The Saga of Christian American: Identifying Mission and Locating Audience at a Religiously Oriented Publication

Abstract

This article is a case study of the history of the struggle to define the outlook and readership of the Christian Coalition's official newspaper, later a magazine. Through interviews with all members of the publication's editorial staff and leadership during its eight years of operation, the author tells the often-intriguing tale of its changes in philosophy, management, and voice, while at the same time relating the moves to theoretical concepts about media audiences and audience making. The result is a realist tale adding to the scant literature on the journalistic history of the Christian conservative movement, its real and intended audience, and communication concepts.