Stations Of The Cross

How evangelical Christians are creating an alternative universe of
faith-based news

Mariah Blake

Columbia  Journalism  Review

Its the first Tuesday of April. In Washington, D.C., the magnolia trees are
blooming, tourists crowd the sidewalk cafés, and Congress has just returned
from its spring recess. CBN News has chosen this time to unveil its new and
greatly expanded Washington bureau in the Dupont Circle area, where many
major networks have their local headquarters; the three-story brick
fortress that houses the Washington operations of CBS News is less than a
block away.

CBNs new digs are abuzz with activity. The Republican Senator Trent Lott
came by for an interview earlier in the day, as did Jim Towey, who directs
the White House office of faith-based initiatives. Now Lee Webb, the CBN
anchor in from Virginia, sits behind the desk in one of the studios
preparing to deliver the networks first half-hour nightly newscast from
this gleaming set. Behind him is a floor-to-ceiling world map illuminated
in violet and indigo and a screen emblazoned with CBNs logo. At his side,
just beyond the cameras view, sits a squat pedestal that holds a battered
American Standard Bible. Webb lowers his head and folds his hands. Father,
we are grateful for todays program, he says. We pray for your blessing. We
ask that what were about to do will bring honor to you. Then the cameras
roll.

To many people  especially in blue-state America  God, news, and politics
may seem an odd cocktail. But its this mix that fuels much of CBNs
programming.

CBNs flagship program, the 700 Club with Pat Robertson, is familiar to many
Americans. But few outside the evangelical community know how large the
network is  it employs more than 1,000 people and has facilities in three
U.S. cities as well as Ukraine, the Philippines, India, and Israel  or how
diverse its programming. And CBN, or Christian Broadcasting Network, is
just one star in a vast and growing Christian media universe, which has
sprung up largely under the mainstreams radar. Conservative evangelicals
control at least six national television networks, each reaching tens of
millions of homes, and virtually all of the nations more than 2,000
religious radio stations. Thanks to Christian radios rapid growth,
religious stations now outnumber every other format except country music
and news-talk. If they want to dwell solely in this alternative universe,
believers can now choose to have only Christian programs piped into their
homes. Sky Angel, one of the nations three direct-broadcast satellite
networks, carries thirty-six channels of Christian radio and television
and nothing else.

As Christian broadcasting has grown, pulpit-based ministries have largely
given way to a robust programming mix that includes music, movies, sitcoms,
reality shows, and cartoons. But the largest constellation may be news and
talk shows. Christian public affairs programming exploded after September
11, and again in the run-up to the 2004 presidential election. And this
growth shows no signs of flagging.

Evangelical news looks and sounds much like its secular counterpart, but it
homes in on issues of concern to believers and filters events through a
conservative lens. In some cases this simply means giving greater weight to
the conservative side of the ledger than most media do. In other instances,
it amounts to disguising a partisan agenda as news. Likewise, most guests
on Christian political talk shows are drawn from a fixed pool of culture
warriors and Republican politicians. Even those shows that focus on
non-political topics  such as finance, health, or family issues  often
weave in political messages. Many evangelical programs and networks are, in
fact, linked to conservative Christian political or legal organizations,
which use broadcasts to help generate funding and mobilize their base
supporters, who are tuning in en masse. Ninety-six percent of evangelicals
consume some form of Christian media each month, according to the Barna
Research Group.

Given their content and their reach, its likely that Christian broadcasters
have helped drive phenomena that have recently confounded much of the
public and the mainstream media  including the surge in value voters and
the drive to sustain Terri Schiavos life, a story that was incubated in
evangelical media three years before it hit the mainstream. Nor has
evangelical medias influence escaped the notice of those who stroll the
halls of power. Theyve been courted by the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Mel
Gibson, and George W. Bush. All the while, theyve remained hidden in plain
sight  a powerful but largely unnoticed force shaping American politics and
culture.

