"Describe the variety of specifically religious programmes on mainstream television."

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Religion and the Media – Religious TV Programmes                  Dalia Youssef 10ZI 2Y  

Religion and the Media – Religious TV Programmes

“Describe the variety of specifically religious programmes on mainstream television.”

 There are three main types of religious programmes; magazine, worship and documentary. Throughout my essay I hope to explore these programmes, providing examples and discussing their effect on an audience. I hope to do this by evaluating and analysing the different programmes. I will also discuss the reasons behind why they are made.

Religious programmes are made for a reason. They are a replacement to going to a church or another place of worship. They may be aimed at disabled people who can’t get to church, or people who have busy lifestyles, either way; they aim to bring religion to people’s homes.

 

One of the three types of religious programmes is a magazine type programme.  An example of a magazine type programme is the Heaven and Earth Show, which can be seen on BBC1 at 10.00am, in the god – slot (usually Saturday or Sunday morning). They are called magazine type programmes because they include a variety of items e.g. interviews, guests, discussions, debates, phone-in…

The Heaven and Earth show, as the title suggests, tires to give the impression that Earth is connected to Heaven through religion or through a television programme, on Sunday morning, at 10.00am on the BBC! Which can mislead people to think that if they watch it, they will go to heaven? As in the end most of us would rather go to heaven than hell, I for one.

The show opens with different people of different faiths, doing different everyday things. This suggests that the show is for anybody and everybody. This is carried on with the choice of presenters; there are two, a man and a woman, which sub-consciously gives the impression that the show is for both men and women.

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The show is very informal, which is purposely done, to help make people comfortable and help to bring religion into the home, easily. They create the informal appearance with the aid of the presenters and the set. The presenters hold cups of “tea”, which are actually empty and just make the presenters look stupid. The presenters make out how it is freezing cold, when behind them, the sun is blatantly shining through the window. Apart from trying to make idiots out themselves, they hold mugs and pretend to be “cold” to create a cosy, homely appearance. They also do ...

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