JOURNALISTS ATTITUDES TOWARD NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS

This paper is a follow-up to a large content analysis project of print media coverage of new religious movements (sometimes called ''cults'' ). That research, which has now been replicated both in the U.K. and i n Australia by other scholars, showed biases and misinformation in the way certain new religious phenomena were presented, but begged the qu estion of why such differences might exist. This paper reports researc h carried out in the U.S. on the issue of possible bias and misinforma tion about new religions among journalists. Of particular note is rese arch with a sample of individual religious newswriters in America who were sent surveys in an effort to ascertain their attitudes toward and experiences with minority religions, as well as toward participants i n the ''anti-cult movement.'' Results of the survey show correspondenc e between earlier findings from the content analysis research, raising questions about the overall objectivity and neutrality of journalists covering the groups. Implications of the findings are discussed.