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SALT LAKE CITY — Questions about faith in presidential politics, especially Mormonism, was one of the two biggest religion stories of 2011, according to the Pew Research Center.
The center's annual review of religion in the news shows the other top story involved tensions over Islam.
Still, the largest single storyline involving religion was the presidential election campaign, which accounted for 13 percent of all religion coverage studied.
In 2010, religion accounted for 2 percent of the news media's coverage of all subjects. In 2011 that number dropped to 0.7 percent, similar to the coverage given race/gender/gay issues and immigration.
Top Religion Stories 2011
| Story | % of coverage |
|---|---|
| Religion in 2012 election | 13.1% |
| "Radical Islam" Congressional Hearings | 9.4% |
| Anti-Muslim sentiment in U.S. | 6.7% |
| Westboro Church protests | 4.4% |
The report notes that religion in general does not usually grab a lot of attention from mainstream media. "When religion did make news, it was often because of accusations about extremism or intolerance," researchers said.
They noted that one of the top religion and politics stories of 2011 centered on Texas minister Robert Jeffress calling the Mormon faith a "cult" during an event in October. The biggest story about Islam centered on Rep. Peter King's hearings in Congress about "radical Islam."
