An action plan for media and religious leaders

"A group of young journalists and religious leaders from Asia and Europe gathered at the 8th ASEF Journalists’ Colloquium in Madrid on 5-6 April 2010 to bridge the media-religion divide. They acknowledged that both journalists and religious leaders have not done enough to provide a holistic picture of various religions to broader publics. They concluded that only by investing in education and training programmes for young professionals could considerable knowledge gaps be bridged.

The news media should build their own knowledge of religion, recognising it as a specialised area of coverage, which requires the same depth and attentiveness that they traditionally give to politics and business. Media professionals should also be more creative and use more of the journalistic repertoire to cover religious issues, such as human-interest stories, features, opinion columns or interviews. The guidance on how to cover religion is essential and should be included in professional codes of ethics.

At the same time, religious communities must improve their understanding on how media work, in order to reach out to the public more effectively." More...