In our second profile of our IARJ Regional Representatives, Rachel Kohn (our representative for Australasia) reports on some of the milestones in her own career of covering religion around the world—starting with the challenge of covering the Centennial of the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1993. We also share links to follow Rachel’s work, especially her long-running series of broadcasts, The Spirit of Things.

A Global Plus report on the use of cows as religious symbols by Hindu extremists to pursue their nationalist cause, sometimes with violence as a result. The report was written by Uday Basu, coordinating editor of The Statesman, a national daily newspaper published simultaneously in Kolkata, New Delhi, Siliguri and Bhubaneswar.

Douglas Todd reports on the importance of the 2017 conference for the International Association of Religion Journalists in Indonesia: “Our Indonesian conference beautifully accomplished one of the key goals of our organization, which is to work with global peers to raise awareness of the crucial importance of balanced, accurate and fair writing about matters of faith.”

Two of IARJ’s most active members, Executive Director Endy Bayuni from Indonesia and Waqar Gillani from Pakistan, met with journalists from the tiny Asian nation of the Maldives in a peer-to-peer seminar sponsored by the German nonprofit Media in Cooperation and Transition to help improve best practices in covering religion in the news.

Here is a six-minute video of IARJ conference participants from 15 countries visiting one of Indonesia’s distinctive Muslim boarding schools on the final day of our 2017 Jakarta conference. The video shows some of the school’s talented students and illustrates the importance of the visit to Indonesian leaders. Also included, mid-way through the video, are statements from IARJ leaders Douglas Todd and Endy Bayuni.

IARJ Chair Douglas Todd reports on a visit to one of Indonesia’s distinctive Muslim boarding schools by participants at the IARJ’s 2017 global conference in Jakarta.

IARJ member and contributing writer Rachel Kohn, an Australian journalist, reports on a fascinating panel featuring representatives of minority religious groups in Indonesia, which is the world’s seventh largest nation and also one of its most culturally and religiously diverse.

IARJ members and guests share images from the International Association of Religion Journalists’ 2017 global conference in Jakarta, Indonesia.

IARJ contributing editor Larbi Megari reports on the opening of the 2017 global conference of the International Association of Religion Journalists (IARJ). Gathering in Jakarta, Indonesia, the IARJ is working toward one of its founding missions: holding annual gatherings on all of the world’s major continents. In Jakarta, participants are discussing the enormous challenges journalists are facing today—and the IARJ is planning for its future outreach.

IARJ Chair Douglas Todd reports on the upcoming global conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, focusing on the challenges of covering religion in this complex region of the world. Most journalists attending are from Asia. They will be joined by journalists from several other continents.