, on top of the usual toxic
doses of runaway brides, irrelevant celebrity trials and [George W.] Bush
holding hands with Crown Prince Abdullah, we have the rise of Jesus
News.

Blinded by their own erroneous news frame that the last election was
all about “moral values,” and pressured to give religion more coverage
by an evangelical right running on methamphetamines, the news media are
devoting more airtime to everything Jesus.

The ghoulish death watch of Pope Paul John II (“Is he dead yet?” “No,
Bob, not dead yet, back to you.”) hogged nearly an hour of total news
time on the three networks from March 28-April 1, and his death and
funeral preparations garnered 129 minutes of network news attention the
following week, making it the year's third biggest story so far. By
contrast, that same week, Tom Delay's ethics problems received four
minutes of coverage on ABC and CBS combined, and none on NBC.

The week of May 2, ABC news inaugurated a series called “Under God,”
about how conservative Christians are “searching for new ways to make
their mark on popular culture.” First up was a story about Christian
cheerleading camps, and the next day a story about how Christians like
to spank their kids. By the time Thursday's episode, “Faith and Fashion
Under God” aired, one sensed that some at ABC had been a bit
hoodwinked. Here we learned that “a growing number of people,
especially young people, are proudly wearing their beliefs.” Cut to a
picture of the campy baseball cap that has a picture of Jesus on it and
reads, “Jesus is my Homeboy.”

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