Faith in America Examined on NBC Nightly News
NBC's special series, ''Faith in America'' shifted the attention of the nation's nightly news audience to faith - at least for the week building up to Easter.
NBC's special series, "Faith in America" shifted the attention of the nation's nightly news audience to faith - at least for the week building up to Easter.
From March 18 to March 25, the special series, "Faith in America" examined "the role religion plays in Americans' lives."
Topics on the effects of faith ranged from education and health care to entertainment, money, and politics.
The story that ran on March 21, "Finding faith in sex-education classes for teens" told about the increasing openness that churches and other places of worship now have when it comes to teaching their youth congregants about sexuality, but in a biblical context.
The following night, March 22, NBC ran a story on money and faith, "Making God your priceless money manager." Joe Dunsey, who leads faith financial ministries, teaches people to balance the budget with faith.
Dunsey said of the Bible, “It taught me to trust God with those things I wanted. It taught me to be content with what He gave us, whether a lot or a little.”
The weeklong series had an entertainment focus, rather than a serious “hard news” focus, which is usually given to crime or politics. Nevertheless, it riveted secular and faith-based audiences, alike and promulgated faith to the national spotlight in various ways.
In the past, the media have almost always chosen the time leading up to the Resurrection (Easter) to discredit the Bible, faith, and religion, said Dr. D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries.
"It's almost an Easter tradition," said Kennedy.
However, this year seems to be a different case with the release of "The Passion Recut" in theaters nationwide, new television shows on faith, and now, even nightly news featuring faith stories insistently for a whole week.
The March 24th story, "A faith-based reality check," which aired on NBC, showcased the former head of the White House faith-based initiatives criticizing President Bush for not keeping his promise of $8 billion a year in tax incentives to religious groups. However, the story also mentioned that a half-billion dollars in new money has been allocated for charities.
On March 25, Good Friday, "Did prayers to God help cure cancer?" took a look at faith in healthcare and reported that, "For decades the medical community basically ignored the impact of religion on health. But in recent years, scientists have begun studying the possibility that faith matters."
With the increasing prevalence of religion in television and movies, "Hollywood begins to embrace its faith," reported the nightly news on March 21, and indeed, networks like NBC have begun to do the same.
These and many other stories were the focus for NBC and MSNBC this year during Holy Week.
Regarding Hollywood, Williams, nightly news anchor for NBC stated, "In a place normally run by money," now "[there] are stories guided by faith." The statement could just as easily apply to NBC.
