ABSTRACT
The growth in religion and in religious news over the past twenty years has defied expectations. But, as Brown dryly observes in this chapter, parts of the press now face the very demise that was predicted of religion twenty years ago. Circulation of newspapers has dropped, partly due to the rise of the internet, which has not yet yielded a reliable revenue model to replace that of print media. This raises a profound question, addressed by Brown, namely: what are the skills offered by journalists which are threatened not only by the looming cutbacks at the national newspapers but also by the technological innovations of blogging and instant online comment? Ultimately, his question is: what is the future for journalism? An intriguing answer, which he explores, is that journalists online may well ‘march into the church’s territory, and establish themselves as some kind of voluntary community, requiring and rewarding more commitment than the simple exchange of money’.