Christians have been flocking to broadcasting ever since the first radio
programs began crackling across the airwaves in the early 1900s. By the
1930s, evangelicals were lobbying for policies that would ensure their
dominance in the religious broadcasting realm. Their activism was catalyzed
by the fact that early on, the big-three networks donated rather than sold
airtime to religious organizations. The Federal Council of Churches, which
represented the more liberal mainline denominations, favored this system,
which it believed would help keep the religious message from getting
corrupted. But evangelicals worried that networks would lavish mainline
churches with free airtime while giving their own ministries short shrift.
In 1944, they formed the National Religious Broadcasters(NRB), and that
organization lobbied federal regulators. The strategy worked; the
government eventually decided to let religious organizations purchase as
much airtime as they could afford. Evangelical preachers were soon flooding
the airwaves, while mainline broadcast ministries all but vanished from the
radio dial.

In the sixty-one years since its founding, the NRB has grown to represent
1,600 broadcasters with billions of dollars in media holdings and
staggering political clout. Its aggressive political maneuverings have
helped shape federal policy, further easing the evangelical networks rapid
growth. In 2000, for instance, the Federal Communications Commission issued
guidelines that would have barred religious broadcasters from taking over
frequencies designated for educational programming. The NRB lobbied
Congress to intervene, at one point delivering a petition signed by nearly
half a million people. Legislators, in turn, bore down on the FCC, and the
agency relented.

At least one mainstream media mogul has taken note of religious
broadcasters political might. In 2002, Rupert Murdoch met with NRB leaders
and urged them to oppose a proposed Echostar-DirecTV merger, which they
did. After the FCC nixed the deal, Murdochs News Corporation bought DirecTV
and gave the NRB a channel on it.

The NRB has taken a number of steps to ensure it remains a political
player. The most dramatic came in 2002, after Wayne Pederson was tapped to
replace the networks longtime president, Brandt Gustavson. He quickly
ignited internal controversy by telling a Minneapolis Star Tribune reporter
that he intended to shift the organizations focus away from politics. We
get associated with the far Christian right and marginalized, Pederson
lamented. To me the important thing is to keep the focus on whats important
to us spiritually.That didnt sit well. Soon members of the executive
committee were clamoring for his ouster. Within weeks, he was forced to
step down.

Frank Wright was eventually chosen to replace Pederson. He had spent the
previous eight years serving as the executive director of the Center for
Christian Statesmanship, a Capitol Hill ministry that conducts training for
politicians on how to think biblically about their role in government.
Wright acknowledges that he was chosen for his deep political connections.
I came here to re-engage the political culture on issues relating to
broadcasting, he says. The rest is up to individual broadcasters.

As the NRB has grown larger and more powerful, so have the broadcasters it
represents. Over the last decade, Christian TV networks have added tens of
millions of homes to their distribution lists by leaping onto satellite and
cable systems. The number of religious radio stations  the vast majority of
which are evangelical  has grown by about 85 percent since 1998 alone. They
now outnumber rock, classical, hip-hop, R&B, soul, and jazz stations
combined.

Despite their growing reach, Christian networks still lag behind many
secular heavyweights when it comes to audience size. About a million U.S.
households tune in daily to each of the most popular Christian television
shows; about twenty times that number watch CBSs top-rated program, CSI.
Likewise, Christian radio stations draw about 5 percent market share, on
average, while regular news and talk stations attract triple that
percentage. But more and more people are tuning into Christian networks.
Christian radios audience, in particular, has climbed 33 percent over the
last five years, thanks in large part to the emergence of contemporary
Christian music. No other English-language format can boast that kind of
growth.

The goal of a more diverse program lineup is to attract larger audiences.
CBNs founder, Pat Robertson, who started this trend in the late 1970s by
converting the 700 Club into a 60 Minutes-style magazine, says he
originally considered making it a music showcase. But he decided news and
talk would bring more viewers. News provides the crossover between
religious and secular, and it bridges the age gap, he explains. Robertson
continues to see news and current affairs as a means to an end. If you buy
a diamond from Tiffanys the setting is very important, he says. To us, the
jewel is the message of Jesus Christ. We see news as a setting for whats
most important.

