Home Contact The Classroom The Headlines Arab Women // Social Change Checkpoint The Projects GlobalPost ‘Special Reports’ Belief Blog India 2012 India 2014 Ireland 2013 Knight Grants for Reporting on Religion and Public Life Knight Luce Fellowship for Reporting on Global Religion Luce Initiative On Religion And International Affairs Mezer – Meiser The Israel-Palestine Project 2010 The Israel-Palestine Project 2011 The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media The Scoop About Diane Winston holds the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. A national authority on religion and the media as both a journalist and a scholar, her expertise includes religion, politics and the news media as well as religion and the entertainment media. Professor Winston’s current research interests are media coverage of Islam, religion and new media, and the place of religion in American identity. At the University of Southern California, Professor Winston teaches courses that examine religion as it relates to journalism, visual media, American history and foreign policy. Reporting from her class on international religion has appeared in numerous publications including the “Hollywood, Faith and Media,” her class on spirituality and ethics on television dramas, has hosted writer/directors such as David Shore (“House”), Nancy Franklin (“Saving Grace”) and Ron Moore (“Battlestar Galactica”). The guest lectures are available on YouTube. Professor Winston also has hosted conferences on post-9/11 television and the war on terror, religion and electoral politics, and Islam and the news media. Professor Winston’s current research in on religion and the news media. Her newest book is The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media (Oxford University Press, 2012) and she is currently finishing Heartland Religion: The American News Media and the Reagan Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2013). The Oxford Handbook is an edited volume with sections on world religions, religion and hot-button social issues, the history of religion and the news in the United States, and the religious press. Heartland Religion revisits the 1970s and 1980s to explore how the news media contributed to the conservative ideological shift known as the Reagan Revolution. Between 1983 and 1995, Professor Winston covered religion at the Raleigh News and Observer, the Dallas Times Herald and the Baltimore Sun and contributed regularly to the Dallas Morning News. She has won numerous press association awards and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her work in Raleigh, Dallas and Baltimore. Her articles also have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post and the Chronicle of Higher Education among other publications. Winston’s blogging about religion and media can also be found on The Scoop. In 1996, Winston received a Ph.D. from Princeton University. She also holds Master’s degrees from Harvard Divinity School and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Her work in American religion has explored evangelicalism, gender, consumer culture and urbanization. Her published books are Red Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army(Harvard, 1999), Faith in the Market: Religion and Urban Commercial Culture(Rutgers, 2003) and Small Screen, Picture: Lived Religion and Television(Baylor, 2009). Program Overview In today’s world, religion plays a crucial role in domestic and international affairs. That’s why reporters benefit by understanding the importance of religion, spirituality, ethics and values to both individuals and society. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, aware that religion coverage requires more than “a few good religious beat reporters,” conceived of the Knight Chair in Media and Religion as a rallying point for the re-visioning of religion in the news. In 2002, the foundation awarded the $1.5 million Chair to the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in recognition of the school’s commitment to enhancing media coverage of religion in the 21st century and raising public awareness of religion’s socio-cultural significance. The school pledged to facilitate better coverage of religion, spirituality, ethics and values, and recruited Dr. Diane Winston to the Chair. The Knight Program in Media and Religion is internationally recognized for its innovative research, practical resources and journalistic training. Thanks to the university’s many resources — including the School of Religion, Center for Religion and Civic Culture, the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, the School of Cinematic Arts, and the Norman Lear Center, as well as local stakeholders such as Hebrew Union College, Fuller Theological Seminary, and the Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Foundation, — the new Knight Program can integrate professional excellence with cutting-edge research. In