A stimulating day on May 10th for journalists and ‘believers’ which contained a sharing of professional expertise, a chance for encounter and a special training session on the use of Social Media and How to Write a Press Release . See my blog on the NUJ Training Wales site. [Images by @HirstPhotos]
44 journalists from press, tv and radio and 43 representatives of religious faiths or secular belief positions attended.
The day was hosted by BBC Cymru Wales. It was a follow-up to When Religion Makes the News: Reporting Belief 16 which was held last November. I devised this event when I realised that there was no teaching in this area in any Welsh university School of Journalism nor any training for professional journalists in Wales.
Two students on Cardiff University’s Masters in Broadcast Journalism were enthusiastic about the benefits of thinking about this area of life and reporting. They were in the group to whom I gave a couple of hours’ introduction to religious literacy in January. They’d pursued their interest and followed several stories and felt that the topic was important and the insights of benefit.
This second event demonstrated once again the need for dialogue between journalists and believers; for reliable information on, and access to expertise about, religion and secular belief positions.
The blog below is a response from journalist Will Hayward to the event:
