THE Religion Media Festival drew 150 people to Methodist Central Hall in Westminster on Monday.
The day included talks by the previous Director-General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, the Labour Party’s adviser on faith issues, Lord Rook, and Channel 4 journalist Cathy Newman, who spoke about her work uncovering the abuse perpetuated by John Smyth, and the next criticism of Archbishop Justin Welby within the Makin Report, which led to his resignation in November.
In an onstage interview with BBC News home editor Mark Easton, Mr Thompson, who’s a Roman Catholic, spoke about being in St Peter’s Square in the course of the announcement of Pope Leo XIV’s election, and being “unexpectedly moved” by the occasion.
Organised by the Religion Media Centre (RMC), the festival featured panels on the challenges of reporting on religion, latest digital media, and the part the press plays in fostering community cohesion.
There were also a panel discussion on Muslim representation within the media, and one other titled “British Media and British Jews”, with each panels considering the representation of those communities each inside each community-specific and wider media.
The winners of the RMC’s Young Reporter Award were also announced in the course of the festival. The two recipients were creator Lamorna Ash (Books, 2 May; Interview, 16 May) and the Church Times’s Francis Martin, who won the prize for an article last yr during which former police detectives expressed criticisms of the Makin Report (News, 27 November 2024).
