Media Matters’ review found that CBN.com’s LGBTQ-related content tended to focus on politicians or government officials and covered topics such as school and government policies, denial of services or access to facilities to LGBTQ people, and court cases, among others. 

Media Matters’ analysis of all Facebook posts linking to CBN.com posted between April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019, found the following:

• At least 199 Facebook posts had more than 10,000 interactions.
• A majority of the posts with more than 10,000 interactions linked to CBN articles that highlighted politicians, government officials, or faith leaders.
• At least 157 -- or just over 78% -- of the 199 Facebook posts linking to CBN content and earning more than 10,000 interactions were from CBN News or The 700 Club.
  • Approximately 6% of the Facebook posts with more than 10,000 interactions were LGBTQ-related.
• There were at least 142 Facebook posts with over 2,000 interactions that linked to LGBTQ-related CBN articles.
  • More than 90% of the posts cited articles with anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, figures, or positions.
  • All together, those LGBTQ-related posts earned more than 840,000 total interactions (posts earning less than 2,000 interactions were excluded from this analysis).
  • There were 26 posts that linked to articles about LGBTQ-related litigation; 16 of those -- more than 60% -- referenced cases from the extreme anti-LGBTQ group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), such as religious exemptions cases Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission and Telescope Media Group v. Lindsey.
  • More than 20% of these posts linked to articles discussing harmful conversion therapy, a majority of which highlighted “ex-gay” or “ex-trans” people who claim that conversion therapy helped them change their sexual orientation or gender identity.
  • Facebook posts featuring LGBTQ-related content from CBN.com do not get as much engagement as other stories related to abortion, government policy, or supposed miracles.
  • More than 90% of the LGBTQ-related Facebook posts with more than 2,000 interactions linked to articles that exclusively or repeatedly quoted figures, promoted policy positions, or used rhetoric targeting the LGBTQ community.
• Extreme anti-LGBTQ groups including ADF, Family Research Council, and Liberty Counsel have regularly given CBN exclusive quotes and taken advantage of its friendly platform to spread misinformation.

CBN.com content is amplified by prominent right-wing evangelicals

While CBN maintains various social media properties across platforms, including CBN News and The 700 Club Facebook and Twitter pages, the network’s engagement on social media is significantly boosted by other notable evangelical figures and groups.

Media Matters’ analysis of all Facebook posts linking to CBN.com posted between April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019, found the following:

• Prominent right-wing and religious figures regularly promote content from CBN.com on their Facebook pages, including Franklin Graham, My Faith Votes, The Activist Mommy, Mike Huckabee, PrayAmerica, American Renewal Project, Phil Robertson, and Jonathan Cahn.
• These posts from external Facebook pages sometimes bring tens of thousands of additional interactions to CBN.com stories.
• Of the 199 Facebook posts linking to CBN stories that earned more than 10,000 interactions, at least 42 -- or just over 21% -- were from pages other than CBN News or The 700 Club.
• Eight of the top 10 most-engaged Facebook posts linking to CBN.com articles during the studied time period were from Franklin Graham’s page.
  • Graham is a right-wing evangelist who has taken extreme anti-LGBTQ positions, including supporting Russia’s “gay propaganda” law and saying that openly gay Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg should “be repentant” for his sexuality.
  • Four of Graham’s posts linking to CBN.com each earned more than 100,000 interactions.
  • A May 2018 post on Graham’s Facebook page linked to a CBN.com article about the Episcopal Church using more LGBTQ-inclusive language in its marital liturgy.
    • In his post, Graham said he was “saddened” by the decision, compared being LGBTQ to having “evil desires,” and called same-sex relationships “disobedience” and “sin.”
    • Graham tweeted out the article, and CBN News shared the article on its Facebook page multiple times.
    • Graham’s posts on Facebook and Twitter received considerably more engagement than CBN’s pages -- his Facebook post had the most engagement of any page during the studied time frame, earning more than 163,000 interactions.

• Anti-LGBTQ groups including Family Research Council (FRC) and Texas Values also share CBN.com articles on their social media.
  • Two FRC Facebook posts linking to CBN.com posts earned over 10,000 interactions, though neither were LGBTQ-related.
• FRC’s Facebook posts linking to LGBTQ-related CBN articles earned less engagement, with eight posts receiving over 2,000 interactions.
  • The post with the highest engagement had more than 6,000 interactions.