addition, Southern California’s diverse religious constituencies — ranging from long-established Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities to evangelicals, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and members of new religious movements — provide the ideal laboratory for the study and documentation of Diaspora religions as well as the more homegrown varieties. The Knight Chair in Media and Religion participates in a wide range of activities, including fellowships for in-depth, explanatory reporting, conferences for working journalists, community events and resource development. Dr. Winston addresses a host of issues surrounding religion and media through her writing and public speaking, as well as her development of coursework and symposiums. Through these outreach activities, USC Annenberg has become a hub for re-visioning how the press—and society itself—thinks about and reports on religion. Mission Statement The Knight Chair seeks to establish the Annenberg School for Communication as a pre-eminent location for the enhancement of religion coverage—not simply confined to the traditional realms of religion reporting but one which proactively illuminates the intersection of religion and all beats, whether politics, environment, education, or entertainment. The Chair will develop courses for journalism students, sponsor public events, and initiate venture projects with local constituencies. The program aims to serve the news industry by working with media corporations and professional journalism associations to create an environment conducive to the critical understanding of religion, spirituality, and moral values as fundamental elements of coverage. In this capacity, the Chair will initiate continuing education programs that benefit journalists. More Information Articles about Diane Winston: The SMU Daily Campus, 2/10/12 The Daily Trojan: Helping Journalists Keep the Faith, 10/13/08 Articles by Diane Winston: Pope Francis’ woman problem, Los Angeles Times, August 4, 2013 Jerusalem Honors Right-Wing Mogul Sheldon Adelson, Religion Dispatches, June 3, 2013 The Myth of News Media as Secularist Conspiracy, Religion Dispatches, April 16, 2013 As Irish Flee the Church, a Push for Reform, Religion Dispatches, March 18, 2013 Does Digital Communication Encourage or Inhibit Spiritual Progress? Big Questions Online, January 15, 2013 The evolving politics of faith, Los Angeles Times, September 9, 2012 William Booth’s army of salvation, Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2012 Heterosexual Martyrs and Gay Saints: Did AIDS Coverage Clear the Way for LGBT Equality? Religion Dispatches, July 16, 2012 Do You Have Faith in the Media? Washington Post, April 5, 2012 Review of The Mormon People by Matthew Bowman and LDS in the USA by Lee Trepanier and Lynita K. Newswander, Washington Post, March 9, 2012 Tea Party, Circa 1930s, Religion Dispatches, September 26, 2011 Spreading the Good Word, Online New York Times, September 8, 2011 Review of “Inside Scientology,” The Washington Post, July 14, 2011 Religion and AIDS at 30, The Huffington Post, June 7, 2011 Student Reporters Take on the Mideast Beat, The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 16, 2011 Did Mad Men Get Religion? The Huffington Post, October 20, 2010 God Bless This Mess? The Jewish Journal, October 13, 2010 What Americans Really Need to Know About Religion, The Huffington Post, October 6, 2010 Gunning for the Pope? The Huffington Post, July 6, 2010 Pat Tillman and Prop 8: Two New Documentaries’ Take on God and Power, The Huffington Post, June 22, 2010 Hidden in Plain Sight: Israel’s Palestinian Citizens, The Huffington Post, March 22, 2010 City on a Hill: Can the U.S. Provide a Model for Israel? The Huffington Post, March 17, 2010 Israeli Right Demonizes Israeli Left, With American Money, Religion Dispatches, February 22, 2010 Capricology: Television, Technology and the Sacred, a blog launched on January 29, 2010 at Religion Dispatches. Epidemics, Inoculation and God’s Will, The Washington Post, October 1, 2009 Give Me That Small Screen Religion, Religion Dispatches, July 27, 2009 To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise (review), Religion Dispatches, June 21, 2009 Covering Religion in the New Year: The Atheist Bus and More, Religion Dispatches, January 9, 2009 Back to the Future: Religion, Politics and the Media, American Quarterly,September 2007 Press Coverage of Religion Tilts Right, The Huffington Post, June 7, 2007 Falwell had a dream, The Huffington Post, May 22, 2007 Forgetting Falwell, The Revealer, May 17, 2007 iFaith in the Amen Corner: How Gen Y is Rethinking Religion on Campus Social Science Research Council: The Religious Engagement of American Undergraduates, May 11, 2007 Feeding desires, judging sin, The Revealer, December 11, 2006 Redeeming Media Relations, Fuller Theology News & Notes, Fall 2006 The Not-so-secret path to “The Path to 