Pope Benedict XVI and the Obama administration generated the most religion-related coverage in the U.S. press in 2009.
The pope, though he made no visits to the United States last year, was the subject of two of the top 10 religion stories, while the Obama administration accounted for three of the top 10 religion-focused storylines during the year.
No single event dominated religion news coverage in 2009 the way the pope's visit to the U.S. did in 2008. Instead, when religion made the news, it was often just one element of a larger story, such as the debate over abortion funding and health care reform, the impact of the recession on religious institutions, or the actions of President Barack Obama's administration, including its continuation of the "faith-based initiative."
These are some of the findings of a new study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life that examined news stories from January through December 2009.
Read the full report Religion in the News: 2009 on the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life's Web site.