Progressives and the Media

The evidence is in and the word is that Religious Conservatives get quoted in the media much more than Religious Progressives. Progressive leaders such as Bob Edgar of the National Council of Churches and the retiring pastor of Riverside Church James Forbes have decried the unfairness of this.
There are probably reasons for the disparity --which according to the Media Matters research says that there are over 7 citations of conservatives to every one for a progressive. That's pretty amazing, but I wonder why that's true, especially when we're continually told that the media has a liberal bias. One reason might be that conservatives fulfill the expectations of the media. Progressives don't fit the stereotype and when you want to present distinct positions, a religious conservative better fills the role. It's also possible that Progressives are much less media savvy. For all the media bashing by conservatives, they seem to know all the right people. I think both are true, but as we're seeing with our churches we simply don't do a great job of getting the word out, and people don't seem to be listening.
Take a look at this nicely written article at Epoch Times.
I have been given a great opportunity locally to write a weekly op-ed piece on Sundays. I've gotten a lot of good feedback (some negative), but this is really the only progressive religious voice in the marketplace -- and yet it really hasn't brought anyone to church. So part of our problem is that this is a voice that's not on the radar (so it shouldn't surprise us that media producers aren't paying attention).

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