After remaking the 700 Club, Robertson went on to launch the first
Christian radio news network, called Standard News, in the early 1990s. It
was later purchased by Salem Radio. Over the next several years, American
Family Radio, USA Radio, and Information Radio Network unveiled news
operations. All of them, except American Family Radio, syndicate their news
programming. And theyve been picking up affiliates at a lightning pace,
even as regular news has been dropping off the radio dial. Salem
Communications, which started with around 200 stations, now airs on 1,100
seven times as many as broadcast National Public Radio programs. USA Radio,
which in the beginning had just a handful of news affiliates, now has more
than 800. Its news also can be heard on two XM Satellite Radio stations and
Armed Forces Radio. USA Radios rapid growth is due, in part, to the fact
that many mainstream stations are picking up its programming.

Christian radio news networks experienced their largest growth spurt in the
months after September 11. That was also when CBN launched NewsWatch, the
first nightly Christian television news program. The show is on three of
the six national evangelical television networks, as well as regional
Christian networks and the ABC Family Channel. FamilyNet TV, part of the
Southern Baptist Conventions media empire, followed suit in 2004 by hiring
a news staff. And at the 2005 NRB convention, Christian television networks
from around the world joined forces to form a news co-op. They intend to
pool footage and other resources as a means of improving coverage and
helping more Christian stations get into the news business.

Many Christian broadcasters attribute the success of their news operations
to the biblical perspective that underpins their reporting in a world made
wobbly by terrorist threats and moral relativism. We dont just tell them
what the news is, explains Wright of the NRB. We tell them what it means.
And thats appealing to people, especially in moments of cultural
instability.

Its Good Friday. The NewsWatch anchor Lee Webb is sitting behind his desk
in CBNs Virginia Beach headquarters, describing the events of the day to
people across America. Webb  a wiry man with dark eyes and a white kerchief
peaking out of his breast pocket  spent much of his career in local
television. He delivers the news with an air of cultivated neutrality.

Today he begins with a story on Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida
woman whose story not only riveted America, but was seized by Congress and
the White House. Her feeding tube had been pulled a week earlier and, Webb
tells his viewers, shes succumbed to the ravages of dehydration. He says
she has flaky skin, a parched mouth, and sunken eyes, and now resembles
prisoners in concentration camps, according to her brother. Whether or not
her lips and skin have actually dried out will become a matter of debate in
the mainstream media, with Schiavos parents contending that they have, and
her husbands lawyer insisting that they havent, and that she is not
suffering. But this debate will never enter CBNs coverage.

Next, NewsWatch cuts to an interview with Joni Eareckson Tada, a
wheelchair-bound woman whom Webb bills as a disability rights advocate. She
warns that the Schiavo case will affect thousands of disabled people whose
legal guardians may not have their best wishes at heart. Tada, in fact,
runs an evangelical ministry and hosts a popular Christian radio show. Webb
closes the segment on a revealing, if lopsided, note, announcing that the
pro-life community says the Terri Schiavo case is proof positive that the
country has a problem when it comes to activist judges.

The CBN report echoes hundreds of others that have run on Christian radio
and television networks. While Terri Schiavos name appeared in the
mainstream national media only sporadically before this year, her case has
been a top story on Christian news and talk programs for much of the last
three years, as it combines two issues that are of critical importance to
religious conservatives  the power of the courts and the sanctity of life.
Much of the coverage on Christian networks has distorted Schiavo’s
condition by indicating she retained the ability to think, feel, and
function. Some newscasts reported as fact her parents contested claim that
she tried to utter the words I want to live before her feeding tube was
pulled for the last time. Others, like Janet Folger, host of the radio and
TV call-in show Faith2Action, described Schiavo as actually sitting up and
talking. Evangelical pundits also demonized Schiavos husband, Michael, and
the Florida judge George Greer, who presided over the case, referring to
them as murderers and invoking holocaust rhetoric. Indeed, Christian
broadcasters seemed to set the tone for the emotional language that would
burst into the mainstream media and the halls of Congress during Schiavos
final days.

