An abstract of mine was accepted and I have a couple of months to write a chapter for a book about diversity in the media. The angle I'm taking is that on television there is little to no diversity of belief. We've made some strides in depicting racial minorities, and showing women in roles other than housewife, but the dominant discourse is materialistic.

What do you all think about this: Are diverse beliefs portrayed on TV? If so, where? How would you describe the dominant beliefs available on television? It seems to me that television contains mostly materialistic messages, that consumerism is the answer to everything. I'm including sitcoms, news, cartoons, serials, sports, home and garden shows, made for TV movies, you name it. How deep are the morals? How broad are the solutions to problems? Where is there a discussion of spirituality?

For example, rather than consumerism, do you ever see people re-using products? recycling? Do you see people wearing old clothes? Do you ever see people praying for answers? Do people serve each other for free, or is there always an angle?