Article Added On: June 17, 2004 - over 7 years ago
Title: A Matter of Faith
Author: Robert White
Publication: Guelph Mercury
Publication Date: January 01, 1998 - over 14 years ago
Themes: Religion and society
The following article ran as two parts on May 2 and 9, 1998. They are merged together on this site.
The papers were spread across the table at the indoor playland. While the kids were off playing, I was scanning religion stories from six local papers.
At one point I was off checking on the kids when the woman at the table next to us asked Pam what I was doing. When I returned, our discussion turned to the subject of my research: the role of newspapers in covering religion and faith. She felt newspapers, including the one in her hometown of Bracebridge, weren't doing enough to cover religion.
I initially agreed with the woman. I've been involved in the media - both full-time and as a freelancer - for more than 15 years and I've decried the lack of coverage of faith issues. When I edited weeklies in Alberta I often tried to give faith stories more play. One year I unsuccessfully tried to convince my managing editor to use a photo from an Ash Wednesday observance. To my chagrin, the competing weekly run exactly the same photo on its front page that week.
The three weeks of research has been revealing. There has been more coverage, at local, national and international levels, than I expected. I was also one of those who felt the media was biased and most religion coverage was slanted. To my surprise the news coverage of religion is fair. When negative images or stereotypes have been used in stories, it's usually been in context. It's only in opinion or editorial columns in which the biases are seen, again, usually in context with the writer's opinion or perspective.
However, I still believe more needs to be done in covering faith issues. The 1991 federal census indicates 87 percent of Canadians claim adherence to a religion. A 1992 Angus Reid survey - widely reported in Maclean's magazine - discovered that 80 percent of Canadians believed in God. Yet few papers have reporters dedicated either full or part-time to faith coverage. The Hamilton Why is this so? First, decision-makers still haven't realized coverage of faith issues is as important to the reader as city council, sport or business issues. Susan Wilson Murray, in a 1996 study for Simon Fraser University, cites a 1993 Statistics Canada report, which indicates 87.5 per cent of Canadians have a form of religious affiliation or belief. The widely reported 1992 Angus Reid survey stated 80 per cent of Canadians believe in God and two-thirds believe in Christ's death and resurrection. Yet, for the most part, politics, business and sports coverage takes precedence over faith issues.
Second, when decision-makers realize the importance of faith, the resources needed to cover faith issues aren't forthcoming. I've had a number of discussions with an editor at this paper [Guelph Mercury] about this issue. He realizes the need for better religion coverage, but doesn't have the resources needed - personnel, finances, etc.- to improve the coverage.
Finally, when media outlets realize the importance of faith issues and do have the financial resources, they generally are unable to find a qualified reporter. In Murray's study, she discovered that many religion reporters don't feel religious affiliation is a qualification for the job. I would agree, but qualify it by saying that a working knowledge of the basics of the major faiths - Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam - and their major sects, is necessary. Few reporters can adequately discuss the major doctrinal differences between these faiths. Why is this important? If an editor wouldn't send someone without a rudimentary knowledge of hockey to cover a Guelph Storm game, why would he or she send someone lacking similar knowledge in faith to cover a religion story?
Faith groups also need to understand more about the media by understanding what news is. In Murray's study, she says many media cover religion as they do any other news story, as long as it meets standard news values: timeliness, celebrity, negativeness, personalization and unexpectedness.
I work as the communications/media liaison coordinator for a denominational head office in Toronto. One of my challenges is to help my decision-makers understand that no longer will the media come running to cover an event because we've asked them to. The expectations of past experiences no longer work within the media milieu of the 1990s. Unless we provide the media with stories, which meet the standard news criteria, the expected coverage will not appear. This is a learning experience, one which denominational leaders are slow to grasp.
There is much to be done to improve faith coverage. Media outlets must recognize the key role faith, religion, spirituality plays in the lives of Canadians and provide the resources necessary for that coverage- including hiring or appointing qualified reporters. Faith groups must also stop looking at the media as the enemy, understand how it works and provide it with the stories and information needed so they can fairly cover faith issues.
Robert White scanned a number of southern Ontario newspapers for the Faith and the Media media scan.
