Intolerance in the Media and Representations of the Catholic Church

Abstract

Intolerance toward Christians in Europe including Slovenia is increasing and experts are not dealing with it sufficiently. The media plays a key role in disseminating information and shaping social representations. The fact that the media, due to the nature of their action, will always be in conflict with the Church, must not be a reason for intolerance. In Slovenia, the media are the central creators of negative opinions about the Church. They are very sophisticated in spreading Christianophobia. The journalists with the most published articles with negative connotations regarding the Church create negative social representations. Negative topics that are most often associated with the Church in the media are sexual abuse, money and politics. An analysis of the connotation and topic of the articles shows that the serious socio-political themes of the Church are neglected in the media. The local media mostly write positively about the Church, as they are aware of specific events, while the national media write about it negatively since they are often distant from specific events and usually evaluate them according to editorial policy criteria, and not according to professional arguments and varied opinions. The location of events covered negatively in articles happen both within and outside Slovenia. Most negative articles do not include photos; however, tabloids usually include them. By reducing the dissemination of negative and discriminatory messages about the Church and raising the ethics of reporting, intolerance towards Christians and other minorities will decrease.