IPSO eyes up religion coverage as new centre seeks funding
by Jonathan Elliott, Lapido Media:
[…] Trainee reporters are rigorously drilled in libel law, shorthand and court reporting, but, once qualified, enter their profession oblivious to even the basics of belief, or how religious institutions work.
To many, this is becoming an increasingly big problem. Secularization in readerships and the public, combined with lack of resources and nervousness about causing offence, mean that issues of belief are shunned in policy-making, the press and in public life.
Declining capacity
Religious literacy as it is known, is rapidly becoming an important field of research and practice attracting resources and attention not just in the media, but in professional development and human resources, healthcare, law and social care.
Professor Grace Davie, a long standing specialist in the sociology of religion at University of Exeter, points to two trends in the media specifically that should be a cause for worry: the increasing prominence of religious debate in public life and the declining capacity of news (and other media) organizations to act as adequate forums.
She told Lapido Media: ‘Quite a lot of people look at the media and say there’s a lot more about religion and they jump to the conclusion that religion is therefore ascendant, whereas in Europe, in this part of Europe, it’s in decline. And it’s that combination that is tricky: we become more secular, but we talk more about religion…. I think that’s one reason why we don’t talk about it very well, because all the tools, concepts, narratives and sensitivities that you need to have a constructive conversation about faith are in decline, just when we need them most.’
The good news is that the long-established Lapido Media Centre for Religious Literacy in Journalism is being joined by new players in the field, all ambitious to address the problem of religious literacy generally and in the media, specifically. The bad news is: bringing about much needed change in reporting standards seems far from straightforward.
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