A pair of surveys indicate two thirds of the American public say there's a disconnect between news reporters and how religion is reported.

Dr. John Green, director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron feels that the public want less sensationalized coverage of religion.

"Often times the news is something that's potentially sensational," Green said.

The report is based on surveys conducted between February 15 and May 11 of 2010.

Green says while you can't please everybody, journalists should focus on spiritual matters that apply in everyday life and put less emphasis on religous politics.

"It turns out that many reporters are by their own admission not particularly knowledgeable when it comes to religion, most of them are familiar with their own religious traditions," Green explained.

Less than one fifth of journalists surveyed say that they are "very knowledgeable" about religion.

800 reporters from all different areas of journalism and 2,000 members of the public were interviewed for the surveys which were conducted at the Knight Program in Media and Religion at the University of Southern California and the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron.