Native Public Media joins collaborative to develop “Reporting on Religion” Toolkit

WASHINGTON, DC – Native Public Media joined national broadcast and media colleagues to identify guidelines and recommendations for local radio and television newsrooms when they report on religion and religious issues.

The initiative is led by the National Association of Broadcasters and is Phase II of an initiative that started out with improving coverage of race and racially sensitive stories in the news.

“Newsrooms all over the country and even internationally, can benefit from resources that help to describe the rich diversity of religious practices, as well as what myths are common to particular religions. We can all learn from each other. I practice my Native religion, but honestly, I don’t know much about other religions. We can reduce journalistic errors by increasing our awareness and knowledge and do a better job covering stories that may be sensitive to religions,” states NPM President & CEO Loris Taylor.

The collaborative effort is not expected to be an overall clearinghouse, but will result in a web portal hosting terms and definitions, empirical data, and other resources that can be built upon and expanded.