ABSTRACT
Landau begins his chapter by offering a distinct definition of news: news is information that people would rather was not in the public domain. The task of broadcasting media is to bring such information to light – the pursuit of a ‘story’ is their raison d’etre. This means, Landau argues, that journalists do not always have to represent religions in proportion to their size: while a tiny minority of Muslims may be terrorists, the story is nevertheless an important one. While Landau acknowledges that there will always be tension between the religious news that journalists want to report and the ‘good news’ that religions would rather was heard, he makes some recommendations for improving the relationship between religion and the news. Journalists, he argues, need to become more religiously literate, so that they are better able to present informative discussions on religious issues. Religious groups need to engage more proactively with broadcasting media as they are, rather than hoping that they will change.
