May 3, 2006: Churches are getting help spreading the gospel from companies such as Sony, Panasonic, Avid and Hitachi as part of an effort to cash in on an exploding market known as "house of worship technology," according to CNet News.com. The article says "churches now are Webcasting to distant parishioners with sophisticated multicamera operations and pumping up the volume inside worship areas with state-of-the-art sound systems." A sound-and-video technician whose main customers are churches says, "It's a fact: Media helps make it easier for people to pay attention." At the National Association of Broadcasters 2006 electronic media conference in April, the NAB, for the first time, dedicated an exhibit area to tech and consumer electronics companies that are catering to churches. Says the technology director of a 4,000-member church in Texas,"This is how people, especially young people, are accustomed to hearing a message."
      Classroom focus/ media literacy discussion:  How has technology changed the way people prefer to receive a message in a live, you-are-there situation? Is that good or bad? If churches or other organizations can't afford the staff and the equipment, how might they compete with those that can? Are people losing their ability to just sit, look at someone and pay attention to the message for an extended length of time? What kind of classes and skills do students need in the 21st century to learn to communicate in new ways so that the message is compelling and people will listen?

Jan. 4, 2006:  The New York Times reported January 2nd that a Pentagon contractor that paid Iraqi newspapers to print positive articles written by American soldiers has also been compensating Sunni religious scholars in Iraq in return for assistance with its propaganda work, according to current and former employees. The Lincoln Group, a Washington-based public relations company, was told early in 2005 by the Pentagon to identify religious leaders who could help produce messages that would persuade Sunnis in violence-ridden Anbar Province to participate in national elections and reject the insurgency, according to a former employee.Since then, the company has retained three or four Sunni religious scholars to offer advice and write reports for military commanders on the content of propaganda campaigns, the former employee said. This citation is from PR Watch.
      Classroom focus/ media literacy discussion: What, if any, are the moral and ethical questions involved when a foreign military power pays religious leaders to influence their followers? If the desired influence is to get the followers to stop fighting, does that make it OK? Consider the viewpoint of the Iraqi population -- how would they feel if they knew that some of their religious leaders were being paid by the U.S. military to advance the American agenda? Can religious clerics keep their credibility with their followers when they accept money from organizations that are non-Muslim, and if so, how?

Dec. 2, 2004: CBS and NBC are refusing to air an ad produced by the United Church of Christ (UCC) because it advocates religious inclusion. The ad shows bouncers turning away a variety of people at the door of a church – including ethnic minorities and two men who may be a homosexual couple. The announcer says, "Jesus doesn't turn people away. Neither do we. No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey you are welcome here." NBC declared the ad "too controversial" and CBS found the ad "unacceptable" because "the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman."
         Andrew Schwartzman, president and CEO of the not-for-profit Media Access Project in Washington, D.C., says: "This is an abuse of the broadcasters' duty to inform their viewers on issues of importance to the community. After all, these stations don't mind carrying shocking, attention-getting programming, because they do that every night." Despite being shut out by two of the three major networks, the ad will air on ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, History, Nick-At-Nite,TBS, TNT, Travel and TV Land.
      Classroom focus/ media literacy discussion: How does a network decide what is "too controversial" in an advertisement, compared to the controversial content of their own TV shows? What are the driving factors in their decision? What are their obligations to the American public, which owns the airwaves that they use free of charge? What about the First Amendment? Should a network censor an ad simply because the Executive Branch of government has made a proposal relating to it that may never be enacted? What would happen if the broadcasting of all ads or TV shows were decided based on proposed government legislation?

August 25, 2004: Video has become an important propaganda tool in the Mahdi Army fight against the U.S. Read about the work of the Shiite's media department in "Militia's Other Weapon: Videos" in the Christian Science Monitor.
      Classroom focus/ media literacy discussion: Why would a religious militia feel the need for a "media department"? Does the U.S. military have a media department, and if so, what does it do, and why? How has media technology changed the way wars are fought? Do visual images carry more power than words?

August 23, 2004: A new study shows that a U.S.-backed advertising campaign, with the goal to inform and persuade international audiences about the freedom of Muslims to live and practice their faith in the United States, may have been successful in changing certain anti- American sentiments abroad.

    Classroom focus/media literacy discussion: Why would the U.S. pay to persuade Muslims abroad about how Muslims live in America? Are there means other than taxpayer-subsidized advertising that the government could use to elicit a positive response from Muslims abroad, and if so, what are they?

June 15, 2004 : FaithfulAmerica.org, which describes itself as "an online community of people of faith who want to build a more just and compassionate nation," will run commercials on the al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya Arabic language networks apologizing for the torture of Iraqi detainees by U.S. servicepeople and military contractors. The ad states, "As Americans of faith, we express our deep sorrow at abuses committed in Iraqi prisons." FaithfulAmerica.org spokesperson Bishop Melvin Talbert is an ecumenical officer of the United Methodist Church, to which George Bush belongs. A State Department spokesperson would not comment on the ads, but former ambassador to Syria Edward Djerejian said they "could be harmful ... [if they are] an attempt to criticize the current administration," but if they just "say torture is contrary to our religious beliefs, then that I think would be helpful." This citation is from PR Watch. Original Source: Newsday, June 11, 2004.

     Classroom focus/media literacy discussion: Why might the former U.S. ambassador to Syria have suggested that an ad criticizing the current administration could be harmful? Do you agree or disagree? How might Arabic viewers respond to such an ad in which Americans visibly exercise their right of free speech?