98.7 percent of ABC, CBS, NBC evening newscasts leave Him out

Christmas stories, even on networks, might mention, just occasionally, Jesus, right?

Right. A whopping 1.3 percent of the time.

That's the result of an analysis by the Culture & Media Institute on the number of times ABC, CBS and NBC mentioned Christ or God during their coverage of Christmas over a period of two years.

The report, completed by Erin Brown, said, "Two thousand years ago, there was no room for Mary and Joseph at the inn in Bethlehem. Fittingly enough, in the past two years, there was no room for their baby at the network evening news shows.

"Two years of Christmas coverage on three networks produced a scant 1.3 percent of stories mentioning the deity."

The center said it looked at network evening news shows that mentioned "Christmas" from Oct. 1, 2008, to Sept. 30, 2010, and found that networks consistently neglected stories about family, religion and the blessings Americans enjoy.

The report said just seven stories out of 527 (1.3 percent) mentioned the deity in two years of network news coverage. Further, "Only 312 words, in 19 sentences over two years and three networks mentioned 'God,' 'Jesus' or 'Christ.'"

"CBS used more words than that (320 to be exact) in a single story about the possible addition of table tennis to the Olympic Games in 2012," the report said.

Of the stories that referenced the holiday, 116 put it in terms of the 2009 Christmas Day underwear bomber on Flight 253 over Detroit – 22 percent of the total coverage for the two years.

"Retail stories were a favorite Christmas topic as well – the networks dedicated 104 Christmas stories (19.7 percent) to coverage of how Christmas sales impacted the bottom line for the U.S. economy and revenue for retailers around the nation."

The study looked at programs including ABC's "WorldNews," the "CBS Evening News" and "NBC Nightly News" during the two Christmas seasons.

The other 98.7 percent of the news not dealing with Christmas talked about the economy, weather, travel, retail sales, the health care legislation and other issues.

"The media could argue that national security threats trump everything when it comes to covering news, and therefore the excessive Christmas day underwear bomber stories were justified. But that ignores both the 2008 coverage and the stories leading up to the day of the bombing. In 2009, the year of the Christmas day bomber, only one story mentioned the deity, and in 2008, a mere five stories positively referenced God," the report said.

There would seem to be justification for mentioning the reason for the season, as Congress declared Dec. 25 a federal holiday in 1870 and some 80 percent of Americans self-identify as Christian, "so it's safe to say that they are not offended by the words 'Christ,' 'God' and "Jesus,'" the report said.

Cited as a worst example was guest anchor Amy Robach who filled in for Brian Williams on the "NBC Nightly News" on Christmas Day 2008. "In an almost 400-word segment about a chart-topping group of Irish priests and their CD titled 'Priests,' there was not one word about the deity of which they sang," the report said.

Then there was the 2009 Christmas Eve "CBS Evening News" broadcast that included 18 references to "Christmas," but all dealt with derailed travel plans, bad weather and the health care bill but no reference to the birth of Christ.

"And in 2009, possibly the worst example of ignoring the deity came from NBC. The 'Nightly News' completely failed to mention God during the entire 2009 Christmas season," the report said.

"The most newsy reference to God came from Charles Gibson in the Christmas Eve 2008 broadcast of 'World News Tonight.' Gibson said, 'In Rome, worshippers gathered in Saint Peter’s Square as Pope Benedict lit a candle and urged people around the world to pray for peace. He then celebrated midnight mass. And in Bethlehem, thousands crowded into Major Square, outside the Church of the Nativity, the site where Christians believe that Jesus was born,'" the report said.

"Plainly, to the networks, Christmas means travel delays and spikes in sales for retailers hoping to see profits in the black. Christmas means arbitrary congressional deadlines and general placeholders for timelines. Christmas means that a sexy Santa can get away with toeing that naughty line in order to attract buyers to his store," the report said. "On ABC, CBS and NBC, Christmas means everything except the birth of Christ."

www.wnd.com/