Diane Winston | USC Annenberg
-->Skip to main content
Faculty
Diane
Winston
Professor of Journalism and Communication; Knight Center Chair in Media and Religion
Diane Winston is a national authority on religion and the media as both a journalist and a scholar. Her expertise includes religion, politics and the news media as well as religion and the entertainment media.
Academic Program Affiliation:
Communication (BA)
Journalism (BA)
Journalism (MS)
Public Diplomacy (MPD)
Specialized Journalism (MA)
Specialized Journalism (Arts and Culture) (MA)
dianewin@usc.edu
trans-missions.org
Diane Winston is a national authority on religion and the media as both a journalist and a scholar. Her expertise includes religion, politics and the news media as well as religion and the entertainment media.
Expertise:
Arts and Culture, Global, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Religion
Research and Practice Areas:
Civic Engagement and Social Justice
Culture and Media
Media Industries and Journalism
Center Affiliation:
Knight Program for Media and Religion
Center on Public Diplomacy
Diane
Winston
Professor of Journalism and Communication; Knight Center Chair in Media and Religion
dianewin@usc.edu
trans-missions.org
Academic Program Affiliation:
Communication (BA)
Journalism (BA)
Journalism (MS)
Public Diplomacy (MPD)
Specialized Journalism (MA)
Specialized Journalism (Arts and Culture) (MA)
Tabs
Biography
Diane Winston is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist, author, and columnist.
Winston has authored and edited numerous books on the connection between religion, media, American history, and politics. They include
Red-Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army
(1999),
Faith in the Market: Religion and the Rise of Urban Commercial Culture
(2002),
Small Screen, Big Picture: Television and Lived Religion
(2009),
The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the News Media
(2012), and
Religion and Reality TV: Faith in Late Capitalism
(2018).
Her latest book –
Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan’s Evangelical Vision
(2023) — reveals how the Reagan presidency utilized news media to spread a new religious vision of American identity, one which continues to influence politics, including the rise of Trumpism and Christian nationalism.
As Knight Chair, Winston has hosted and moderated numerous discussion panels on topics ranging from reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to American right-wing religious identities, to the Vatican’s public diplomacy, to developments at the intersection of religion, media, and gender. She’s organized conferences on Arab Spring, religion and television, and reimagining religion reporting. She’s also a popular speaker on public scholarship, the rightward, political turn under Reagan, and the Salvation Army’s hidden religious identity.
Between 1983 and 1995, Winston covered religion for the
Raleigh News and Observer
Dallas Times Herald
, and
Baltimore Sun
, during which time she was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize three times. Her contributions have appeared in the
New York Times
Washington Post
Los Angeles Times
Wall Street Journal
Christian Science Monitor
Alta
, and many more.
Winston is currently a leader on the
Spiritual Infrastructure of the Future project
at Bryn Mawr College.
Winston holds a Master of Theological Studies from the Harvard Divinity School, an MS in Journalism from Columbia University, and a PhD in Religion from Princeton University.
Awards and honors:
Visions and Voices award, “Waging Peace in Vietnam,” Photography Exhibit and Panel Discussion, 2021
Visions and Voices award, “Last of the Polish Jews,” Film and Panel Discussion, 2018
Visions and Voices award, “Dead Man Walking the Journey Continues,” keynote by Sr. Helen Prejean, and “Windows on Death Row” art exhibition, 2015
Advisory Board, International Consultation on Media, Religion, and Culture, 2014
Publications and Work
Books
Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan’s Evangelical Vision,
author (University of Chicago Press, 2023).
Red-Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army,
author (Harvard University Press, 1999).
The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the News Media
, editor (Oxford University Press, 2012).
Small Screen, Big Picture: Television and Lived Religion
, editor (Baylor University Press, 2009).
Religion in Los Angeles: Religious Activism, Innovation, and Diversity in the Global City
, co-editor (Routledge Press, 2021).
Religion and Reality TV: Faith in Late Capitalism,
co-editor (Routledge Press, 2018).
Faith in the Market: Religion and the Rise of Urban Commercial Culture,
co-editor (New Brunswick N.J: Rutgers University Press, 2002).
News Articles
“National Prayer Breakfast: What does its history reveal?”
