Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 29, 1994                   TAG: 9411010030
SECTION: RELIGION                    PAGE: B-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WRITER OFFERS FRANK VIEW OF RELIGION REPORTING

The letter's presence in the paper just happened to coincide with Peter Steinfels' address at Roanoke College on religion and media. But its content was not surprising to Steinfels, New York Times senior religion correspondent.

Steinfels admitted he gets letters like Boyd's all the time, but the delivery of Thursday's was a bit different.

Roanoke College's director of the Center for Church and Society Robert Benne read the letter aloud at the college's weekly convocation. Then Steinfels had to stand in front of about 100 students and faculty in the audience and answer the assertion by Boyd and many others that the media are remiss in their coverage of religion.

But instead of putting up a fight, Steinfels did the unexpected. He agreed with his critics.

"Media coverage of religion is less than satisfactory," said Steinfels, who was in town as the second speaker in Roanoke College's community lecture series on media responsibility.

He cited three basic reasons for media shortcomings: ideological bias by reporters; ignorance, incompetence and insufficient resources, and the definition of news.

Frankness like that is what Benne was counting on when he invited Steinfels to address students at convocation and in an evening lecture Wednesday on "War of the Worldviews: Religion and the Media."

"The center's job is to make sure the religious dimension of life is not neglected," Benne said. "And religion and the media is a hot topic now because of the media putting down Ollie North and the support he's getting from the ... religious right."

Steinfels rejects the idea that religion and politics don't mix.

"We do have a separation of church and state in this country, but never has there been a separation of politics and religion ... . [The media] make this a problem when [religious groups] mobilize support for a position they don't agree with," Steinfels said.

"When the church was involved in the civil-rights movement and the boycott of South Africa, the media said the church was doing its job, but when the church gets involved in [school] curriculum reviews there's a new church/state problem," he said. "There is a legitimate role for religious leaders in politics."

It's the job of the news media to make sure religious leaders don't abuse that role, Steinfels said.