Newspaper Coverage of Fundamentalist Christians, 1980–2000

In light of evidence indicating that political attitudes are driven in part by attitudes toward fundamentalist Christians, this study examines the potential role of media coverage in influencing these attitudes. A content analysis of a probability sample of 2,696 articles drawn from Lexis-Nexis indicates a relatively stable and slightly negative portrayal of fundamentalist Christians since 1980. The amount and type of depictions differed by geographical region as well as by type of newspaper article. Also emerging from the data was a trend toward the meshing of religion and politics. Implications of such coverage are discussed.