{"id":1201,"date":"2016-12-08T08:30:12","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T14:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=1201"},"modified":"2016-12-06T10:24:08","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T16:24:08","slug":"religion-politics-and-media-in-africa-and-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2016\/12\/08\/religion-politics-and-media-in-africa-and-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Religion, Politics, and Media in Africa and America"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Media<\/a>
Media Missionary Day, San Diego, 2008. Pamla J. Eisenberg, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The recent U.S. presidential election has everyone thinking about the role of media and religion in political life. From <\/span>fake news<\/span><\/a> to <\/span>mainstream media spectacle<\/span><\/a>, both the left and the right have been criticizing American journalism. <\/span>White evangelical Christians<\/span><\/a> also overwhelmingly broke for Trump, <\/span>despite concern<\/span><\/a> that he was not particularly pious himself. The intersection of politics, media, and religion is clear, but what can research tell us about how they interact? \u00a0Some of the best work suggests we can learn a lot by making an unexpected comparison: the role of religion and politics in the media in\u00a0the United States and Africa. <\/span><\/p>\n

First, political leaders across the globe use religious media in similar ways. Religious programming and discourse in the media creates new ways for people to use religion to signal their social status. Politicians in both the U.S. and countries like Nigeria have harnessed the power of these shows and their large audience numbers as a tool to publicly cultivate their spiritual image by integrating administrative goals with images of divine will. <\/span><\/h5>\n