{"title":"Reporting Religion: Narrating Religion in Gaming Journalism","authors":"G. Perreault","doi":"10.1080/15348423.2021.1875669","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2021.1875669","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In journalism, issues of religion are increasingly reported by nonspecialists or specialists in other fields. This poses obvious challenges. This study explores the narrative frames employed by gaming journalists in reporting about religion in video games. This was done through semi-structured interviews with gaming journalists (n = 17) and an exploration of their produced gaming reviews (n = 116) in relation to games with religious narratives. The study argues that journalists largely did not identify much regarding religion in their own content–even more explicit religious presentations were argued to have little role in a “game.” However, the clearest religion journalists identified was gaming itself, presenting the experience of gaming as its own form of religious activity.","PeriodicalId":55954,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media and Religion","volume":"55 1","pages":"38 - 52"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80419862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Seeing “Apostates” Clearly: Reconsidering the Legitimacy of Ex-Member Testimony in Documentary Representations of Scientology","authors":"M. Thorn","doi":"10.1080/15348423.2021.1875661","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2021.1875661","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article analyzes popular and academic reviews of the book and film Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief in relation to scholarly debates over the status of “apostate” testimony in the study of New Religious Movements (NRMs). Using a Foucauldian discourse analysis – an examination of contested statements of “truth” – it accounts for the significance of ex-member testimony in recent Scientology exposés and argues the tendency to dismiss such testimony as automatically unreliable needs to be reassessed. Using these exposés and the debate surrounding them as a case study, we can see that considering ex-member testimony as disputed but productive discourse, documentary and journalistic representations of controversial new religions can operate as important sources of information, helping us better map a larger discursive domain wherein allegations of harm intermix with claims of benefit in remarkably complicated ways.","PeriodicalId":55954,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media and Religion","volume":"1 1","pages":"17 - 37"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82944369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Harmony of Paradox and Contradiction: Communication between Human Beings and God according to Hermann Cohen’s Jewish Philosophy","authors":"Talya Alon-Altman","doi":"10.1080/15348423.2020.1853481","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2020.1853481","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article examines communication between a human being and God in the Jewish philosophy of the German-Jewish philosopher, Hermann Cohen (1842–1918). It observes Cohen’s Jewish philosophy in light of communication theories, using the theoretical wealth of a relatively new discipline – communication, in order to deepen the philosophical and theological discussion. This new perspective enriches our view of philosophy, theology, and offers a fresh and novel approach to the philosophical and theological study of communication, and media theology in particular.","PeriodicalId":55954,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media and Religion","volume":"205 1","pages":"165 - 179"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77578704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"North American Muslim Satire on YouTube: Combatting or Reinforcing Stereotypes?","authors":"Omar Hammad","doi":"10.1080/15348423.2020.1843344","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2020.1843344","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Based on interviews with a racially diverse group of 10 college students and the textual analysis of two episodes of a 2016 web series, Guess Who’s Muslim, produced by Canadian Muslims shown on the YouTube channel West Dawn Media, this paper illustrates how humor can be used to challenge Islamophobic/Orientalist myths and invite viewers to reflect upon commonly held Orientalist/Islamophobic notions that are largely taken for granted in Western nations where Muslims are a minority. Kumar’s five discursive frames of how Islam is articulated by the “primary definers’“ and “secondary definers” of U.S. media are discussed, illustrating how GWM attempts to counter them. While noting that the internet provides a space for alternative media representations of Muslims, created by Muslims themselves, the interview data reveal that the use of humor is not unproblematic and, for certain people, may teach or reinforce the very stereotypes the show aims to combat.","PeriodicalId":55954,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media and Religion","volume":"1 1","pages":"127 - 144"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74875577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“God Said, ‘You’re Hearing the Voice of the President’”: Citizenship in The Trump Prophecy","authors":"Zachary Sheldon","doi":"10.1080/15348423.2020.1812338","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2020.1812338","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The film The Trump Prophecy, “based on a true story,” tells the story of a firefighter, Mark Taylor, who foresaw Donald Trump’s ascendancy to the Presidency in a vision from God. This vision led to the establishment of a nationwide prayer movement for Trump during the 2016 election. This article examines this film in light of the connections between religious media, politics, and gender. I argue that The Trump Prophecy articulates a rhetorical model for citizenship that I call “Holy Passivity.” This model encourages Christians to remain set apart and passive in mainstream political action while maintaining active roles in faith communities. The film’s articulation of this perspective twists traditionally feminine notions of passivity to enable male encroachment upon such understandings of citizenship and civic participation.","PeriodicalId":55954,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media and Religion","volume":"1 1","pages":"93 - 107"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88318689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Religion in Children’s Visual Media: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Preschool