Good news?

Bernie Russell Media
Good News?
What’s it like to be a religion correspondent? Is the religion beat still worth pounding?
To find out, listen to this excellent talk from The Times Religion  correspondent Ruth Gledhill about reporting on religion.
She  makes a very good case for its being central to any modern news organisation, and by implication, something we should be looking at with our journalism students.
Pressing the point
Pedagogy aside, the talk is entertaining and very thought-provoking. Her opening is brilliant:
“The only place the press is mentioned in the Bible is in Luke 19 when Zacchaeus the tax collector has to climb a tree to see Jesus because of the crowds. The King James Version renders this: ‘he couldn’t see because of the press’.”
Keeping the faith
And it did  make me think that maybe we’re missing something here. Too many of our debates are about how to deliver content, rather than about what content to deliver. So:
Are we neglecting this and other subjects?
Are we following an agenda that’s too narrow, driven by things like accreditation criteria?
Should we be trying to find space to bring issues like this to the curriculum?
Thoughts?
http://www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/Resources/Cumberland%20Lodge/Audio/Ruth%20Gledhill.mp3

What’s it like to be a religion correspondent? Is the religion beat still worth pounding?

To find out, listen to this excellent talk from The Times Religion  correspondent Ruth Gledhill.

She  makes a very good case that the subject is central to any modern news organisation, and, by implication, something journalism schools should be looking at with their students.

Pressing the point
Pedagogy aside, the talk is entertaining and very thought-provoking. Her opening is brilliant:

“The only place the press is mentioned in the Bible is in Luke 19 when Zacchaeus the tax collector has to climb a tree to see Jesus because of the crowds. The King James Version renders this: ‘he couldn’t see because of the press’.”

Spreading the word
And it did  make me think that maybe j-schools are missing something here. Too many of our debates are about how to deliver content, rather than about what content to deliver. So:

  • Are we neglecting this and other similar subjects?
  • Are we following an agenda that’s too narrow, driven by things like accreditation criteria?
  • Should we be trying to find space to bring issues like this to the curriculum?

Thoughts?

9 thoughts on “Good news?”

  1. the space is there in broadcast, I think …. Our accreditation criteria refer to production values rather than content in the main … and the understanding of the importance of audience – in fact in radio we were urged to ‘theme’ our news days rather than have a standard output in mind … so religion/faith journalism (talk to Andrew D about that – he’s worked for Premier Radio in London) would not be a problem. My current research interest, which is feeding into my teaching, is in bottom up journalism (civic/public/community) to try and set different agendas – and I would have no problem if that translated into faith based journalism for my FdA group. Interestingly, when we did our first Level 2 Radio non-computer news day (something you might find more of a challenge in online than radio!!) most of the good stories came from the New Life church – although that might have been more about the visibility of the building and the accessibility of the people there rather than an intention to raise the church based content!

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