When religion news disappears, whose loss is it? 

When you’re a journalist, the story you are interested in isn’t always the story you find, so you have to think how to bring the two together. That was an insight I heard from Miles Smit, a participant  in the summer intensive programme “God in the City”, held in Toronto this August. I had not expected to find this story. I met Miles at a public panel on religion journalism, which I attended because of some speakers I was eager to hear: Michael W. Higgins, a biographer of pope Francis, and John Longhurst, a Mennonite reporter of the Winnipeg Free Press who has also reported from Rome for the Christian Courier. Once I was there, I learned that this panel was the public event of a week-long journalism training, the moment where questions about faith in the city would be directly addressed. 

‘Truth in Charity’

A few weeks later, I found myself in the unfamiliar role of an intrigued journalist investigating this training and what made it happen. Miles explained to me on the phone that it had been put together by Canadian Catholic News and drew journalists or aspiring journalists from all over the world. “Telling Truth in Charity” was the guiding motto. The training was hands-on with a good dose of accompanying theory. Participants wrote news stories during the week. Miles himself wrote about Ontario Catholic schools; Kiran Monis, a priest from India based in Rome, wrote about a homeless care project; and András Király from Hungary about what it is like to be a priest in Canada. Participants received guidance on reporting a story, using AI, the editing process, producing the visuals that any story needs, and more. 

“I found much more than just a seminar, than just journalism skills. I made friends, I learned of their backgrounds and their family situations, about what they and their outlet write,” said András Király, who is an experienced magazine editor in his home country of Hungary. Likewise, Jessica Meditz, an early career journalist from Brooklyn, NY, who wrote about Haitian migrants, lauded the supportive environment and especially praised course instructors Barb Fraze and Laura Ieraci who encouraged her when she feared her story would not come together in time. She shared that she felt affirmed and guided by God in the process as things fell into place. 

Religion journalism

As I discovered at the public panel, faith-based journalism and religion journalism are two different things. The difference is perhaps not immediately obvious (it certainly wasn’t for all people listening to the panel) but it is essential. The key question for faith-based reporting is, how does your faith make a difference to your work as a journalist? The answer to that could be many things, but the situation is: you are a Christian journalist and want to do your work well. 

Religion journalism, by contrast, is about going out every day to report on religion. This is what John Longhurst does. John is a reporter for a secular newspaper (the Winnipeg Free Press) who read the signs of the times well when his job was on the line many years ago. With the rise of online news, print journalism experienced a steep decline in revenue. Everything that did not seem essential was eliminated. John organized his own financial support from the various faith communities of Winnipeg. John’s role is to write about what goes on in the life and work of faith communities, good or bad, for a general audience in Winnipeg. From what he said, the faith communities much appreciate this arrangement. It keeps their own people informed and engaged, and sometimes it helps leadership bring into the open a dilemma they face but cannot very well communicate themselves.

Reporting well on faith communities is difficult. The issues are complex and sensitivities are often high. It requires competence that is not always present, as Michael W. Higgins illustrated with an example of CBC reporting. Learning that John Longhurst is probably the only dedicated religion reporter left in Canada made me wonder what religion-themed news stories Canadian cities and general society entirely misses because they are not reported. 

I came to realize that local churches and faith communities suffer from the decline of religion journalism, as they lose track of important developments and perhaps come to feel marginalized for no good reason. Even locally, better and more consistent reporting could make a significant difference. At Willowdale Christian Reformed Church in Toronto where I attend, the immigration and settlement stories of our Farsi members remain mostly known to a few dedicated insiders only, which is a loss for all involved. 

Looking ahead

It is clearly a good thing that churches are aware of and involved in Christian journalism. A lot can be learned from this Catholic initiative and from the people who participated in it, be they young or very experienced. Seeking “truth in charity” can go a long way: from learning to write in a reassuring, familiar tone that people in the parish (or congregation) would recognize, to making sure someone is ready to bring out truths about faith communities that are hard to bear, and will do so with honesty, critical rigour and compassion wherever appropriate. One participant from abroad even spoke enthusiastically about finding God in the city in unexpected ways, so in that sense the event truly lived up to its name. It is to be hoped that what has begun with such evident promise will continue to grow, and will lead, perhaps, to ever new ways of seeing God at work in the city even where the churches had not previously been looking.