Avoiding simplifications and clichés regarding the informative treatment of religious matters is the proposal of the document presented this Tuesday by the Consell de l’Audiovisual de Catalunya (CAC) and the general direction of Afers Religiosos. It is a group of recommendations for journalists that also includes a guide with the most common errors and proposals to avoid them.
The guide was presented by the president of the CAC, Xevi Xirgo, the secretary of Media and Broadcasting of the Generalitat, Oriol Duran, and the general director of Religious Affairs, Carles Armengol. “Journalism has lost specialization in the treatment of religious issues and opts for the generalization of religions to simplify”, Xirgo stated as a starting point for preparing this document.
“These recommendations are not mandatory, they may fix errors but they will not be the absolute solution because there are many interests in increasing hatred,” Duran denounced while Armengol pointed out that one of the most common errors is that, when talking about religion, “Everything comes down to the Catholic Church, because it is the majority confession, which causes other religions to feel despised for not taking into consideration the elements of their religion.”
Among the recommendations addressed to journalists to improve information coverage of religious affairs, it is proposed to avoid simplifications and clichés, take into account the specificities of each religious confession and know the respective calendars. Prudence is also requested when talking about religious fundamentalism since, as noted, a person or a community cannot be labeled fundamentalist simply because they follow a certain decalogue, nor can any confession that is not the majority be classified as sectarian.
The guide asks to take into account the differences between religions, since, although the Catholic confession has significantly reduced the number of followers, other traditions are experiencing growth in recent times, such as the different evangelical churches or Buddhism. Likewise, we must take into account the generational factor, according to which in Catalonia Catholics are mostly older people, while in other beliefs, young people have religion as an important identity factor.
In the section on journalistic practice, the document asks to take into account the different structures of each confession. Specifically, it is noted that while the Catholic Church has a single official spokesperson, this centralization does not exist in other confessions. Consequently, one can speak of the Catholic Church, but not of the evangelical church, which does not exist because there is a group of evangelical churches, which do not have a common organization.
The document includes a section with common errors, prejudices and the most widespread stereotypes. For example, he points out that Islam is a political-religious movement, unlike Islam, which is a religion. Or that when it is reported that a church has been opened in the neighborhood, it must be taken into account that the word church is associated only with some branches of Christianity, but that in the case of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Days we have to talk about chapels and in the case of Hinduism, centers, or when referring to Islam, they are called oratories or mosques.
The document includes data on religious practice in Catalonia, according to which 66.9% of the population considers that it is very or quite important to have some knowledge about religious diversity. Also, Catalonia has 7,291 worship centers of 15 different religious confessions, of which 79% belong to the Catholic Church.
