Media Developmentvol LIV 1/2007
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2007(PL2).qxd 1/18/07 10:16 AM Page 1 Media Development Vol LIV 1/2007 3 How do fundamentalists shape media 41 Pentecostalism, media and cultural agendas? discourse in Africa Stewart M. Hoover and Nadia Kaneva Ogbu Kalu 7 From ‘bumkins’to Baghdad:Fumbling 45 The unknown history of televangelism with fundamentalism William F. Fore Steve Rabey FORUMFORUM FORUM 12 Media, politics and fundamentalism in 49 Communication is peace: Latin America WACC’s mission today Dennis Smith Philip Lee 16 From the pulpit to the studio: Islam’s 53 New Convention for Persons with internal battle Disabilities Nabil Echchaibi 56 Congo’s hidden tragedy 20 Women, news and fundamentalism Hugh McCullum Sheila J. Gibbons 60 On the page . 23 Christian fundamentalism and the media in South India Pradip N. Thomas 32 Columbusday, hate speech, and American Indians Tink Tinker In the next issue Mass media in the Middle East and repre- sentations of the Middle East in the media 36 Religion, identity and dialogue will be the focus of the 2/2007 issue of Glory E. Dharmaraj Media Development. 2007(PL2).qxd 1/18/07 10:16 AM Page 2 This issue of Media Of course, we have to distin- EDITORIAL Development is based on the guish between the absolute need proceedings of that conference. for freedom of expression and In 2007 the Creation Museum R. Scott Appleby, co-direc- the mandatory imposition of will open in Kentucky, USA, tor with Martin E. Marty of the controversial beliefs. People dedicated to the proposition renowned Fundamentalism have the right to believe in that the account given in the Project, gave a public lecture angels provided that such a Book of Genesis is literally cor- during the conference called belief does no harm to others. rect. It aims to persuade visitors ‘Waging peace through the It is the negative impact of using a combination of anima- media: What can we learn from fundamentalist beliefs that gives tronic models, tableaux (pre- fundamentalists?’ rise to concern. Not the use of a sumably less than vivants), and The building of the Creation medium per se, but the use to a Disneyesque rendition of the Museum vividly illustrates which that medium is put. Not Bible story. Appleby’s contention that, the building of a museum, but It will be the Bible story as ‘Fundamentalists’ intriguing the construction of a cathedral ‘truth’ — apart from the adoption and adaptation of the of ignorance. By accepted stan- dinosaurs, which strangely most powerful products of tech- dards of truth-telling, it is fak- enough are missing from the no-scientific modernity, not least ery writ large. biblical narrative. That absence modern means of communica- In his book Faith in Fakes, has presented Creationists with tion, are of concern. Indeed, Umberto Eco points out that ‘to a conundrum: justifying the many of the ideological and speak of things that one wants existence of dinosaur bones in a behavioral family resemblances to connote as real, these things world less than 6,000 years old. — the envy of the modernist must seem real. The “completely In stark contrast, scientists and desire to steal his thunder; real” becomes identified with say that fossils and sophisticated the tactic of fostering a sense of the “completely fake”. Absolute dating technologies show that crisis and urgency in order to unreality is offered as real pres- the Earth is more than four bil- force a decision upon the poten- ence.’ Fakery is harmless when lion years old, the first tial recruit; the flair for the dra- recognized as such. But there is dinosaurs appeared around 200 matic and symbolic act; the a grave danger that fakery mas- million years ago, and they died shrewd, popular, and effective querading as truth and publicly out well before our first human adaptations to modernity — mediated acquires credibility as ancestors came on the scene . converge in fundamentalism’s ‘real presence’. John Morris, president of the seemingly innate understanding Eco also warns that, ‘On Institute for Creation Research of, and effortless manipulation entering his cathedrals of iconic in San Diego, an organization of, modern mass media.’ reassurance, the visitor will that promotes creationism, said Participants in the conference remain uncertain whether his that the museum affirms the were at pains to provide a defin- final destiny is hell or heaven, doubts that many people have ition of fundamentalism and and so will consume new about the notion that humans some of that debate is reflected promises.’2 It is an open ques- evolved from lower forms of in the following articles. tion as to what promises of life. ‘Americans just aren’t What has all this to do with heaven or hell fundamentalists gullible enough to believe that the Creation Museum? Well, it offer and how communicators they came from a fish.’1 is an example of using a modern should respond. I This is, of course, a funda- mass medium (in this case a mentalist worldview: defined by repository of pseudo-scientific Notes one participant at a recent thinking) to convey one side of 1. ‘Museum brings creationism to WACC-sponsored conference on a complex story. The museum life’, by Dylan T. Lovan. AP, 31 ‘Fundamentalism and the media’ mediates a worldview directly July 2006. held at the University of contested by science. It offers 2. Faith in Fakes, by Umberto Eco. London: Secker & Warburg, 1986, Colorado at Boulder, USA, 10- seeming certainty and reassur- pp. 7 and p. 58. 