Religious, Conservative Leaders Urge Media Coverage of Christian Genocide

A group of more than 30 Christian and conservative leaders have signed a letter urging the media — especially the major broadcast networks — to report on the genocide against Middle East Christians at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS.)

The letter, crafted by the Media Research Center, asks the media to help expose ISIS's "acts of mass murder, and the humanitarian and religious crisis continuing to transpire in the Middle East," according to a statement from the MRC.

A recent MRC study showed that the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) used the word "genocide" only six times out of the "underwhelming 60 references to Christian persecution over the last two years," the statement reads.

The letter itself notes that many Christian groups have document the attacks of Islamic terrorists that have at times wiped out entire Christian neighborhoods and villages.

"ISIS has desecrated hundreds of churches and destroyed ancient Christian holy sites in acts of 'cultural cleansing,'" the letter notes. "Christians have been murdered — often mass murders — in a dozen countries. Islamic terrorists have tortured, beheaded, crucified or burned alive priests, nuns and worshippers alike. Families are routinely broken up and women are forced into sexual slavery. Stunningly, almost none of it has made the evening news broadcasts, and the networks almost never called what it is: genocide."

The letter is signed by MRC President Brent Bozell; American Values' Gary L. Bauer; Ambassador Kenneth Blackwell, who is a former U.S. Representative to the United Nations Human Rights Commission; musician Charlie Daniels; Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips; and Catholic League President Bill Donohue.

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