CBN.com’s LGBTQ-related content uses anti-LGBTQ language

CBN.com’s content is not as extreme as other outlets in the right-wing evangelical media ecosystem, but more extreme outlets are able to cite and use it in their own content. It often uses language that is not LGBTQ-inclusive, including language that dehumanizes LGBTQ people or characterizes LGBTQ equality as extreme. Examples of types of anti-LGBTQ language and framing CBN uses include:

• CBN.com uses language that whitewashes the dangers of conversion therapy and promotes it as effective
• CBN.com puts some LGBTQ-related topics in scare quotes
• CBN.com dehumanizes trans people by misgendering them
• CBN.com uses extreme language to imply that supporting transgender rights is out of the mainstream
• CBN.com content frequently pits religion against LGBTQ equality

More examples of CBN content using noninclusive language can be found here.

Whereas top LGBTQ-related CBN.com content reviewed by Media Matters tended to focus on politicians or government officials, content from CBN’s website Faithwire.com centered more on celebrities, such as entertainment and athletic figures. In general, the Faithwire website posted less often than CBN.com and earned less engagement on its articles.

Media Matters’ analysis of all Facebook posts linking to Faithwire.com posted between April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019, found the following:

• At least 48 Facebook posts had more than 10,000 interactions, compared to 199 posts with similar engagement linking to CBN.com during the same time period.
  • A plurality of the posts with more than 10,000 interactions that linked to Faithwire articles highlighted celebrities and athletes who had commented on their religious beliefs.
• There were at least 65 Facebook posts with over 2,000 interactions that linked to LGBTQ-related Faithwire articles, less than half of the 142 posts with similar engagement linking to CBN’s LGBTQ-related articles.
  • All together, those LGBTQ-related posts earned more than 341,000 total interactions (posts earning less than 2,000 interactions were excluded from this analysis).
  • The content of these Faithwire articles was similar to CBN’s; more than 85% of the posts cited anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, figures, or positions.
• Several of the top-performing LGBTQ-related Facebook posts linking to Faithwire stories were about entertainer Celine Dion introducing a gender-neutral children’s clothing line, which Faithwire claimed she launched “with a creepy, Orwellian advertisement.”
  • The top-performing Facebook post linking to this story came from The Activist Mommy, earning more than 18,000 interactions.
  • A post by Walsh had nearly 12,000 interactions.
  • A post from CBN News’ page earned nearly 11,000.
  • The second most-engaged LGBTQ-related Facebook post on Faithwire, with more than 16,000 interactions, was from anti-LGBTQ group Focus on the Family and linked to a Faithwire story about an “ex-trans woman” the article claimed was “now living a life for the glory of Jesus Christ.”

• Prominent right-wing figures and pages on Facebook such as Matt Walsh, The Activist Mommy, and My Faith Votes post some of the most highly engaged content on Facebook linking to Faithwire.
  • Those three pages combined made up more than 60% of the total posts with more than 10,000 interactions linking to Faithwire.
  • Walsh’s page made over 40% of the total high-engagement Facebook posts linking to Faithwire.com stories, while CBN News, The 700 Club, and Faithwire Facebook pages posted less than 20%.

CBN has a bigger presence on Facebook than on Twitter or Instagram, with a total of more than 8.6 million page likes across 10 official U.S. Facebook pages. 

CBN’s seven active Instagram accounts have nearly 564,000 followers combined, and its six Twitter accounts have more than 278,000 followers altogether.

CBN’s Facebook and Twitter accounts post significantly more political content than its Instagram page, which mostly shares religious quotes, though it sometimes posts about abortion.

Facebook

CBN has at least 10 active Facebook accounts for its U.S.-based programming. Media Matters did an analysis of all 10 pages’ interactions and average number of posts per day during the time period of April 1, 2018, through March 31, 2019.