Schiavos parents welcomed the Christian broadcasters attention. Months
before they became the stuff of nightly news they were blazing a trail
through the Christian talk show circuit. They also attended the NRBs 2005
conference, held in mid-February, to help build momentum for a grass-roots
campaign to keep their daughter alive. By then they had already seen proof
of the Christian broadcasters power. D. James Kennedy  who, in addition to
hosting several talk shows, heads a lobbying organization called the Center
for Reclaiming America  boasted at one point that he was collecting 5,000
signatures an hour for a Petition to Save Terri Schiavo. Other leaders,
including James Dobson, perhaps the most influential evangelical host, shut
down phone lines within Governor Jeb Bushs office by urging their millions
of constituents to call.

After the Schiavo story, NewsWatch carries one about Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rices visit to China. Rice is shown climbing off the plane in
Beijing, posing for grip-and-grin shots with President Hu Jintao, and
responding to a reporters question about Chinas record on religious
freedoms. Then the report veers into the plight of Chinas house churches.
The narrator details how those who worship in places other than state
churches continue to suffer severe persecution. Images on the screen show
people singing hymns in a dusty courtyard, then a man preaching to a crowd
of people who sit huddled on a living room floor. The front door is flung
open, and the light pouring in lends the scene an otherworldly glow.

Evangelical networks focus a great deal of attention on stories involving
persecution of the faithful. They have, for instance, kept a close eye on
the conflicts that have rocked Sudan, including its Darfur region.
Government-backed militias there have been marauding villages, driving
millions of black Africans, many of them Christians, from their homes. More
than 200,000 people have died as a result. Mainstream coverage has been
sparse, given the conflicts human toll.

Christian broadcasters also tend to home in on stateside skirmishes
involving Christians that are off the mainstream medias radar. This
includes the case of eleven evangelicals who were arrested in 2004 while
picketing Outfest, an annual gay pride event that sprawls across eight
Philadelphia city blocks. The protesters, led by Michael Marcavage, a
confrontational evangelical crusader and founder of Repent America, were
told by the police to leave. When they refused, they were arrested. Four of
the eleven were charged with, among other things, fomenting a riot,
criminal conspiracy, and ethnic intimidation  as Philadelphia calls hate
crimes.

The story got virtually no mainstream national coverage. But Christian news
networks picked up on it promptly, and a number of evangelical talk show
hosts discussed it at length. Much of the conversation revolved around the
potential pitfalls of hate-crime laws, which stiffen penalties for offenses
that are motivated by race or sexual orientation. Evangelical pundits
argued that such laws threaten to criminalize Christianity, especially when
theyre extended to speech.

After the segment on Chinese house churches comes a special Good Friday
package. This includes a tour of Jerusalem and an interview with Mel
Gibson, who released a less-bloody version of The Passion of The Christ
several weeks earlier. Webb tells viewers, In light of its re-release CBN
News visited many of the places where The Passion actually took place. He
then introduces the reporter Chris Mitchell, who works out of CBNs only
international bureau, in Jerusalem. Mitchell  perched on the Mount of
Olives surrounded by sweeping views of the city  invites viewers to tour
the sites of the biblical drama that changed the world. Soon hes strolling
through the Garden of Gethsemane, the dense olive groves where Christ is
said to have prayed on the night of his arrest, and touring the Sisters of
Zion Convent, which houses the paving stones where some believe Jesus stood
before Pontius Pilate. He continues on to the Via Dolorosa, down which
Jesus carried the cross. The narrow street, which wends its way through the
old Jerusalem, is now thronged with tourists. Mitchell interviews some of
them about the profound experience of visiting Jerusalem after seeing The
Passion. When you see the movie, you internalize it, says one woman, who
weeps as she speaks. Then you come here and see the street where he walked,
the place that he was, and youre just thankful. Youre just so thankful for
his grace and his mercy, his forgiveness and for the price that he paid.