9-11,” The Revealer, September 11, 2006 A Different set of questions, The Revealer, June 28, 2006 So where are the Muslims on CSI, Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2006 A blessing or a purse, it’s your choice, Los Angeles Times, April 16, 2006 Isaiahs are in short supply, Los Angeles Times, March 26, 2006 Atheism with a smile, Los Angeles Times, March 5, 2006 Don’t take Jewish centrality for granted, The Jewish Week, February 24, 2006 Religious progressives, the next generation, Los Angeles Times, February 5, 2006 The risk of playing religion straight, Los Angeles Times, January 8, 2006 When the conflict narrative doesn’t fit, Nieman Reports, January 1, 2006 Malling Christmas, Los Angeles Times, December 25, 2005 The power that made Rosa Parks, Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2005 6 million Muslim stories waiting to be told, Los Angeles Times, November 20, 2005 Redemption, God, a Crip and the “rapture index,” Los Angeles Times, October 23, 2005 The mystical all-star band boogied down the Katrina blues, Los Angeles Times, October 2, 2005 Goose bumps at an L.A. mosque, Los Angeles Times, September 4, 2005 Polygamy, white booties and fiberglass oxen, Los Angeles Times, August 7, 2005 From strip show to skid row, Los Angeles Times, June 26, 2005 Hollywood’s spooky spirituality, Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2005 Crusading iPoders for Christ, Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2005 Shaken by the notion of a faith-based nation, The Baltimore Sun, November 10, 2004 Tocqueville on the Campaign Trail, The Revealer, October 26, 2004 What and why people believe, The Revealer, September 11, 2004 Framing power, Maybe religion reporters aren’t so stupid, after all, The Revealer, February 4, 2004 Unsung heroes, Beliefnet, May 23, 2000 Recent Presentations: “Religion, Sexuality and AIDS: All the News That’s Firt to Print?” at “Media, Religion and Social Transformation,” a conference sponsored by the Center for Religion and Media at New York University, April 26, 2012. Lecturer at the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, USC Religion and American Journalism Conference, March 28, 2012 Moderator, “Looking for Judaism in (Un) Conventional Places,” asymosium hosted by the Center for Jewish Studies at UCLA, Feb. 13, 2012 Panelist on “Teaching Religion in Public Schools,” KCRW Lecturer on the impact of the media on the Salvation Army’s mission and identity at a public symposium on “The Relationship of Religion and Philanthropy in Religious Philanthropic Organizations” at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis October 8, 2010 Panelist: “Religion and Media,” Ford Foundation Board of Trustees, April 21, 2009 “Religion, Media and Nonprofits,” International Center for Media Studies’ Symposium ‘Emerging Technologies, Globalization and the Developing World,’April 6, 2009 “Religion, the News Media and the 2008 Election,” UCLA Extension Series: Beyond the Headlines: Morning Edition, November 18, 2008 Panelist: Annenberg Open Forum on Politics, War and More, USC, November 6, 2008 Panelist: “Generation ‘Next’ Votes: Does Faith Matter?, USC Visions & Voices and the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, October 29, 2008 “Run for the White House: Religion, Race, Gender and the Media,” ASU Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, October 16, 2008; podcast available here;video feed available here. “The Role That Religion has Played in the 2008 Elections,” NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change, September 27, 2008 “Religion and World Politics,” Festival of Faiths 2008, USC, 26 February 2008 US Elections and Religion, February 19, 2008 “Going Public on Religion: Paradise or Pitfall,” American Academy of Religion, 19 November 2007. “Sleeper Cell: Viewing Religion, Race and Terrorism in a Post 9/11 World,” American Academy of Religion, 17 November 2007. “Reporting on Religion: Religious Intolerance in Perspective,” Harvard Divinity School LA Regional Event, 16 November 2007. “Buddhism in the News: Religion, Media and Public Diplomacy,” Religion, Identity and Global Governance Conference (USC), 18 October 2007. “What Went Right: Religion, Politics and Journalism in the Twentieth Century,” American Studies Association, 11 October 2007. “Going Public on Religion: Paradise or Pitfall,” American Academy of Religion, 19 November 2007. “Interfaith Dialogue and Action,” Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (UCSB), 27 August 2007. Gralla Institute, 15 July 2007. MIT Communications Forum: Evangelicals and the Media April 5, 2007 The Future Is Now: Gralla Institute 2006 Keynote, Brandeis, July 16, 2006 If It Bleeds, It Leads: ASU Center for the Study of Religion & Conflict Marshall Series Lecture, April 20, 2006 The Way to the Land is Through the Wilderness: Pacific School of Religion Earl Lecture, January 24, 2006 Quoted: And Now, the News through