How does religion use the media to propagate a point of view (education, persuade, convert or influence)?

Firstly, the mainstream denominations employ media officers or public relations officers or the equivalent. These people variously write speeches, brief, advise and train church leaders about what to say to the media, when and how. These people also speak to the media when called upon to put the church's point of view on a particular issue. And they often initiate contact with the media (media releases, emails, telephone calls) when there is something their church/leader wants to say. They also organise media conferences and events which the media may consider newsworthy.

In New South Wales there is an organisation called the New South Wales Council of Churches whose main role is to get the voice of its member churches into the media (http://www.nswchurches.com/).

Church members and leaders write letters to the editor expressing their points of view. Occasionally they contribute opinion pieces responding to topical issues. Sometimes they are invited to write a newspaper's editorial on a relevant religious topic. The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney has a column in a Sunday newspaper (http://www.sydney.catholic.org.au/html/sundaytelegraph/sundayTelegraph.htm). Wesley Mission Sydney's consultant on social policy has a weekly broadcast on 2GB (http://www.wesleymission.org.au/ministry/suter/).

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has a religion department that provides a good avenue for churches and other faith groups to air their concerns (http://www.abc.net.au/religion/).

The churches also buy space in the media (advertise) to announce programs or events, or just to tell where people can find out more about their particular faith.

The churches have television and radio organisations that they run either cooperatively or denominationally. These organisations produce programs that, for instance, the commercial stations run for free. Sometimes a church may work with a TV producer to make a documentary (this is less common though). The Uniting Church worked with Christian Television Australia (http://www.cta.asn.au/) and the 7 Network to produce a program marking the church's 25th anniversary in 2002.

Sometimes the churches own the media. They may own or have a stake in a radio station, for instance. The Uniting Church used to have a stake in 2GB in Sydney. FM103.2 is Sydney's Christian radio station, "encouraging and upholding family ideals and Christian values that are worthwhile for the whole community" (http://fm1032.relate.com.au/). Easy Listening 1170 - Radio 2CH was once church run and there is still a strong Christian influence. UCB Australia acts as an umbrella organisation for about 30 autonomous affiliated Christian radio stations, as well as being a national broadcaster in its own right (http://www.ucb.com.au/index.php).

Churches have their own publications: mostly monthly newspapers or magazines. These are mainly for their own members' interest, though some, the Jewish News (http://www.ajn.com.au/), for instance, is available in newsagents, and some are read by religion journalists and other people interested in the churches' contribution to public debates. In Sydney, the Catholic Weekly is, of course, weekly. Most Catholic and Anglican dioceses have their own publications. And in most states the Uniting Church has its own newspaper (in New South Wales it is a magazine: http://insights.uca.org.au/).

There is an association of Australian Christian publications (http://www.ademack.com/arpa/).

Most denominations have websites which incorporating news. These are mainly for members' interest, but they often contain sections that help to educate non-member visitors (students and other media) about the church (http://www.anglicanmedia.com.au/; http://www.cathnews.com/; http://nsw.uca.org.au/).

Churches produce films, videos, CDs, DVDs and computer presentations to help communicate their messages. Some organisations produce such material as educational resources for teachers of religious education in schools.

Churches have staff and departments that design and print leaflets and brochures. The Communications Unit of the New South Wales Synod of the Uniting Church (http://nsw.uca.org.au/cu/), in addition to publishing a magazine, produces leaflets, newspapers, annual reports, websites and brochures used to convey policy recommendations to politicians.

Religious organisations produce brochures that are inserted in other publications or handed out in the street or at the entrances to churches - whether promoting worship events, overseas mission activities, Bible distribution, general religious information or a "walk against war".

Perhaps not always with the same resources or sophistication, churches and other religious organisations use the media to communicate their messages and participate in the plural society in the same way as other social, commercial or political groups or organisations.

Stephen Webb,
Media Officer, NSW Synod, UCA