Such intimate expressions of faith are scarce in mainstream media, even
though faith underlies many global conflicts and guides the choices made by
millions of Americans. Religion coverage tends either to focus on
institutions or to reduce religious practice to a curious spectacle. This,
Christian network executives say, is part of the reason they felt compelled
to enter the news and public affairs arena. They also feel that their
viewers needed a family friendly alternative to regular news, which
sometimes leans on lurid descriptions of sex and violence. The Michael
Jackson trial and other sordid stories get a bare-bones treatment on
Christian networks.

Christian news networks devote an enormous amount of airtime to Israel, and
their interest has theological underpinnings. In addition to being the
place where many biblical events unfolded, Israel plays a pivotal role in
biblical prophecy. Most evangelicals emphasize that God granted Israel to
the Jews through a covenant with Abraham. They believe that the Jews return
to Israel was biblically foreordained, and that Jewish control over Israel
will trigger a cascade of apocalyptic events that will culminate in Christs
second coming. Israels strength is vital to their own redemption.

Such beliefs explain the unwavering support for Israel expressed by some
evangelical talk show hosts. Among them is Kay Arthur, whose radio and TV
program, Precepts For Life, offers audiences biblical solutions to everyday
dilemmas such as divorce and addictions. She took to the stage at the
Israeli Ministry of Tourism Breakfast, held in conjunction with the 2005
NRB conference, and told the hundreds of broadcasters in the audience, If
it came to a choice between Israel and America, I would stand with Israel.
Janet Parshall, host of a popular political program that also runs both on
radio and TV, implored the Israelis in attendance, Please, please, do not
give up any more land. Lest anyone think her alone in her zeal, she urged
all those who believed in the sovereignty of Israel to stand. Virtually
everyone in the room got up.

Some influential evangelical hosts  among them Arthur, Parshall, and Pat
Robertson  sometimes broadcast live from Israel and urge listeners and
viewers to visit the country. Their pleas have helped persuade thousands of
American Christians to brave the bloody Intifada for a chance to savor the
sights and smells of Christs homeland, while supporting Israels battered
economy.

The Israeli government has responded with gratitude. Senior officials meet
regularly with evangelical broadcasters. Former Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu sent Pat Robertson a taped message for his seventy-fifth
birthday, thanking him for his stalwart support. In addition to staging
lavish events in the broadcasters honor, the countrys tourism ministry
rents one of the largest booths at each years NRB conference. This years
event also featured a number of other Israel-focused exhibits, including
the burned-out hull of a Jerusalem city bus that was struck by a suicide
bomber in January 2004. Part of the roof had been ripped off and all that
was left of the rear seats was a jumble of twisted steel and charred
upholstery. Near the bumper hung a poster with images of bomb-laden
Palestinian boys. It read: When Palestinians love their children more than
they hate Israel, then there will be peace in Palestine.

The turmoil gripping the Middle East has proven to be a particularly
appealing topic for shows like the International Intelligence Briefing and
Prophecy in the News, which interpret world events  be it the rise of the
European Union or the Asian tsunami  in light of biblical prophecy. This
approach tends to cast events that flow from controversial human choices as
the natural and inevitable march of destiny. Prophecy-focused shows suggest
that the war in Iraq was foretold in the Bible, for instance.

Some political talk shows go even further out on the apocalyptic edge.
Among them is the 700 Club, which airs on numerous mainstream stations and
reaches about a million U.S. viewers each day. Its February 25 edition
featured an interview with a man named Glenn Miller, touted on the 700 Club
Web site as a proven prophet. A scholarly looking man, Miller sat nestled
in an armchair, a faux-urban skyline glittering in the background, and
explained why God had sent America to war with Iraq. It has nothing to do
with terrorism, he told Pat Robertsons son, Gordon. It has nothing to do
with oil. It has everything to do with that theres 1.2 million Muslims that
have been deceived by the false God Allah, and that the God of heaven,
Jehovah, is now in the process of doing war if you will against that spirit
to . . . break the power of deception so those people can be exposed to the
gospel. As Miller spoke, Robertson nodded in sympathy. At one point,
Robertson chimed in with the tale of a CBN reporter who was embedded with
one of the first infantry divisions to march into Baghdad: He said there
was a sense among the troops  and he had this personal sense as well  that
this was a spiritual victory, that this was a movement in the heavenlies.

