Religion newswriters meet with thinkers in theology and medicine

by Kim Shippey

"We're in a very rich time for religion reporting right now," said Gayle White of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, program chairwoman for the forty-ninth annual meeting of the Religion Newswriters Association, which was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. "I think what some of the people who've been on the beat for a long time fear is that religion newswriting may be a fad," she told the Sentinel. "And as a professional organization we're going to do everything we can to make sure that religion reporting continues to be a priority for news organizations.

"I don't think the things that make it important are going to change anytime soon," she continued. "It may be getting a lot of attention right now because of the millennium, the political climate, and various other things going on, but the search in people's souls for meaning is perpetual. So, we intend to capitalize on this and try to make religion and religion news a part of the expected fabric of American journalism."

This annual conference combines special awards for religion newswriting with addresses by prominent people in various fields, including religion, medicine, and the behavioral sciences. "This is not just a gathering of journalists hoping to be rewarded for their work over the past year," explained Ms. White. "We try to make it an educational experience, especially for reporters from medium-and small-sized papers with limited travel budgets, who might otherwise not have access to speakers of this caliber.

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