On Being

» Email  ¦ » Print  ¦ + Share

Krista's Prep

Want to dig deeper? Find out more? For each program, producers gather a lot of background material for Krista and staff to use in preparing for interviews and producing programs. Here's a sample of the information we came across in preparing for this program.

Books by Diane Winston

• Small Screen, Picture: Television and Lived Religion (Baylor University Press, 2009).
• Faith in the Market: Religion and Urban Commercial Culture (Rutgers University Press, 2002).
• Red Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army (Harvard University Press, 2000).
  • New York Times review of Red Hot and Righteous (March 1999).

Winston's Blog: the SCOOP

Winston blogs for the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at USC's Annenberg School for Communication. Here she and others write about religion, politics, and media. Some samples:

• "Leap of Faith": Post on Gaza and “peace journalism” that references Battlestar Galactica (March 2009).
• "Obama Meets Adama": More on Battlestar Galactica, Bono, Beyoncé and the need for good journalism (January 2009).
• "True Love Waits…But Not for Long": On Bristol Palin and denominational and class trends around teens and sex (October 2008).
• "At Work in the World": On the immigration raids and coverage of relations among Orthodox Jews, white Christians, and Christian Latinos in Postville, IA (July 2008).

Columns by Winston

Winston developed a "Faith Front" column for the LA Times. Here are some samples:

• "So Where are the Muslims on CSI?" (Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2006).
• "Religious progressives, the next generation" (Los Angeles Times, Feb 5, 2006).
• "Malling Christmas &mash; When buying becomes a way to express our religious beliefs, we're selling out the soul of the holiday" (Los Angeles Times, December 25, 2005).

Recent References/Quotes

Winston is frequently quoted about religion, politics, pop culture and the media. Here's a sampler of some recent citations:

• "'Idol' Song Choice Courts Controversy and Finds It; Singer Is Voted Off": Winston is quoted on an American Idol contestant who was voted off the show after performing a song from Jesus Christ Superstar (New York Times, April 25, 2008).
• "Faith-Based Views Veer Off a Straight Political Line": quoted on same-sex marriage and how religious affiliation is not a neat predictor of people's stances on public policy and politics (New York Times, December 12, 2008).
• "Muslims on TV, No Terror in Sight" on the representation of Muslims on TV (New York Times, November 11, 2007).
• Audio: Winston appeared on NPR's News & Notes: "How Faith Shapes Modern-Day Politics" (September 2008).
• Winston is quoted in "A Pastor Finds a Way to Serve Two Disparate Flocks" about religious thinkers/writers who have taken up blogging (New York Times, August 11, 2007).
• "Anti-religion agenda among social media users": a 2008 Los Angeles Times article about social networking sites like Digg and why they don't attract a religious audience (November 6, 2008).
• Winston is quoted in a 2008 USA Today article entitled "Myers' latest spoof hits 'ohm'" about representations of culture and religion in comedies. The article focuses on Mike Myers' depiction of a Deepak Chopra-style guru in the film, The Love Guru (March 27, 2008).

Video

• Television producers and writers speaking in Winston's class at USC, includes video of David Shore (House) and Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica):
• More video of Ronald D. Moore's (Battlestar Galactica) 2007 visit to Winston's class: Part one, Part two.
• The Annenberg School at USC has posted videos of their events and talks on their YouTube channel. Here are a few samples:
  • Dedication ceremony for the Knight Chair in Media and Religion (50 mins., 2005. Winston begins speaking at 15:13).
  • Whose Crusade? Media, Muslims, and the Kingdom of Heaven (90 mins., 2008). Winston leads a panel discussion with scholars, religious leaders, and film critics about the film Kingdom of Heaven (2005).
  • Media and Religion Forum: Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (51 mins., 2009). and other USC Annenberg faculty participate in a discussion with the author of Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way (2007).
  • Forgive Us Our Sins: Institutional Evil and Personal Responsibility (83 mins., 2009). A panel organized by Winston explores whether and how 9/11 affected American ideas about individual and corporate evil as evidenced on television shows such as The Wire, The Sopranos, Oz, and The Shield.

Recent Articles/Studies Discussing Religion, Television, and Social Narrative

• "Black presidents we have known" (Salon, November 3, 2008).
• "TV, God and the supernatural" (Abilene Reporter-News (Texas), June 26, 2008).
• "Preaching Moderate Islam and Becoming a TV Star" (New York Times, January 2, 2009).
• "Watching 'Friends' in Gaza: A Culture Clash" (New York Times, September 6, 2008).
• "Reality TV gets religion" (Washington Times, March 22, 2009).
• "A new belief in religious TV" (The Guardian, September 1, 2008).
• "Can One TV Show Make a Difference? Will and Grace and the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis" (Communication Studies Department, University of Minnesota, 2005).