• CBN’s Facebook accounts had more than 37.7 million total interactions across all pages and posts during the time period studied.
• The 700 Club account has the largest following, with more than 2.6 million page likes.
  • It also had the highest engagement, with more than 16 million total interactions on its posts.
  • Conservative Facebook pages with total interactions and average interactions per post comparable to The 700 Club account include Fox News’ Laura Ingraham and CNSNews.com.
  • The 700 Club account had 143 posts earn more than 20,000 interactions each.
  • It averaged about 4,700 interactions per post.
  • Most of its highest performing posts included photos with religious inspirational quotes.
  • Only one of its top five posts linked to a CBN article, which was about Trump’s State of the Union address and included anti-abortion comments.
• The CBN News account has more than 1 million page likes.
  • It posts the most frequently of any CBN-affiliated Facebook page, with an average of more than 20 posts per day.
  • It almost exclusively links to CBN websites and articles.
  • Its posts earned nearly 10 million interactions in total.
  • It earned an average of more than 1,200 interactions per post.
  • The page’s post with the most engagement, at over 125,000 interactions, was misinformation about abortion.
  • It had 30 posts with more than 20,000 interactions each.
  • Right-wing Facebook pages with total interactions and average interactions per post comparable to CBN News include Chicks on The Right, The Political Insider, Conservative News Today, Matt Walsh, and The Comical Conservative.

Twitter

Media Matters did an analysis of CBN’s six active U.S.-based Twitter pages, including the pages’ interactions and average posts per day during the time span of April 1, 2018, through March 31, 2019.

• Most of these accounts are used to promote content from their specific website, though The 700 Club account’s linked posts usually link to the CBN or Faithwire websites.
• The CBN News Twitter account has 140,200 followers.
  • Its posts earned more than 1.6 million interactions during the time period studied.
  • It had 18 tweets earn over 1,000 interactions during the time period studied, most of which link to CBN News articles about conservatives and faith leaders, such as Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, pastor Andrew Brunson, Asia Bibi, Franklin Graham, and Anne Graham.
  • CBN News’ tweet with the most interactions, at nearly 5,000, was about the anti-abortion film Unplanned.
• The 700 Club account has 83,800 followers.
  • Its only tweet with over 1,000 interactions during the time period studied was a birthday wish to Pat Robertson.

Instagram

Media Matters did an analysis of CBN’s seven active Instagram accounts for its U.S.-based programming, including the pages’ interactions and average posts per day during the time span of April 1, 2018, through March 31, 2019.

• With the exception of The 700 Club account, CBN’s Instagram accounts do not reach high engagement on their posts, generally earning less than 2,000 interactions for each of them.
• The majority of The 700 Club’s posts were photos with religious messages.
• CBN News’ post with the most interactions, at more than 4,000, included an anti-abortion quote from President Donald Trump, saying, “All children born and unborn are made in the holy image of God.”
• CBN’s Instagram posts during the time period studied earned more than 5.3 million interactions.
• About 15% of Instagram posts across all of CBN’s active pages, or 747 of the 4,920, earned over 2,000 interactions, nearly all of which were posted by The 700 Club.
• Only 10 posts on the CBN News account reached 2,000 interactions.
• The 700 Club page earned over 4.1 million interactions, which accounted for more than 75% of the total engagement for all the CBN’s Instagram pages.
  • The 700 Club account’s following accounts for more than 50% of the following for all CBN Instagram accounts.

Additional analysis on CBN’s social media accounts can be found here.

Media Matters reviewed all Facebook posts published between April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019, linking to The Christian Broadcasting Network’s two main sites, CBN.com and Faithwire.com. Four data sets were compiled from this review: (1) 199 posts linking to CBN.com with over 10,000 interactions, (2) 48 posts linking to Faithwire.com with over 10,000 interactions, (3) 142 posts linking to LGBTQ-related articles from CBN.com with over 2,000 interactions, and (4) 65 posts linking to LGBTQ-related articles from Faithwire.com with over 2,000 interactions.

Media Matters identified LGBTQ-related articles by searching for Facebook posts linking to CBN.com or Faithwire.com that included keywords associated with LGBTQ-related news. Those keywords were: gay, LGBT, transgender, trans, lesbian, homosexual, homo, marriage, sex, gender, adopt, indoctrination, religious freedom, biological, drag, pronoun, pedophile, pedophilia, therapy, change efforts, attraction, orientation, identity, queer, parade, couple, union, baker, religious liberty, Colorado, or bible ban.

Analysis included articles that were about LGBTQ-related issues or included significant discussion of them. Significant discussion was defined as articles that included two or more paragraphs mentioning LGBTQ issues; articles including passing mentions of keywords were not included.