Religion and Journalism

I am currently in my second year of a four-year journalism course and I have to admit religion has never been discussed. I am yet to do an "ethics" subject, but from what I have heard from more senior journalism students this won't cover religion either. The reason I am doing studies in religion as part of my BA is primarily for this reason. I don't feel I could present a story about another country, or even another person without having at least a basic idea of the attitudes and emotions they carry with them. Religion is a huge part of many peoples lives, even if it's not a big part of mine, and this needs to be reflected in the media more.

Me, Myself and the Media's EYE

As I sit and watch television I am bombarded with images of the "average family", the "average single person", the average consumer.
I don't see anyone I can relate to or recognise, no images remind me of my friends, my family, myself.
 I see an online dating agency advertisement and think, "Yeesh, is that what I look like?"
I see an anti-smoking advertisment and think, "Yeesh, is that what I sound like?"
 I see a face cream advertisment and think, "Hmmm, I might buy that..."






Image Retrieved From:
http://www.freeimageslive.co.uk/files/images003/dollarspendingmoney.jpg

Representations Within Australian Advertisements

While reading Marsha Woodbury’s chapter, “Jewish Images That Injure”, I couldn’t help but reflect on the stereotypes presented in Australian media (2003).

Lately, while watching television, I have noticed advertisements leaning towards a more multicultural array of actors, most notably in the medibank advertisements now including images of African and Asian families alongside the familiar Caucasian faces.

However, there is still a deficiency of Indigenous actors in these advertisements. When advertisements do include Aboriginal actors, they tend to be negative portrayals, for example the Federal Government’s anti-smoking campaign included a public service announcement depicting a low-socio-economic Aboriginal woman discussing quitting smoking now that her grandfather had passed away.

As Michael Robert Evans points out in his article, “Hegemony and Discourse: Negotiating Cultural Relationships Through Media Production”, mediating cultural and ideological representations that promote the dominated group (in Australia’s case middle-class white people) is “neither deliberate nor mean-spirited” but it does need to be recognised (2002, 312).

As Woodbury says about Jews, Indigenous people are just as varied and complex and need to be included in this new push for multiculturalism and identified to be as much a part of Australia as refugees and immigrants (Woodbury 2003, 130).

Works Cited:
Evans, Michael Robert. “Hegemony and Discourse: Negotiating Cultural Relationships Through Media Production.” Journalism, 3(3), 2002: 309-329.

Woodbury, Marsha. “Jewish Images That Injure.” In Images that Injure: Pictorial Stereotypes in the Media, by Dennis, E.E. & Lester, P.M. (Eds.), 121-130. London: Praegar, 2003.

Youtube link:

Australian Government "Break the Chain" TVC - AdNews. Accessed Tuesday 24th April:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yvjBU-E0aw 

Buddhism Online

The online practices of religion and religious discourse seem to be quite positive, as some Christians, Jews and Muslims use it as a safe way to discuss their faith (Campbell 2010, 25). It is interesting that followers of Buddhism are using it in similar ways, to discuss the faith and connect with clergy. Cheong’s research into Buddhist clergy’s use of online technology only briefly touches on an important aspect briefly: that people have been buying books and developing a Buddhist faith without guidance years before the development of the internet (2011, 1169). Now those followers have a greater capacity to compare their interpretation with other followers, but also to ensure they are on the right path through direct, online contact with the clergy. Rather than be apprehensive about the proliferation of online chatrooms and websites about Buddhism, more of the clergy should be taking charge (as many already are) and taking advantage of new platforms for communication and education (Cheong, Huang and Poon 2011, 1164).



Works Cited:

Campbell, Heidi. When Religion Meets New Media. London & New York: Routledge, 2010.

Cheong, P.H., Huang, S., and Poon, J. P.H. “Cultivating Online and Offline Pathways to Enlightenment.” Information, Communication and Society, 14(8), 2011: 1160-1180.

Image retrieved from:

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Computing_g368-A_Young_Men_Sit_On_The_In_The_Park_Using_A_Laptop_p34590.html

Slow religion vs. Fast religion

Douglas Kellner argues, "in submissively consuming spectacles, one is estranged from actively producing one's life," (2003). This statement throws into question the growing emphasis on mediatisation of religion and incorporating epic spectacles as part of the transcendence ritual. Alongside this, New Age religion has developed in the mid-late 20th Century as a pick & mix style of religion to suit the individual, rather than the individual to suit the religion (Rindflesh 2005).

This has resulted in participants in a state of constant seeking, which the media and various religions can exploit to sell faith. Commodification within religion isn't necessarily a new idea: wealthy Catholics used to donate money to the Church in order to ensure entrance into heaven and prayers for their soul after death.

In class we debated slow religion (traditional religion) and fast religion (new age, mediated, spectacle driven) and what resulted is that many faiths incorporate both. As technology evolves with the internet, and people are more in touch with media, older, traditional faiths need to modernise in order to survive.

Personally, I argue that it is possible to have a religion that fits your life, but a commitment needs to be made and a true understanding of what it means to you must be achieved. Otherwise you may indeed end up in that spiral of constantly seeking without fulfilment.

Works Cited:

Kellner, Douglas. 2003. “Media Culture and the Triumph of the Spectacle.” Philosophy of Education Chair, UCLA. http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/mediaculturetriumphspectacle.pdf (accessed April 3, 2012).

Rindflesh, Jennifer. “Consuming the Self: New Age Spirituality as “Social Product” in Consumer Society.” Consumption Markets and Culture, 8 (4), 2005: 343-360.

Image retrieved from:

http://www.freeimages.co.uk/galleries/sports/relaxation/slides/spirituality.htm

Techno-addicted....

At the age of fourteen I decided dolphins were top of my list to save, just above the South American rainforest. My older brother, ever the cynic, told me dolphins were the most annoying creatures on Earth and gave nothing back to society. I baulked at this comment (as you would at fourteen) but as he continued ranting he raised an issue I hadn't thought of, "Thousands of people are homeless and hungry in this country, the dolphins can wait." Nature's plight has always had a place in my heart, but it will always come second to those without an education, a job or a home. Being techno-addicted means I can now access more charities online, investigate how and where the money donated is spent, and get the message across to more people. I don't apologise for being more heavily connected to my computer than the my garden, but if a bug is struggling on it's back, I will help it.

Image retrieved from:
http://www.dreamstime.com/dolphin-image23420121