(The Conversation, 2017)
Media
Media Coverage
The Conversation
In pardoning reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, Trump taps into a sense of persecution felt by his conservative Christian base
The Conversation
‘Born in the USA’ turns 40 − and still remains one of Bruce Springsteen’s most misunderstood songs
Salon
Reagan’s great America shining on a hill twisted into Trump’s dark vision of Christian nationalism
Vanity Fair
What is it about California and cults?
Videos
Diane Winston on religion in Hollywood
Diane Winston on i24News
“There is sex, violence, money”: an American professor deciphers the success of ‘Game of Thrones’
Courses
Courses
JOUR 490x: Directed Research
JOUR 590: Directed Research
Faculty Directory
Biography
Diane Winston is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist, author, and columnist.
Winston has authored and edited numerous books on the connection between religion, media, American history, and politics. They include
Red-Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army
(1999),
Faith in the Market: Religion and the Rise of Urban Commercial Culture
(2002),
Small Screen, Big Picture: Television and Lived Religion
(2009),
The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the News Media
(2012), and
Religion and Reality TV: Faith in Late Capitalism
(2018).
Her latest book –
Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan’s Evangelical Vision
(2023) — reveals how the Reagan presidency utilized news media to spread a new religious vision of American identity, one which continues to influence politics, including the rise of Trumpism and Christian nationalism.
As Knight Chair, Winston has hosted and moderated numerous discussion panels on topics ranging from reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to American right-wing religious identities, to the Vatican’s public diplomacy, to developments at the intersection of religion, media, and gender. She’s organized conferences on Arab Spring, religion and television, and reimagining religion reporting. She’s also a popular speaker on public scholarship, the rightward, political turn under Reagan, and the Salvation Army’s hidden religious identity.
Between 1983 and 1995, Winston covered religion for the
Raleigh News and Observer
Dallas Times Herald
, and
Baltimore Sun
, during which time she was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize three times. Her contributions have appeared in the
New York Times
Washington Post
Los Angeles Times
Wall Street Journal
Christian Science Monitor
Alta
, and many more.
Winston is currently a leader on the
Spiritual Infrastructure of the Future project
at Bryn Mawr College.
Winston holds a Master of Theological Studies from the Harvard Divinity School, an MS in Journalism from Columbia University, and a PhD in Religion from Princeton University.
Awards and honors:
Visions and Voices award, “Waging Peace in Vietnam,” Photography Exhibit and Panel Discussion, 2021
Visions and Voices award, “Last of the Polish Jews,” Film and Panel Discussion, 2018
Visions and Voices award, “Dead Man Walking the Journey Continues,” keynote by Sr. Helen Prejean, and “Windows on Death Row” art exhibition, 2015
Advisory Board, International Consultation on Media, Religion, and Culture, 2014
Publications and Work
Books
Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan’s Evangelical Vision,
author (University of Chicago Press, 2023).
Red-Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army,
author (Harvard University Press, 1999).
The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the News Media
, editor (Oxford University Press, 2012).
Small Screen, Big Picture: Television and Lived Religion
, editor (Baylor University Press, 2009).
Religion in Los Angeles: Religious Activism, Innovation, and Diversity in the Global City
, co-editor (Routledge Press, 2021).
Religion and Reality TV: Faith in Late Capitalism,
co-editor (Routledge Press, 2018).
Faith in the Market: Religion and the Rise of Urban Commercial Culture,
co-editor (New Brunswick N.J: Rutgers University Press, 2002).
News Articles
“National Prayer Breakfast: What does its history reveal?”
(The Conversation, 2017)
Media
Media Coverage
The Conversation
In pardoning reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, Trump taps into a sense of persecution felt by his conservative Christian base
The Conversation
‘Born in the USA’ turns 40 − and still remains one of Bruce Springsteen’s most misunderstood songs
Salon
Reagan’s great America shining on a hill twisted into Trump’s dark vision of Christian nationalism
Vanity Fair
What is it about California and cults?
Videos
Diane Winston on religion in Hollywood
Diane Winston on i24News
“There is sex, violence, money”: an American professor deciphers the success of ‘Game of Thrones’
Courses
Courses
JOUR 490x: Directed Research
JOUR 590: Directed Research
Faculty Directory