Stewart M Hoover offers a cultural-historical analysis of the rise of religious stories in the media - the Islamic Revolution in Iran, televangelism and its scandals, the political agenda of the Evangelical New Right, to name but a few.
The author's penetrating analysis brings into sharp focus: the relationship between religion and the news media, both in everyday practice and in the larger context of American public discourse; the place of religion in American life; the role of the media in cultural discourse; and the prospects of institutional religion in the media age.

Religion in the News
Approaches to Understanding
Discourses of Contemporary Religion
The Source of the Problem?
Looking at Religion
Reading and Watching Religion
The Audience for Religion
Religion and the Media in Conflict
Religion and Broadcasting
The Challenge of Standards
To BE the Discourse, or Merely To COVER It