Coverage of Terri Schiavo Controversy Not Found to Be Anti-Christian

Abstract

As the nation watched, family fought over Terri Schiavo, brain-damaged woman in persistent vegetative state. Her husband wanted remove her feeding tube and allow her die, while her parents and siblings wanted it remain in place keep her alive. This dispute sparked nationwide legal, medical, political and religious debates. As the rhetoric increased in intensity, the media's coverage often became the focus of criticism. Many conservative evangelical Christians against removing Schiavo's feeding tube attacked the media for having liberal and bias. The American Family Association argued, When it comes spewing venom, however, columnists at The Washington Post and The New York Times are gold-medal winners1 Thus, they urged Christians to shrug off the rabid attacks of the media babblers who see Christians as the enemy.2 Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, attacked the Schiavo coverage of The New York Times for an that represented a full frontal assault on pro-life Christians.3The question thus raised is whether these accusations of media bias, especially an anti-Christian one, are accurate. This study explores the complaints of media bias made by some conservative evangelical Christians concerning the Terri Schiavo controversy by analyzing the coverage of The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today. This study also offers important implications for the coverage of the Schiavo case as well as about complaints of media bias.Religion News CoverageIn the inaugural issue of the Journal of Media and Religion, the editors discussed the status of research on religion and media, maintaining that it is and neglected but greatly important.4 Several studies have explored media coverage of religious issues or individuals, but many questions about this important area remain. Studies have demonstrated that the media generally focus on the values held by religious groups,5 that references God have changed over time6 and that fundamentalist Christians are negatively framed.7 Case studies of specific news stories have found that journalists propagate stereotypes,8 focus on hypocrisy of religious leaders9 and frame conflict as holy battle.10 Such depictions of religious individuals are important since negative press coverage of religious leaders leads decreases in the confidence in organized religion in public opinion polls.11Although scholars have analyzed media coverage of religion, such studies rarely include considerations of bias. Despite the growing body of research on media bias, it remains an understudied area.12 In studies on bias in newspaper coverage, scholars have considered media bias by examining how favorable newspaper coverage is toward certain group of people13 or in terms of sources quoted, particularly if there is an imbalance.14 This present study considers both aspects of bias. Despite the dearth of attention bias of religion coverage, such matters remain critically important religious individuals because churches and denominations are becoming increasing dependent on the mainstream media explain who they are others 15 and often it is through that secular coverage that people form their opinions about particular religious group.16MethodThis study examines the coverage of religious issues and individuals during the controversy surrounding Terri Schiavo and whether her feeding tube should be removed. The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today were chosen for analysis as nationally circulated publications and because the newspapers are frequently targeted by conservative evangelical Christians who accuse them of media bias.All pieces that mentioned Schiavo except for letters the editor were examined for 25-month period from April 1, 2003, until May 1, 2005. This period includes two years before and one month following Schiavo's death on March 31, 2005. …