12 October 2006, as a ‘strategy ance in place of doubt and for dealing with uncertainty’. rational inquiry. 2 MediaDevelopment 1/2007 2007(PL2).qxd 1/18/07 10:16 AM Page 3 ple, a different fundamentalism emerged in the world media arena during the 1978-79 Iran How do funda- hostage crisis. Of course, this was also a major turning point in the West’s understanding of mentalists Islam and of the place of religion in the 20th and 21st century. Prior to 1979, it was easy for political and shape media social authorities in the industrialized West to assume that religion was a fading dimension of public life. The Islamic Revolution in Iran, agendas? however, was a wake-up call to those who held that assumption and introduced a decades-long Stewart M. Hoover and Nadia Kaneva reappraisal of a seeming religious resurgence worldwide. Without a doubt, the place of fun- The religion we see in the media today damentalisms within this resurgence has been seems increasingly polarized and central. Thus, in the years since 1979, media coverage has had to contend with the increas- embroiled in emerging fronts of conflict ingly complicated role of fundamentalist move- and struggle. The media are also quick ments in local, national, and global conflicts. to tell us that the religious impulse most responsible for this polarization is the Can fundamentalisms exist without the media? impulse to ‘fundamentalism’. The ori- Despite the success of fundamentalist groups in gins of this term can be traced to U.S. attracting media attention, their complicated th relationship to public communication remains Protestantism at the turn of the 20 little understood and understudied by scholars century, but the fundamentalist idea has of both religion and media. This problem pre- shown a protean tendency to expression sents itself as an important area of inquiry in a variety of religious and cultural deserving of greater attention. On one level, locations. questions may be raised about the ways in which fundamentalisms use the media and the fter public repudiation in the early 20th ways in which media cover fundamentalisms. century, U.S. fundamentalism regrouped On a deeper level, we might also ask whether Aand resurfaced, both in its original form, fundamentalisms might actually be a function and in the broader movement known as of the media age – in other words, we might ‘Evangelicalism’. Perhaps due to the global question whether fundamentalisms could exist influence of American media and American cul- without the media. ture, the term fundamentalism gained broad The International Conference on currency as a designation used to describe ten- Fundamentalism and the Media, held at the dencies that seem to have become a feature of University of Colorado at Boulder on October late modernity. This use has been particularly 10-12, 2006, was conceived as an effort to common in journalistic and media discourses, bring scholarly and professional attention to where simple and evocative labels are basic to this web of issues and stimulate interest in fur- conventions of treatment and coverage. ther research in that area. In his keynote Some may still argue today that the funda- address, Scott Appleby of The University of mentalist label should only be applied in its Notre Dame offered an excellent summation of original Protestant context, but that battle has the conference focus: ‘What concerns us […] is long since been lost in the public and media the fundamentalists’ intriguing adoption and spheres, where fundamentalism is a category adaptation of the most powerful products of used to describe a wide range of phenomena techno-scientific modernity, not least modern and movements around the world. For exam- means of communication.’ MediaDevelopment 1/2007 3 2007(PL2).qxd 1/18/07 10:16 AM Page 4 Stewart Hoover (left) conference convenor, with R. Scott Appleby, keynote speaker (centre) and Adán Medrano (right) conference sponsor. Photo: George Conklin. The conference was jointly sponsored by the London University’s School of African and World Association for Christian Oriental Studies, whose work focuses on the Communication (WACC) and the Center for Middle East and Iran in particular, Pradip Media, Religion, and Culture (CMRC) within Thomas of Queensland University in Brisbane, the School of Journalism and Mass Australia, who spoke about issues in South Communication at the University of Colorado Asia, Ogbu Kalu of Chicago’s McCormick at Boulder.