Catholic Eyes, The Atlantic, September 3, 2014 ‘Scandalous’ evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson gets star turn on Broadway, On Faith, Washington Post, November 12, 2012 Christian rock rises again on the charts, on the road, on the sea, Los Angeles Times, October 20, 2012 Debate over God is business as usual in the U.S., San Diego Union Tribune, September 7, 2012 Evangelicals ponder their vote, Mormons and national debt, Ventura County Star, August 26, 2012 TV’s Favorite Serial Killer Finds Religion, Washington Post, September 27, 2011 In the Glare of Public Scrutiny, Some Candidates Develop an Aversion to “Spicy” Religious Labels, Kansas City Star, July 22, 2011 Religion is Getting Its Prime-time Moment, Charlotte Observer, July 16, 2011 Crystal Cathedral: A Mega Church in Troubled Waters, NPR, June 5, 2011 Muslim-Americans Try to “Write” Hollywood’s Wrongs, NPR, March 27, 2011 Tween Evangelist? Justin Bieber Film Packed with Prayer, USA Today, February 10, 2011 For Top Religion Stories of 2010, A Major Case of Déjà Vu, Huffington Post, November 27, 2010 Pamela Geller, “Queen of Muslim Bashers,” at Center of N.Y. “Mosque” Debate, Religion News Service, August 20, 2010 Laws of Change, Roanoke Times, August 19, 2006 Pride often trips up powerful figures, Rocky Mountain News, November 4, 2006 Fall TV Season Programs Are Out of This World, Baltimore Sun, July 22, 2007 A Pastor Finds a Way to Serve Two Disparate Flocks, New York Times, August 11, 2007 Superheroes to our rescue, Baltimore Sun, September 16, 2007 Jewish Flare of New TV Shows, Baltimore Jewish Times, September 21, 2007 Muslims on TV, No Terror in Sight, New York Times, November 11, 2007 With a Mormon candidate on the ballot, area church members open up about their beliefs, Ventura County Star, January 12, 2008 Westminster, Cypress show their faith in God, OC Register, February 24, 2008 USC religion site dissects the ‘new Seven Deadly Sins’, Dallas Morning News,March 11, 2008 Myers’ latest spoof hits ‘ohm’, Yahoo, March 27, 2008 ‘Idol’ Song Choice Courts Controversy and Finds It; Singer Is Voted Off, New York Times, April 25, 2008 Candidates and pastors: A holy war ahead?, Philly.com, May 23, 2008 Rick Warren hopes to redefine presidential politics, Orange County Register,August 8, 2008 Pastor to endorse candidate: West Bend minister part of initiative against tax code, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, September 26, 2008 Anti-religion Agenda Among Social Media Users, Los Angeles Times, November 6, 2008 Gay-Marriage Ban Protestors Target Mormon Church, National Public Radio, November 7, 2008 Faith-Based Views Veer Off a Straight Political Line, New York Times, December 13, 2008 Spiritual Themes, Explored From Many Angles, New York Times, April 10, 2009 Couple’s Site Invites Others on Spiritual Quest, Denver Post, May 10, 2009 Books by Diane Winston: The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media, 2012 Red Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army, 1999 Co-editor, Faith in the Market: Religion and the Rise of Urban Commercial Culture, 2002 Editor and Author, Small Screen, Big Picture: Television and Lived Religion, 2009 Complete CV available here. Media appearances by Diane Winston: “Monster We Love: TV’s Pop Culture Theodicy,” on “Krista Tippett On Being” (American Public Media), December 1, 2011. “The Cost of Ignorance: Teaching Religion in Public Schools,” on “To the Point” (KCRW and Public Radio International), December 20, 2010. “Tis the Season…to be Angry About Religion,” on “The Pat Morrison Show” (Southern California Public Radio), December 15, 2010. “Non-Believers Know More About Religion?” on AirTalk (Southern California Public Radio), September 28, 2010. Participant in a press conference on a Public Religion Research Institute survey about Proposition 8 and the religious community. Quoted in USAToday, on KPCC and other news outlets, July 21, 2010. Panelist on the Canadian Broadcast Corp’s “Sunday Edition” program to discuss recent coverage of religion by the news media, April 2010 “The Church of the Salvation Army” on NPR’s “Tell Me More,” December 4, 2009 “Religious ‘Nones’ and Religious Branding,” Fox News Special Report, August 14, 2009 “TV and Parables of Our Time,” on “Speaking of Faith” with Krista Tippett, July 16, 2009 “Gay-Marriage Ban Protesters Target Mormon Church,” NPR, November 7, 2008 LA Roundtable: The Presidential Election, LA CityView Channel 35, October 27, 2008 “Sanctuary Movement,” KCET Life & Times, May 9, 2007 “Mormon Mitt Romney’s Potential as President,” NPR: Day to Day, December 4, 2006 “Money 101: ‘Christmas and Commerce,'” KNX 1070, November 27, 2006 “The Fall of Ted Haggard,” CTV.ca, November 3, 2006 “Should Jesus Be on Television?” NPR: Talk of the Nation’s Opinion Page, January 9, 2006 Leave a Reply Your email address will not be published. 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