Apr 11, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Television coverage of religious issues nearly tripled compared with a decade ago but it is still often hostile to orthodox faiths, reported the Associated Press.
The study, conducted by the Media Research Center and released yesterday, found that the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news reported 303 stories on religion during the 12 months that ended March 1, compared with 121 stories during a one-year period in 1993.
The reasons for the increase included major events in the last year: the release of Mel Gibson’s "The Passion of The Christ", the Pope’s 25th anniversary, the sexual-abuse scandal within the Catholic Church, the struggle over an Alabama Ten Commandments monument and controversies over homosexual ministers and bishops.