Holiday Specials","authors":"M. Eide","doi":"10.1080/15348423.2020.1812339","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2020.1812339","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Children adopt lifelong attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs from media messages, yet little is known about what messages visual media send to children on religion. This study addresses this literature gap by analyzing depictions of religion in holiday specials aired in 2018 from three top preschool networks: Disney Junior, Nick Jr., and PBS Kids. Using qualitative content analysis, this study reveals that preschool holiday specials are shifting away from more in-depth portrayals of diverse religions toward commercialized, generalized, and secularized portrayals of Christmas. Although Chanukah and other non-Christmas religious holiday specials are, on average, older and less common than Christmas specials, they portray non-Christmas traditions in greater religious depth than the more recent and numerous Christmas specials portray Christmas. These findings illumine American religious holiday practices and attitudes and provide insights for enhancing media literacy on religion in children’s media and for understanding television’s potential influence on children’s perceptions of religion.","PeriodicalId":55954,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media and Religion","volume":"25 1","pages":"108 - 126"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80343645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Selection of Influence? A Study of News Media’s Effects on Social Networks and Power Dynamics among Religious Group Members","authors":"Klive Oh","doi":"10.1080/15348423.2020.1812337","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2020.1812337","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study investigates how negative news coverage about the pastor of a large Korean-American church affected the social ties and power dynamics among members of the congregation. The study adopts a media effect approach and the competing theories of social selection and social influence to provide a theoretical framework for the cognitive and behavioral processes that affect the formation of social ties. Through the interview method, this study found that two distinctively different types of new social network phenomena: tie formation and removal based on perceptions on the article vs. changes in perspectives on the news story due to the existing social network.","PeriodicalId":55954,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media and Religion","volume":"9 1","pages":"75 - 92"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84969392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Allure of ISIS: Media Effects on Empathy, Attitudes, and Behavioral Intention","authors":"A. Luchsinger","doi":"10.1080/15348423.2020.1774255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2020.1774255","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study examines the effects of exposure to Islamic State media content and its effect on behavioral intention (support for ISIS). A survey of Muslim adults living in the United States was conducted (N = 396) to examine the relationship of media exposure on empathy and attitudes toward ISIS and behavioral intention. Using social cognitive theory as a theoretical framework, relationships between variables were examined through mediation analyses. Results show participants do not favor ISIS. Findings and implications are discussed.","PeriodicalId":55954,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media and Religion","volume":"33 1","pages":"60 - 74"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82024406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hashtagging “Good” Muslim Performances Online","authors":"J. Selby, Cory Funk","doi":"10.1080/15348423.2020.1770543","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2020.1770543","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper examines a “Muslim twist” used to signal inoffensiveness by our Muslim Canadian interlocutors in their use of hashtags online. We consider and critique this “twist” observed in our qualitative data of a seeming juxtaposition of a Muslim-related term with a seemingly non-Muslim object or emotion. Based on discursive analysis of our interlocutors’ description of their hashtag usage, we situate this phenomenon in a context of rising securitization and the individualization afforded by social media. We argue that “Muslim twist” hashtags mobilize their polysemic and viral nature to both perform and interrupt normative online sensibilities in ways that reveal continuing burdens of “good Muslim” public performances, now online.","PeriodicalId":55954,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media and Religion","volume":"20 1","pages":"35 - 45"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82095004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Flat-Smacked! Converting to Flat Eartherism","authors":"A. Olshansky, R. M. Peaslee, A. Landrum","doi":"10.1080/15348423.2020.1774257","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2020.1774257","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Flat Earth movement appears to have emerged from a combination of Biblical literalism (e.g., young Earth creationism, geocentrism) and conspiracy theorizing (e.g., belief that NASA faked the moon landings). Interviews with participants of the first International Flat Earth Conference in 2017 revealed that the majority of Flat Earthers have come to endorse Flat Earth ideas only within the last few years after watching videos on YouTube. However, the novelty of the movement means that there is a lack of literature on this group, including what exactly convinced these new Flat Earthers and how that conversion took place. Here, we provide evidence for a gradual process of conversion after multiple exposures to Flat Earth YouTube videos to which viewers were initially skeptical but report failing to adequately debunk. Furthermore, evidence is presented here regarding the crucial role YouTube played in their conversion process, suggesting the platform is potentially a strong avenue for changing beliefs. The narratives provided here also support much of the research on conversion, describing a gradual process of deep personal change, via the relatively new mechanism of social media, where one finds a new center of concern, interest, and behavior, as well as a different view of reality.","PeriodicalId":55954,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media and Religion","volume":"6 1","pages":"46 - 59"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85525675","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}