Vol. 12 No. 6 - Faith coverage needs improving, conference told

OTTAWA–It took Deborah Shaw just one day in journalism school to discover the tension between reporters and people of faith.

A professor told her class there is no place for religious faith in journalism since there is no absolute truth. Shaw disagreed and said there is truth in the death and resurrection of Jesus. It was a comment which cost her credibility.

"People told me afterward that they thought I was a religious zealot and a right-wing fundamentalist," Shaw said. "I had to work hard for the rest of the year to establish myself as someone who is credible and who has a thoughtful voice."

Shaw was one of nearly 300 people who gathered at Carleton University June 7-9 for a conference on Faith and the Media. (Among those organizing the conference were ChristianWeek editor Doug Koop and former editor and publisher Harold Jantz.) Many delegates–including many journalists–agreed that people in the media often ignore, belittle or misunderstand the profound spiritual yearnings of our time.

Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Toronto, said it may be inevitable that a liberal, skeptical press should conflict with religious groups which proclaim divine rather than human truths. "I suspect there is almost an inevitable tension–not hostility, but tension between the Christian faith and the media."

Some senior journalists agreed. Peter Desbarats, the former dean of journalism at the University of Western Ontario, said it is just part of the tension between the "rational elite" and people of faith.

"The big story of our time, the great and growing void between rationalists and fundamentalists, cannot be covered by journalists who are both liberals and religious illiterates," he said. It’s not that journalists deliberately ignore faith issues; it’s that they are ill-equipped to see the spiritual side of a news story.

Covering religion and faith no longer means writing about churches–particularly as more and more Canadians are exploring spiritual issues without the help of organized religion. Faith reporting really means trying to understand the moral foundation which makes people do what they do. Even a story like the threat to Atlantic cod stocks is on some level about morality and ethics, said Ottawa Citizen editor Neil Reynolds.

"Is this just a political issue?" he asked. "Is this a Liberal-Conservative-NDP issue, or is this a religious issue with fundamental moral implications? I think it’s the latter."

The Citizen was widely praised at several conference sessions for being one of the first papers in Canada to eliminate the "religion page ghetto" and instead use all parts of the paper to explore the spiritual side of the news.

A paper must address the spiritual: Southam executive editor Kirk Lapointe

Religion sells

Kirk Lapointe, executive editor of an as-yet-unnamed new national Southam paper, hinted that his paper may do something similar when it comes out in October. A paper which does not address the spiritual side of people’s lives, he said, risks becoming irrelevant and unread–and unprofitable.

"Religion sells," was how Maclean’s editor Robert Lewis put it. Of the five stories which have generated the most letters to the magazine this decade, three have been about religion.

Bruce Hildebrand Photos

Peggy Wehmeyer: A huge audience for faith stories

ABC television has found the same thing. Peggy Wehmeyer is the religion correspondent for World News Tonight–the only religion correspondent on any major U.S. network. She says there is a huge audience for stories which explore faith issues, but most reporters don’t know how to reach them.

Not only do reporters miss the spiritual elements in seemingly secular stories; many of them don’t even know how to cover overtly religious stories. Professional, trained reporters were completely unable to explain the reasons behind the Southern Baptist boycott of Disney, or the rise of the Promise Keepers, or even talk intelligently about the religious faith which sustained the parents of the Iowa septuplets.

"There is a real problem with religious illiteracy in the national media," said Wehmeyer.

Tackling faith: United Church moderator Bill Phipps hears out Globe and Mail editor William Thorsell

Faith leaders agree. "Quite often reporters who are sent in to do a story don’t have a clue about religion or faith," said Bill Phipps, moderator of the United Church of Canada. Sometimes the mistakes are silly, such as the Globe and Mail article which referred to the Christian and Military Alliance (instead of the Christian and Missionary Alliance). Sometimes the mistakes sustain offensive stereotypes, such as the Maclean’s cover which called Pakistan’s nuclear device the "Islamic Bomb."

In all cases they call into question the accuracy of the reporting. "We don’t expect good arts reporting from a reporter who doesn’t know the difference between a pas de deux and a Picasso," said John Stackhouse, a professor of religion at the University of Manitoba. "So please, editors, don’t send out on religious stories reporters who don’t know the difference between a Sikh and a Hindu, never mind the difference between a fundamental Baptist pastor and the Christian and Military Alliance."

Lois Sweet, the former faith and ethics reporter for the Toronto Star, echoed the remarks of many conference presenters when she urged the media to recognize faith and religion as a powerful force in society, one which is worthy of hard-hitting, professional coverage by skilled journalists. "Covering faith should be seen as just one more aspect of journalistic exploration," she said.