The Instability of Support for Television Evangelists: Public Reactions during a Period of Embarrassment

Abstract

During 1987, television evangelists experienced several embarrassing incidents. Their problems provided an opportunity to examine the strength and durability of their appeal to viewers. It was expected that viewer loyalty would be maintained to the extent that the evangelists were contributing to a "plausibility structure "for certain ways of believing and behaving. A statewide poll conducted in Spring, 1987, found that reported viewership had decreased compared with reports from 1981 and that more than half of the respondents said that their respect for television evangelists had decreased over the past several months. At the same time, television evangelists continued to have a following among members of population groups which traditionally support fundamentalist and sectarian organizations. It is concluded that television evangelists remain important within a particular niche.