In its effort to promote contemporary issues in international religion reporting, members of the IARJ’s Board of Directors held several seminars in November 2012 at leading journalism and academic institutions in the US.

Endy Bayuni, Senior Editor at the Jakarta Post, has reported extensively on the complex mosaic of interfaith relations in Indonesia for more than ten years. Here he shares his insights into the media’s role on shaping opinions around religion.

For 21 years, Peggy Fletcher Stack has covered religious issues for The Salt Lake Tribune. She says religious reporting touches all the important topics – values, ethics, communities, rituals, philosophical underpinnings, politics, meaning and provides some of the most compelling narratives in the media.

Recent events such as the release of a crude anti-Islamic film made by extremists was associated with violent actions by extremists in other parts of the world shows how issues relating to faith can cross borders with startling speed and emphasizes the importance of the IARJ.

Please join your colleagues in the joyous task of spreading the news about the world’s first international body of religion journalists providing editors, reporters and analysts with the tools, resources and support to promote accurate, fair and balanced reporting on religion worldwide. Press releases in Arabic, Catalan , English, French, Hebrew, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Serbian, Spanish, Swahili and Turkish are available for media outlets and journalism associations in your nation announcing the IARJ. Celebrate this truly international body of 400 journalists from some 90 nations.

The IARJ’s founding members report on the creation of the association and share personal stories on why such a global body is so important to them.

A beacon of independent reporting amid the violent conflict in Nigeria, Prince Charles Dickson is widely picked up in media outlets throughout the region that can count on his informed voice providing objective coverage of religion. South African journalist Yazeed Kamaldien asks Dickson about his experiences in religion journalism.

Senior Algerian journalist Larbi Megari tells why the International Association of Journalists meets a critical need in our global society.

“One quick look at what is happening across the world in terms of conflicts and violence will encourage us to put hands in hands in order to work towards improving our coverage of religion matters, and make this coverage more professional and ethical.”