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 Faith in Media: Improving Coverage of Islam and Other Religions
Blogs from the Conference in Istanbul, Turkey: December 14 to 16
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| Small Group 3 - Recap: Religion As A Beat
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Location: Blogs Faith In Media Live Blog!Faith In Media Live Blog! |
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| Posted by: mmathew |
12/16/2008 1:32 PM |
| Group's agreement was that religion should indeed be a beat. Patrick is the group's spokesperson and he talks about their findings. He said they came to this agreement because religion coverage is difficult and intricate and requires expertise. Religion is an important part of people's lives and should be given more attention than its given already. Some religion stories are badly written when they're not written by religion writers. He cites examples from the Jeremiah Wright controversy. Having religion as a beat compartmentalizes it. Reporters do not have to be religious themselves. Newsrooms should be diverse and representative of their audiences. They can provide a different perspective and provide more understanding. They can, however, also be criticized as sometimes being traitors to their faith. Worldwide, not many countries have religion reporters, aside from the US but even US religion reporters are in decline. There's a lack of interest in religion. Saying something wrong about religion could get you fired, in some countries and this is why people don't want to report on religion. So what can be done? More training is one option, editors and reporters both need training, and more web sites need to be devoted to religion. There should be a resource list in each country. Marketing would show editors how important religious coverage is to the audience. Amberin comments on the degree of the competitiveness between religious reporters. |
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