c. 2003 Religion News Service
Parents Television Council Finds Decreases in Sex on TV
(RNS) Almost every broadcast network saw a marked decrease in sexual content during the evening “family hour” between 1998 and 2002, the Parents Television Council reports.
With the exception of the WB, every broadcast network decreased its sexual content from 8 to 9 p.m. in recent years. All the networks except the WB and UPN also showed a reduction in such content during the hour from 9 to 10 p.m.
“For years, conventional wisdom in Hollywood had it that `sex sells,’ and therefore the more of it, the better,” said L. Brent Bozell, president of the Los Angeles-based council, in an announcement Tuesday (May 20) of the survey results.
“But ratings data and survey results prove that’s not true. Parents don’t want their kids to be exposed to irresponsible messages and explicit depictions of sex on TV _ but more than that, parents don’t want to see it either.”
Analysts for the council found that sexual content during the family hour dropped 67 percent on ABC from 1998 to 2002. In that same period, similar content decreased 48 percent on Fox, 13 percent on UPN and 6 percent on CBS. NBC’s sexual content during the family hour decreased by 34 percent from 2000 to 2002.
The researchers looked at 400 program hours of prime-time entertainment on the major broadcast television networks during the first two weeks of the 1998, 2000 and 2002 November sweeps periods.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., welcomed the survey findings.
“The results of this survey finally offer hope to all those who have long been concerned with the content on our television screens,” he said in a statement.
The council was founded in 1995 and is dedicated to improving the quality of entertainment programming, especially on television.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Harvard Divinity School May Return Gift From Arab Leader
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (RNS) Harvard University is discussing whether to give back a $2.5 million gift from the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), citing “extremely offensive” statements from a center that the president directs.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan leads the Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-Up, which is an Abu Dhabi-based organization that sponsors lectures and reports on topics involving Islam, Israel and the Arab world.
A group of Harvard Divinity School (HDS) students and professors complained to Dean William A. Graham in March about the organization, saying the Zayed Center’s Web site contained anti-Semitic and anti-American material.
The center’s Web site says the group aims to “to promote solidarity and cooperation among the Arab nations in the light of the principles and objectives of the League of Arab States.”
The site also contains a news release, “In Reply to Zionist Falsities,” which accuses critics of the center of being part of “Zionist propaganda,” adding that the center’s “major concern is sponsoring the Arab rights in Palestine.”
The Harvard Crimson reported that links on the Web site lead to the writings of Holocaust deniers and several writers who have been accused of anti-Semitism.
An HDS spokesperson says that school’s acceptance of the gift, which was to endow a professorship in Islamic religious studies, predates the existence of both the center and its Web site.
The gift was presented to the school in the late 1990s, and the final terms were accepted by Zayed in June 2000. The center formed in 1999, but it did not launch its Web site and begin many of its public activities until the fall of 2001.
While the professorship has officially been established, the money has not yet been spent by HDS. Graham has said that he was aware of concerns about the center before he was approached by the student and professor group.
The HDS spokesperson said all gifts are accepted and processed at the university level, and so Graham, who is a scholar of Islam, and HDS will not have the last word on whether the gift is returned.
HDS released a statement May 16 calling some material on the center’s Web site “extremely offensive.”
“Both the Divinity School and the University as a whole have historically sought to embody religious tolerance and diversity, and take this issue very seriously,” the statement said.
The school hired an independent researcher who has submitted a report to a university committee that is considering the gift return. A decision is expected in the next few weeks.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Relief Groups to Study Genetically Modified Food in Their Aid Programs
(RNS) A group of international ecumenical and relief groups is calling for guidelines on the use of genetically modified food in their emergency aid programs.
A team of experts from the Lutheran World Federation, the World Council of Churches and the aid organization Action by Churches Together is being set up to address food safety, justice and theological issues arising from the use of genetically modified food in countries facing famine and other hunger-related emergencies, Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religion news agency, reported.
