wfn.org | Two TV Specials on Race & Religion in the

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Media

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the
U.S.A.
Contact: Mary Byrne Hoffmann
Tel: (212) 870-2574
Internet:  news@ncccusa.org

35NCC4/20/98

TWO TELEVISION SPECIALS LOOK AT RACE IN RELIGION AND
IN MEDIA
Documentaries to Air on Odyssey and Network
Affiliates in Fall '98

 New York --- At the close of the 20th century,
The National Council of Churches is producing two
one-hour documentaries that explore how the church
and the media - both pivotal institutions in the
conveyance of contemporary values - have reflected
the spiritual and cultural diversity of modern
American life.

 "The millennium is getting a lot of attention
these days, but in two years we also will enter
another century," said Dave Pomeroy, Director of
Electronic Media for the Council.  "The National
Council of Churches is marking this occasion with
two programs that survey the incredible events of
the last half of this century that have changed
forever how we see ourselves."

 Just around the mid-point of this century, in
the early 1950s, two events coincided to change
irrevocably the nature of community.  The first
event, the arrival of the television set into most
American homes, reframed our perspective of the
world.  The traditional town square - church,
school, town hall and almost invariably all white -
was pushed beyond unknown boundaries into the
electronic town square of television, commercial
films, computer and the Internet with the capacity
to reflect a much broader and far more diverse sense
of community than most of us lived in.  To look at
the big picture of how media have shaped our sense
of ourselves and others, Race and Media (working
title) goes to the big screen to explore how
Hollywood values reflect the breadth of American
society.

 Produced for the NCC by the United Church of
Christ, Race and Media delves into the personal
visions of those women and men who used film to
bridge racial and cultural divides.  Through film
clippings and interviews with well- known producers,
writers and actors, the program uncovers the
professional commitment and personal challenges that
inspired great works of multi-cultural and multi-
racial understanding.  For an historical context,
Race and Media also uses archival footage to take a
retrospective glance at how media have dealt with
race over the years.  Race and Media then turns to
the viewers - the consumers of media images and
messages -for the final judgment.  In conversations
with ordinary folks across the country, Race and
Media assesses the capacity of media to transform
lives.

Second Program to Air on ABC
 The second mid-century watershed event was the
1954 Supreme Court decision - Brown vs. The Board of
Education - legislating the immediate end of
segregation in American schools. In churches across
the country, the decision had a profound and
unsettling effect, in essence, calling Christians to
task.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ, which
unequivocally demands inclusivity, was being
preached almost 2,000 years later in congregations
deeply entrenched in racism.  The racial chasm in
local congregations and national denominations
provoked the now infamous description of the 11 AM
worship service as "the most  segregated hour in
America."

 The second NCC program, Racism and
Reconciliation (working title), examines how several
faith communities are coming to terms with the
racism in their midst - almost 50 years after the
Supreme Court decision.  Produced by United
Methodist Communications for the NCC, the program
tells the stories of people working towards
reconciliation where moral actions have lagged far
behind legal imperatives.  This dissonance was no
better exemplified than in the recent church
burnings that shocked both the general population
and faith communities into the reality of persistent
cultural and institutional racism. Some of the
stories in this program emanate from the
extraordinary outreach to rebuild burned churches
and the changes that took place in those
communities.  Race and Reconciliation also will
visit churches where people of many races worship
together, sometimes in multi-lingual services, as
models of encouragement for other communities.  Race
and Reconciliation discovers and tells stories of
the kind of personal transformation that inspires
broader institutional reconciliation.

 Race and the Media is the fourth of four
programs in the annual Horizons of the Spirit series
and will be distributed to ODYSSEY and NBC affiliate
stations in September 1998.

 Racism and Reconciliation is the first program
in the annual Vision and Values series and will be
offered to ODYSSEY and ABC affiliates stations in
October 1998,

 The Horizons of the Spirit and Vision and
Values series are presented by the Interfaith
Broadcasting Commission of which the National
Council of Churches is a member along with The
Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the Southern
Baptist Commission, and the United States Catholic
Conference.  The programs in both series are
distributed to ABC and NBC affiliate stations for
optional clearance within 60 days of the broadcast.
Please check your local
listings for exact time and date in your area.

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