Media Misses the Story, Churchgoers Say

The Faith and the Media conference at Carlton University School of Journalism to be held June 7-9, 1998 prompted this first-ever probe of the public's views on the media's coverage of faith in Canada.

Missing the Story

Two thirds (65%) of weekly churchgoers feel "the media does a poor job of covering faith and religion and that this area does not get the kind of media coverage it should". Further, 55% of weekly churchgoers feel faith and religious issues receive less coverage than they should, while just 12% feel the same about business news and analysis.

Six in ten Canadians (60%) say religion is an important part of their lives and 22% attend religious services once a week or more.

These are some of the findings of a National Angus Reid Poll conducted by telephone between May 12th and 17th, 1998 among a representative cross-section of 1,516 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, one can say with 95% certainty that the results are within 1772.5 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Andrew Grenville
Senior Vice President
Angus Reid Group, Inc.
(416) 324-2900