According to the Associated Press, some church leaders and social commentators suggest that mainstream news organizations should employ—and keep—more evangelicals in their newsrooms. Terry Mattingly, director of the Washington Journalism Center for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, says, “While there’s been heavy gender and racial diversity…there’s a lack of cultural diversity in journalism,” including religion. Many evangelical journalists start out in secular news organizations, but they soon join Christian media that offer an environment more accepting of their beliefs and more family-friendly than the long hours and low pay of secular journalism. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press reported in 2007 that eight percent of journalists at national media outlets attended church or synagogue weekly, much less than the 39 percent of the general public who do so. The report also noted that mainstream media outlets typically call on the same two or three evangelical voices for statements, despite the varying points of view among evangelicals in general. Religious scholars estimate there are nearly two dozen evangelical colleges in the U.S. that offer journalism degrees or classes, and the Southern Baptist Convention offers advice for careers in media at an annual conference.