“Often the question is not what type of food we can offer to the hungry, but rather whether we have anything to offer them at all,” said the Rev. Enos Moyo, the LWF’s aid representative in Zambia.
Questions of safety as well as legal issues have been raised about the use of genetically modified food.
“The use of genetically modified food in food aid programs is extremely problematic,” Rudolf Buntzel-Cano of the Church Development Service last month told a meeting of the LWF’s Department of World Service, where the issue first was raised. CDS is a consortium of German Protestant aid agencies.
He said there are also legal uncertainties because small-scale farmers would not be able to replant seeds from their harvest without infringing on the patent rights of the five companies that control the market. Normally farmers set aside a portion of their harvest for seedlings.
Opinion on the safety of genetically modified food varies. Some European countries bar the import of such food while other nations have strict labeling requirements.
Buntzel-Cano called for all food aid to have a certificate specifying the origin of food used in relief and development programs and for the right of countries in need of aid to reject genetically modified food.
_ David E. Anderson
Bill Gates Pledges Part of $19 Million for Catholic Schools
(RNS) An innovative network of urban Catholic high schools that boasts high graduation rates for disadvantaged students received $19 million from Microsoft founder Bill Gates and the Cassin Educational Initiative Foundation.
The gift will allow the Jesuit-run Cristo Rey network to launch 12 new schools in New York City, Cleveland, Denver, Boston, Tucson, Ariz., and other places.
The system, founded in 1994, already has more than 300 students in schools in Chicago; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; and Los Angeles. The program’s flagship school is Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago.
The schools target inner-city students who otherwise might never graduate. Students attend longer school sessions and work part-time in local businesses. The companies pay the schools roughly $25,000 a year, which helps to fund programs.
At the Chicago school, more than 85 percent of its students have graduated, and the entire Class of 2003 has been accepted to college. Tuition costs $2,200 a year.
“Successful models like Cristo Rey Jesuit High School should be part of the national discussion and local solution,” said Tom Vander Ark, director of education for the Gates foundation.
The growing success of the Cristo Rey model comes as 140 Catholic schools were closed or consolidated last year, according to the National Catholic Educational Association. Forty-seven new schools were opened.
“What we’re looking for is kids that are motivated,” Joshua Hale, director of development at the Chicago school, told The New York Times. “They may be a C student, but they want a brighter future.”
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will give $10 million to the project, and the Cassin Foundation, a longtime supporter of the Cristo Rey model, will give $8.9 million.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
TV News Editors Cover Religion But Half Say Other Topics More Important
(RNS) Television news editors cover religious holidays and other local faith-related events but half of them do not believe religion is as important as health, science or business news, a new survey shows.
The survey, released Tuesday (May 20) by the Interreligious Information Center, found that all 41 news editors who responded said their stations cover religious holidays and local events of the various faith groups in their community.
A total of 100 questionnaires were e-mailed to TV news editors by students from the Scripps Howard Foundation, the funder of the survey.
Forty-nine percent of the news editors said religion is not as important as health, science or business news. About one-third said it was as important as those other news topics.
Almost nine out of 10 news editors said they used clergy and other religious leaders on news broadcasts, interview programs and discussion forums to cover national and international stories such as pedophilia, the pope, President Bush and the war in Iraq.
Ninety percent of those surveyed said they believed religion is an important part of the lives of people living in their area. Ten percent of them said they have a full- or part-time religion reporter, 7 percent said they have considered hiring such a person and 78 percent said they have not considered hiring someone to cover religion news.
The Interreligious Information Center, an organization based in Port Washington, N.Y., has sponsored consultations on religion and media across the globe.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: Actor Jim Carrey
(RNS) “The idea of screaming at God was scary. That was part of the reason I was attracted to it.”
_ Actor Jim Carrey, star of “Bruce Almighty,” a movie in which he plays a TV reporter who curses God and is temporarily given divine powers. He was quoted by USA Today.
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