From Yahweh to Yahoo!: The Religious Roots of the Secular Press (The History of Media and Communication)

Presenting religion as journalism's silent partner, From Yahweh to Yahoo! provides a fresh and surprising view of the religious impulses at work in the typical newsroom by delving into the largely unexamined parallels between religious and journalistic developments from the "media" of antiquity to the electronic idolatry of the Internet. Focusing on how the history of religion in the United States has been entwined with the growth of the media, Doug Underwood makes the case that American journalists are rooted in the nation's moral and religious heritage and operate, in certain important ways, as personifications of the old religious virtues. Journalists believe they are serving a cause higher than the commercial goals of their news organizations, Underwood contends. He traces the influence on the press of the biblical prophets' complaints about moral corruption, the calls for reform arising out of the Protestant Reformation, and the principles that drove the muckraker and Social Gospel campaigns of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth. Underwood argues that one must see the profession of journalism in terms of its religious character to understand the tensions at work in today's media. He explores the forces that have pushed journalists away from identifying themselves with religion, yet notes the reverential way in which they approach such secular topics as science, technology, and psychology. His wide-ranging discussion includes the press's formulaic coverage of spiritual experience, its failure adequately to cover new and non-Christian religions in America, and the complicity of the mainstream media in launching the religious broadcasting movement.