News Broadcasting
US television portraying religion in a negative light: Study
MUMBAI: Television entertainment programmes in the US mention God more often than they did in the mid-1990s but tend to depict organised religion negatively
This information is contained in a study conducted by the Parents Television Council (PTC) and the National Religious Broadcasters. PTC claims to be America’s most influential advocacy organisation protecting children against sex, violence and profanity in entertainment
Faith in a Box: Entertainment Television and Religion found that television’s treatment of religion has become increasingly negative and doesn’t reflect the viewpoints of a majority of Americans. The study also found that US broadcaster NBC by far leads the other major networks in terms of the number of negative depictions of faith.
2,385 hours of primetime entertainment programming on the seven commercial broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Pax, UPN, WB) were analysed. They contained 2,344 treatments of religion. In the PTC’s last study on religion, done in 1997, the PTC found only 551 treatments of religion in 1,800 hours of programming.
NBC programming had 9.5 negative treatments for every positive treatment of faith. Fox followed with 2.4 negative depictions for each one that was positive. WB and ABC tied with 1.2 negative for each positive.
Negativity toward religion grew steadily with each passing hour of prime time. During the 7 pm hour, religious content was negative 16.9 per cent of the time. In the 8 pm hour, 20.8 per cent of instances were negative. In the 9 pm hour, 27.5 per cent of instances were negative, and in the 10 pm hour, 28.2 per cent were negative.
The treatment of religion in an institutional or doctrinal context (such as a reference to a church service, a particular denomination, or to Scripture) was strikingly negative. More than 32 per cent of TV’s treatments of religious institutions and doctrine were negative while only 11.7 percent of such treatments were positive.
Negative depictions of the clergy were more than twice as frequent as positive depictions – 36.2 per cent negative compared to 14.6 per cent positive. Representations of devout laity tended to be negative more than positive, but to a lesser degree than in the past – 33.3 per cent negative compared to 20.4 percent positive. In the 1997 study, only 7.9 per cent of the treatments were positive, whereas a staggering 78.9 per cent were negative.
Among the positive examples, the PTC cites a Jag episode where a character prays to God to say hello to her dead mother, and an American Dreams episode where an actor playing a medical student says a surgery is partially in God’s hands. In India Jag airs on Star World.
PTC president L. Brent Bozell said, ” Religion and the public expression of faith is a crucial element in the lives of most Americans. Our findings should challenge Hollywood to accurately reflect this in television content. I am not suggesting that all television programming ought to be about St. Teresa or even be all positive about religion. However Hollywood should keep in mind the overall picture it presents to viewers.”
News Broadcasting
India Today Group sweeps top honours at Ramnath Goenka Awards
Journalists recognised for fearless investigative and civic reporting.
MUMBAI: India Today Group just turned the Ramnath Goenka Awards into its own trophy cabinet because when your reporters dig this deep, even the judges have to award a clean sweep. India Today Group journalists have secured multiple top honours at the latest edition of the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards, reinforcing the network’s legacy as the gold standard of Indian journalism. The awards were conferred by vice president C. P. Radhakrishnan at a ceremony held on 27 March 2026.
Sreya Chatterjee won in the ‘Investigative Reporting – Broadcast’ category for her powerful India Today TV report ‘Operation Illegals: The Alarming Rise in Bangladeshi Infiltration Across India’s Fragile Eastern Frontier’. The investigation stood out for its depth, on-ground rigour and national relevance.
In the ‘Civic Journalism – Print/Digital’ category, Sreya Chatterjee along with Arvind Ojha were honoured for their indiatoday.in report on unregulated water extraction and the ‘Tanker Mafia’ in Delhi’s Bawana Industrial Area. The story exposed critical systemic gaps and environmental challenges affecting daily life.
Additionally, aajtak.in was recognised in the ‘Investigative Reporting – Print/Digital’ category for its hard-hitting exposé ‘The Surrogate Mother Market’, which highlighted the human, legal and ethical dimensions of the surrogacy ecosystem.
India Today Group emerged as the only network honoured in Investigative Journalism across both Print/Digital and Broadcast categories. The wins reflect the strength of its multi-platform newsroom and its unwavering commitment to credible, high-impact reporting that informs public discourse and drives accountability.
In an era when speed often trumps substance, these awards remind us that the most powerful stories are still the ones dug out with courage, told with clarity, and delivered with conscience, one fearless byline at a time.
