Brooke Gomes

Rebecca Miner
English 1010
April 17, 2015
Fundamentalism and the Media
Media has played a significant role in shaping our social constructs from
the time of ancient Sumerians writing on clay tablets to exchanging
information via wireless networks on digital tablets today. Religion lays claim to
the same influence on the emergent social patterns etched in the history of
humanity, often in conjunction with media exposure. This pairing has resulted
in a variety of firmly held beliefs that have endured millennia and continue to
affect public, private, and political platforms throughout the world.
This paper will explore the issue of fundamentalism as a consequence of
modernity through the perspectives of politicians, journalists, and social media
users. Each perspective has profound sociological implications dependent upon
the processes involved in their civil functions. Religion, especially
fundamentalism, is used by politicians and social media users as a cultural
identifier which has solidified its visibility even in the wake of declining
propensity of the public to hold salvific beliefs. Journalists have an interest in
reporting on this phenomenon, although journalism in some instances has

become ritualized to resemble the tenets of a religious movement, especially

when targeting a specific religiopolitical group.
Politicians
Politicians have long recognized the power of pandering to the
convictions of their voting base. In the United States, socially conservative
groups are dominated by Protestant traditions, which make up over 44% of
religious affiliations claimed by U.S. adults (Pew Research ). According to
Gallup research, (Jones) American Protestants are more likely than any other
religious group to believe in a literal interpretation of the bible. This same
survey found that, on average, 44% of Republicans and ideological
conservatives interpret the bible as the actual word of God, contrasted with an
average of only 20% of Democrats and ideological liberals. These percentages
indicate that socially conservative idealogues are likely to believe in the bible as
the literal word of God, making the bible the sole bastion of ethics and morality
for nearly half of the nation. In this view, the government is seen as heretical
and unnecessary to the preservation of a nation operating under the watchful
eye of God. This prompts political candidates to form appeals based upon the
values of conservative Christian fundamentalists. The voting base is then
secured by creating partisan diatribe in order to modulate concern of the threat
of opposing belief systems, which may be defined as a mechanism of cultural
defense (Bruce).

Journalists
Journalism in new media can be viewed as an extension of the collective
psyche of a society in ways news reporting was unable to perform in the past.
We now have the ability to experience global events live from thousands of
miles away and contribute to commentary on internet news sites that are both
platforms for communication and digital documentation. Journalists have
historically upheld a code of ethics that binds them to objective news reporting
in expectation that audiences would form their own worldview through
reasoned analysis of facts (Ward). However, with the advent of news networks
with delineated political leanings, the code has been redefined to uphold the
ethics of its supporting group. Inductive reasoning by the news media then
creates confirmation biases that reinforce the common opinions of the group.
Fundamentalism has thus become an entity with persuasive force in the
delivery of information to the masses. Journalism experienced a surge in this
trend after the events of September 11, 2001. When we remember that the
September 11 attacks were and continue to be presented and understood as at
least partly rooted in religion, in religious truth claims and in a claimed clash
of civilization (Stephen M. Hoover), it becomes clear how and why religion has
become increasingly ubiquitous in journalism.
Social Media Users
Among social media uses is the ability to connect with like-minded
individuals and groups on personal matters such as faith. This usage is often

seen as problematic to secular social media users who prefer to avoid religious
media exposure. The opposing values of fundamentalism and secularism often
clash in public forums, expanding the rift between Americas two most
influential systems of ideology. An increasing circulation of religious symbols
and discourse in new media is transformative of public culture. Evidence of
these changes can be seen in the rise of evangelical subcultures throughout
Americas heartland and by extension the political culture in Washington
(Herbert). Through the use of memes and the sharing of personal beliefs, social
media sites become an interface for cultural identification. Social media users
have the ability to organize and mobilize religious movements for purposes
including worship, charity, communal support, and political agendas via social
media sites and apps. These new technologies have created the shift away
from the predicted decline of religion in the public sphere (Stephen M. Hoover).
The mediation of fundamentalist belief systems helps us to understand
more about how social groups frame their worlds than the emotional exterior of
spiritual social centers alone (Morgan). This information proves beneficial to
the study of fundamentalist social group structures and their influence on
economic, political, and cultural social systems. The explanatory power of
fundamentalist belief systems serves to unite believers under a commonality of
ethical and moral standards with a basis in the literal interpretation of a sacred
text. Mediatization reinforces these values and provides a global platform of
social unification that has proven to endure despite the assumption that the
explanatory and salvific powers of religion would fade in the face of

educational, economic, and political progress (Stephen M. Hoover). Examining

how these systems operate and evolve is crucial to understanding the influence
of fundamentalist social constructs and their intrinsic connection to media.

Works Cited
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Herbert, David E.J. "Theorizing Religion and Media in Contemporary Societies: An account of religious
'publicization'." European Journal of Cultural Studies (2011): 626-648. Web.
Jones, Jeffrey M. "In U.S., 3 in 10 Say They Take the Bible Literally." 8 July 2011. Gallup. Web. 18 April
2015.
Morgan, David. "Religion and Media: A critical review of recent developments." Critical Research on
Religion (2013): 347-356. Web.
Pew Research . 2013. Web. 19 April 2015.
Stephen M. Hoover, Ph.D. Media and Religion. White Paper. Boulder: The Center for Media, Religion,
and Culture, 2008. Web.
Ward, Stephan J.A. "Nature of Journalism Ethics." 2009. Journalism Ethics for the global citizen. Web. 18
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