Washington D.C., Nov 22, 2008 / 04:28 am
A joint study conducted the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism and Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has examined religion-focused election news coverage, finding that religion received as much coverage as race, but issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage received “minimal attention.”
After studying more than 7,500 campaign stories from June 1 (the end of the presidential primaries) to October 15 (the day of the last presidential debate), Pew found that a majority of election-related religion stories involved controversy or had an “unfavorable cast.”
About 53 percent of religion stories focused on the Democratic candidate Barack Obama, a mainline Protestant Christian. Thirty percent of election-related religion stories concentrated on false rumors that he is a Muslim.
Only nine percent of such stories focused on Republican candidate Sen. John McCain, while 19 percent focused on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Palin's family values, church background and related issues reportedly made up one-fourth of the news coverage of religion in the presidential campaign.