Some evangelical talk show hosts see more conflict on t
he horizon in the Middle East. For instance, J.R. Church of Prophecy in the
News recently predicted that the United States would attack Syria, probably
with a nuclear bomb. As proof the host pointed to a passage from Isaiah,
which warned that Damascus would be reduced to a ruinous heap.

Once NewsWatchs Jerusalem tour is over, Mel Gibson appears. Hes sitting on
a dimly lit sound stage opposite the reporter Scott Ross. The walls are
covered with posters for The Passion, and throughout the interview images
from the film flash across the screen. Gibson talks about the making of the
movie, which he calls the culmination of a fifteen-year journey of faith,
and about how America is a huge nation based on Christian principles from
the Constitution.

Gibson began appearing regularly on Christian news and talk shows in the
months leading up to the The Passions original release  part of a
well-coordinated marketing campaign that leaned heavily on Christian radio
and TV. Christian networks ran hundreds of promotional spots and
behind-the-scenes specials on the film. It was a fruitful partnership for
Gibson, who has watched The Passion become the highest-grossing R-rated
film in U.S. box office history. As he told those at the 2005 NRB
conference, It was largely because of the people in this broad organization
that the film was able to get out there and be seen.

Gibsons words notwithstanding, its difficult to know just how much of The
Passions success can actually be attributed to Christian broadcasters,
since it was also promoted through other channels. But the story of The
Omega Code, a 1999 apocalyptic thriller, provides a clearer illustration of
the broadcasters power. The films release wasnt accompanied by the standard
flurry of marketing. No advance press screening, no reviews, and minimal
advertising. But the family of one of its producers, Matthew Crouch, owns
Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the largest of the Christian TV
networks, which promoted the film tirelessly. The result: The Omega Code
was the tenth highest-grossing film on its opening weekend, with a
per-screen average of nearly $8,000  higher than that of any other movie
that weekend. The films success stunned the mainstream media, Hollywood
insiders, and even TBN executives. We had no idea we had that power in
America, says Robert Higley, the networks vice president for sales and
affiliate relations.

In the years since The Omega Codes release, Christian broadcasters have
brought their power to bear in the political arena as never before. This
began a few months after the 2000 presidential election, when President
Bush invited the NRBs executive committee to join him and Attorney General
John Ashcroft for a meeting in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. After
the gathering the NRBs board chairman wrote an exuberant message to
members, saying there was a new wind blowing in Washington, D.C., and
across the nation . . . . The President has surrounded himself with a
wonderful staff of people of faith. And its obvious that people of faith
are being welcomed back to the public square. The message also urged
members to seize the opportunity to make a difference in our culture  which
in the parlance of religious conservatives generally means effecting
political change.

In the months that followed the Roosevelt Room gathering, the NRB executive
committee continued to meet periodically with senior White House staff
members. On occasion, Bush himself attended. And monthly NRB-White House
conference calls were established to give rank-and-file NRB members a
direct line to the Oval Office.

George W. Bush also attended NRBs 2003 convention and gave a speech, much
of it dedicated to promoting the looming war in Iraq. At the event, the NRB
passed a resolution to honor the president. Though the NRB is a tax-exempt
organization, and thus banned from backing a particular candidate, the
document resembled an endorsement. The final line read, We recognize in all
of the above that God has appointed President George W. Bush to leadership
at this critical period in our nations history, and give Him thanks.

