The Media And Obama Handle Christianity Poorly – According To One Atheist

Mediaite: Let’s talk about cable news, starting with Fox News. Do you think Fox News handles religion in a completely fair way?

Cupp: Completely fair? I don’t think any of them are completely fair. I think Fox News, if we’re talking about cable news, is certainly the best at handling religion stories. They have a religion reporter, Lauren Green. Most others do not. They’re not afraid to address Christian stories that other liberal outlets ignore, avoid or sort of mock when they report on them. ABC News is one example, I wrote about this, in 2006 they were covering Christian businesses. The thing liberal media loves to do when talking about Christians is to use sort of funny puns and plays on words. In their coverage they said you can ‘work your thighs while you proselytize’ at a Christian fitness club. That’s the kind of stuff I just find really demeaning.

“Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow are very much the same. They’re ugly in the way they handle Christianity.”

Mediaite: How about MSNBC? You talk a little about their aversion to covering Christian issues but then you’ve got Chris Matthews who certainly brings it in every now and then but obviously with a liberal bent there.

Cupp: I wouldn’t call it a liberal bent. I don’t want to say all liberals are anti-Christian. Chris Matthews purports to be a Catholic. But I would call it anti-Christian when you say of someone like Sarah Palin or Michael Steele that praying on big decisions is dangerous. That’s really out of touch with the majority opinion. What he said was ‘she’s saying it openly on secular television shows, this isn’t the religious hour, talking about God in a political setting is troubling to a lot of people.’ Well she was being interviewed. I don’t know what kind of political setting that is. And the idea you pray on a big decision is probably something 90% of this country does. He just goes after it in a really I think ugly way. Obviously Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow are very much the same. They’re ugly in the way they handle Christianity.

Mediaite: You make a very compelling case about movies. Christian-themed movies like Chronicles of Narnia often perform well despite negative press and anti-religious movies like The Golden Compass perform poorly despite positive press. What is it that Hollywood doesn’t get about its audience?

Cupp: Hollywood has always been a fairly secular place. A place that really doesn’t like the fixed value system of Christianity judging them. They’ve always had this kind of attitude towards Christianity, and the media only really in the last 10 years have really picked up that rhetoric. I think as a business, and I’ve noticed it just as a writer, when I’m trying to get a book contract and a literary agent. The fact that I was a conservative stopped a lot of literary agents from wanting to work with me. I don’t understand that business model.

Mediaite: You should have told them you were an atheist.

Cupp: Yeah then they would have loved me, I know. But that kind of business strategy is cutting off your nose to spite your face. You see that in the tanking ratings of some of these cable news outlets. The tanking subscription and circ numbers of some of these magazines and newspapers. Again they’re ignoring the fact that 80% of the country is Christian. And it’s not just at the movies. The New York Times imposed and expressed surprise that The Purpose-Driven Life or the Left Behind series did really well. They didn’t understand it. Was it some crazy marketing scheme? I think booksellers, movie makers, all of these industries need to get with the program that in this country these products are going to do well.

Mediaite: Looking ahead, do you see any change on the horizon? How do you think the media will handle 2012?

Cupp: Oh, badly. If 2008 was any example, looking at the way they treated Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, just in terms of Christianity, it’s going to go badly. And I think my point in this book is to get people really angry about the way their media represents them, or doesn’t in this case. I can’t believe it takes an atheist to get angry about this, and the Christian majority is seemingly fairly complacent about this. I want 2012 to be a reckoning. I really do. I want the media to be held accountability for the things that they say and the things that they write. We deserve a better more representative press.

(This has been edited for length and clarity)

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