The Archbishop of Canterbury: Church should welcome media

RELIGIOUS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, says the church should welcome challenge and scrutiny from the media.

He added media is part of living in a democratic society.

In an address and interview at the fifth Religion Media Festival, he said it was vitally important to communicate well what the church was doing and what it cared about.

In an age of “misinformation, distraction, and the competition of noise with truth, it is ever more difficult for journalists to do their job”, he said

In particular, the archbishop praised the value of local and regional radio: “I know how successful they are because they are deeply embedded in the community … and they do marvellous things, despite especially at the local level … being immensely stretched and having had an incredibly hard time in the past 10 years”.

There were two aspects to religious people being involved in the media. “First you are reported on, for example, after making a speech on the illegal migration bill”.

Secondly, he said religious people pro-actively engage on social media or by giving interviews, because they want to point to the truth and religion was “the prism through which we see everything else”.

He appealed to journalists to report good news alongside the controversial. He remembered speaking to the media at the recent Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops in Canterbury, saying that he understood that reporters would want to write about deep disagreements over sexuality.

But he had urged them not to forget the millions of people represented at the conference, and the incredible stories of the bishops living in war torn countries, suffering from famine and drought, people fleeing from oppression and brutality and living in refugee camps.