The representation of religions in the media

Robert Jackson

Research Summary

Jackson asks: how can teachers help students to analyse critically media portraits of religions in newspaper reports and television programmes which are sometimes inaccurate or emotive or both? He then draws on various Council of Europe discussions and various research projects to illustrate the importance of high quality teaching resources, also arguing that teachers must help students to use their own experiences when analysing media coverage and that attention must also be paid to visual images.

Researcher

Robert Jackson

Research Institution

University of Warwick, UK

What is this about?

The Council of Europe’s 2008 recommendation on the dimension of religions and non-religious convictions within intercultural education insists on combating prejudice and stereotypes. In subsequent Council of Europe discussions, concern was expressed about media inaccuracy and how to help teachers deal with it. This chapter addresses that concern, presenting research findings on the discussion of media representation of religions in the classroom and how to help young people to interpret media representation of religions. Jackson acknowledges that further work is needed on these areas, but hopes that the examples given will provide useful information for policy makers, schools and teacher trainers.

What was done?

The methodology of the chapter is to bring together findings from various Council of Europe discussions and various research projects, rather than offering a primary report of original research. Summaries are given of what respondents said at two Council of Europe Exchanges that brought together representatives of religion and belief organisations, representatives of the media industry, Council of Europe institutions and civil society organisations. Findings are presented from REDCo research on media discourse, UK government-sponsored research on resources used to teach about religions and Council of Europe research on intercultural encounters through visual media.

Main findings and outputs

The Council of Europe Exchanges identified challenges regarding the representation of religions in the media, some for journalists – e.g. committing to fairness – but some for schools, e.g. offering media literacy programmes, teaching students about traditional and new media, supporting teachers to deal with inaccurate media reports and analysing the portrayal of religions in textbooks and internet sites.

The REDCo research carried out in Norway by Marie von der Lippe found that young people engage in two types of discourse regarding cultural and religious plurality: ‘dominant’ discourse is media-influenced whilst ‘personal’ discourse relates to family, friends and school; these two discourses tend to be opposed and ‘personal’ discourse more positive.

The UK government-sponsored research carried out at the University of Warwick pointed out many textbook errors in the coverage of religions. It was also found that electronic resources depending on teacher knowledge and commitment are increasingly popular. It was recommended that publishers and web designers should work with academics and faith members to ensure accuracy, schools develop community partnerships with religions. and books and websites feature examples of social involvement and action between different faith communities, promoting a culture of ‘living together’. First-hand experience is desirable for understanding religions.

The Council of Europe Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters through Visual Media research showed how media images can influence people’s thoughts, often without them being aware of this. However, if learners evaluate their responses to images (including reasons for these responses), they can learn about their own assumptions.

Relevance to RE

This chapter is highly relevant to RE and there are a number of ways in which teachers, teacher trainers and policy makers might make good use of it. On policy, it seems clear that the forms of media literacy advocated in the chapter should be aligned with aims for RE, that is, that the aims of RE should include equipping learners to deal with media representations of religions. The same point applies to curriculum, in that units of study dealing with the issue of media representation of religions should be included in RE courses. On pedagogy the chapter is particularly good, suggesting that teachers might motivate students and promote student insight by setting up contrasts and comparisons between ‘dominant’ and ‘personal’ discourses of diversity. It also reminds teachers to be critical of learning resources, to encourage learners to do so, to build community links and to help students to analyse visual imagery carefully, bearing in mind that their responses to images might reveal as much about themselves as they do about the images. The potential for teacher development seems clear, as these are skilled and sensitive pedagogical strategies that would need to be thoroughly planned and repeatedly practised.

Generalisability and potential limitations

This chapter has very high credibility. It was written by an established expert and leader in the field. Its findings and recommendations were developed through the range of policy exchanges and research projects it describes and they are clear and consistent. They are generalisable across various national settings and contexts, the chapter having been written on behalf of the Council of Europe. As for limitations, the writer acknowledges that further work is needed on the discussion of media representation of religions in the classroom and how to help young people to interpret media representation of religions. Teachers will have to explore these issues in their own classrooms, but there is no doubt that the chapter provides very useful and constructive points of departure.

Find out more

This is chapter 6 of Signposts – Policy and practice for teaching about religions and non-religious worldviews in intercultural education, Strasbourg (Council of Europe Publishing) 2014, pages 59-66. Free download at:

http://www.theewc.org/Content/What-we-do/Other-ongoing-projects/Signposts