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F and the M | 1999 Canada | 1999 Provinces | 1999 Religions | Notes |
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F and the M | 1999 Canada | 1999 Provinces | 1999 Religions | Notes |
The first time period analyzed was 21 - 28 February, 1999. What was being reported across the country, not just on the 'religion' pages, but throughout our newspapers? (You may also be interested in seeing a similar summary for the 21 - 28 March period.)
Top 5 most present Arts & Entertainment Science News Sports BusinessTaken as a whole, stories with some religious content outstripped those which were completely concerned with religious activity or groups. However, there is yet to be a single issue of the newspapers studied which does not contain some references to religion.
Nationally, these were the religious groups most present:
| Christianity | 640 items, or 42.7% of all items |
| Generic* | 364 items, or 24.3% of all |
| Catholicism | 326 items, or 21.8% of all |
| Judaism | 271 items, or 18.1% of all |
| Islam | 175 items, or 11.7% of all |
News stories (28.5%), followed by Arts and Entertainment (24.5%) material contained the most references. This is much more than those identified as "religious," either by virtue of its placement in the paper on a religion page, or by its submission by a religion writer. Religion items per se made up only 2.8% of all material.
The newspaper with the most religious references during the week was the National Post (32 per day, on average).
Here are some of the highlights of stories which incorporated religious material:
When movie critic Gene Siskel died, not only did the public find out that his thumbs up/down colleague actually liked him, we also discovered that his religion was particularly important to him. In coverage about his funeral, his rabbi was quoted as saying that Mr. Siskel’s religion was a central part of his life, and that one of the last functions he had attended was his daughter’s bat mitzvah. (Unfortunately, some papers had this as her ‘bar’ mitzvah, the word applicable for a boy’s ritual.)
In accepting a Grammy award, singer Lauryn Hill held a Bible in her hand, quoting from one of the Psalms.
Global television pulled an episode of Xena, Warrior Princess which featured Lord Krishna, after complaints from Hindu and yogic communities.
Astronomers noted that the convergence of Jupiter and Venus in the sky could have been what was referred to in the New Testament as the Star of Bethlehem, marking Jesus’ birth.
A study recommending the optimum spacing between children was published. Only some reports noted that the mothers studied were all Mormons living in Utah.
The coverage of the trial of John William King in Jasper, Texas, contained many religious references. After having been dragged behind a car, James Byrd’s body was dumped near a church, at a cemetery, which was seen as particularly insulting to the community. Prosecutors argued for the death sentence, suggesting that allowing King to live would give him the chance to hurt Jewish guards, nurses, doctors, or anyone else who didn’t measure up to the racist’s agenda. Before the end of the trial, a member of Byrd’s family embraced the murderer’s father, asking for God’s blessing. King’s own ideas were described by a prosecutor not only as racist, but satanic.
Ted Turner apologised for derogatory remarks he had made about the Pope with regard to his Polish background.
Overseas, the continued violence in Kosovo was covered with references to the previous violence involving Serbs, Croats and Muslims, and there were references to the Orthodox Christianity of the Serbs.
Captured Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan was rumoured to have had the support of ‘Greek churches’ during his period of freedom.
A high-ranking Shiite cleric was killed in Iraq, sparking violence between Sunni and Shiite factions.
Nigerian election information included mention of the country’s Muslim, Christian and indigenous religions and the divisiveness between them.
At home in Canada, the Ottawa meeting of Reform and Tory members interested in the United Alternative movement involved debate with regard to how many ‘conservative’ Christian policies to adopt. Rumoured to be a potential leader of the new party, Stockwell Day’s own Christian background was also scrutinised.
Christine Silverberg, Calgary’s police chief, was described as a victim of hate crimes, when a letter bomb was delivered to her, without resulting injury. This was thought to be as a result of her being Jewish (as well as being a woman), dovetailing with a B’nai Brith report on rising anti-Semitism in Canada. Meanwhile, a pollster was fired after asking voters in an Ontario riding if they would support a candidate who was a child of Holocaust survivors.
The Duplessis Orphans’ charges of abuse at the hands of their Catholic caretakers were flatly denied by the Church in Quebec.
In the world of sports, Evander Holyfield was denounced as a hypocrite by rival Lennox Lewis for having fathered numerous children out of wedlock while claiming to be a devout Christian.
On taking over the Bank of Montreal reins from Matthew Barrett, profiles of Anthony Comper noted that he fitted the picture of the staid banker, having, among other things, once studied for the priesthood.