Many evangelical networks and program producers are also tax-exempt
nonprofits. But while most were careful not to endorse candidates by name,
they openly pushed the Republican ticket in the run-up to the 2004
election. During his last pre-election broadcast, the International
Intelligence Briefing host Hal Lindsey told audiences that liberals were
determined to bring about our literal annihilation, and that a vote for the
conservative cause . . . is a vote to . . . reverse Americas decline and
restore her to the path of morality, conscience, and strength of character.
Its a vote to continue Americas return to her rightful place as the
strongest beacon of hope in a terrified world. Other broadcasters went
further, launching and promoting massive voter-registration drives with the
apparent goal of helping Republicans clinch a victory. The host James
Dobson held pro-Bush rallies that packed stadiums and told his 7 million
U.S. listeners that it was a sin not to vote.

During the pre-election frenzy FamilyNet, the television arm of the
Southern Baptist Conventions media empire, added a political talk show to
its formerly entertainment-heavy lineup. It was also during this period
that it established its news department. The network, which reaches 30
million homes, reported live from both parties conventions, and ran evening
coverage on election day  all of it salted with pro-Bush commentary.
Several other Christian networks also ran continuous, live election
coverage for the first time. Much of it carried a clear bias. USA Radio
Network, for example, ran pieces produced to sound like news stories, but
with a single conservative perspective. One segment, based solely on an
interview with the former CIA analyst Wayne Simmons, reported that Osama
bin Laden spent years laying plans to destroy America, only to have them
thwarted by a tough-talking Texan. He never planned on running into a
president with the strength, character, and conviction of George W. Bush,
Simmons said. If George W. Bush wins the presidency, his fate  meaning
Osama bin Ladens fate  is sealed. If John Kerry wins, hell go back to
business as usual because he knows hell have another administration in
there where he did nothing and let them plan attacks on us.

The role that evangelicals are credited with playing in the recent election
seems only to have improved broadcasters access to power. During the
opening session of the 2005 NRB convention, Wright described a recent
lobbying excursion to Capitol Hill. We got into rooms weve never been in
before, he said. We got down on the floor of the Senate and prayed over
Hillary Clintons desk. He also explained that the NRB was lobbying to get
its handpicked candidate appointed to the FCC  although he refused to
identify the person by name. At the convention, the NRB also unveiled its
new Presidents Council, a committee dedicated to strengthening
relationships with men and women in positions of influence and power,
according to the glossy brochure. The councils next event, scheduled for
September, is to include a private, after-hours tour of the U.S. Capitol, a
special White House policy briefing, and a hobnobbing session with
lawmakers.

Meanwhile, the broadcasters have turned their attention to what has become
the front line of the culture wars: the courts. Conservative Christian
pundits have long proclaimed that our nation is in moral tatters, and
blamed a series of court decisions  among them Roe v. Wade and the 1962 ban
on school prayer  for unraveling our mores. But the raging battle over
President Bushs judicial nominees and the prospect of a Supreme Court
vacancy have pushed the issue of the out of control judiciary to the top of
their agenda.

In recent months, evangelical broadcasters have dedicated program after
program to bemoaning judicial tyranny, and urging audiences to agitate for
the nuclear option  changing Senate rules so Democrats can no longer
filibuster and thereby block nominees they oppose. The judiciary was also
front and center during opening week at the networks new Washington bureau.
A parade of senators  all of them Republican  made their way into the
studio, to go on camera advocating the nuclear option. During his
interview, broadcast as part of NewsWatchs inaugural Washington, D.C.,
program, Trent Lott stood with studio lights glinting off the American flag
pin on his lapel, and held up a scrap of paper with a list of senators
names and how they intended to vote on the initiative. The tally seemed to
be stacking up in his favor. Pat Robertson, who interviewed Lott, asked no
tough questions and offered not even a passing nod to opposing viewpoints.
Instead, Robertson scored Democrats for trying to eliminate religious
values from America by blocking the appointment of conservative judges. All
the while, the dizzying blend of God, news, and politics that he has
crafted and honed was bouncing off satellites, winding through thousands of
cable systems, rippling over the airwaves, and glowing on television
screens across America.

Mariah Blake is an assistant editor at CJR. The magazine gratefully
acknowledges support for her research from the Nation Institutes
Investigative Fund.