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Journalism and society term 2 week 7
- 1. JOURNALISM AND SOCIETY: TERM 2, WEEK 7 RELIGION AND THE MEDIA 23-02- 2017
- 2. THE LECTURE This week was all about the relationship between religion and the media. KEY POINTS FROM THE LECTURE Mediation of religion and mediatisation of religion are both different terms but are interconnected. Mediation of religion is when religion is present in the media. Where as the mediatisation of religion is when religious practices adopt media logic. For Hjarrad, ‘(religion) is being influenced by the media and their logics. By ‘logics’, we understand the medias various technologies, aesthetic, and social modus operandi.’ (Hjarrad, 2015:9) An example of this is the Qur’an being heard through an ipod.
- 3. THE LECTURE CONTINUED HOW IS MEDIATION AND MEDIATISATION EXPERIENCED BY RELIGION? The media is now a vehicle for religious messages The media is now a new language of religion The media acts as a new religious environment HOW IS MEDIATION AND MEDIATISATION CHANGING RELIGION TODAY? There is more exposure of religion in popular culture and in everyday life It has led to the development of ‘banal religion’ and other forms of spirituality It has led to the commercialisation of religious messages
- 4. THE SEMINAR This week, I found the seminar very fascinating and enjoyed the discussion we had as a group. First, we discussed the different definitions of religion. We came to the conclusion that the substantive definition is one of the main definition used to define the term. The substantive definition of religion: to believe in a power above nature. We then discussed how religion is now more privately practiced, where people practice in the comfort of their own home than actively go to an institution, e.g. Church. This could explain the decline in church-going over the past few years. We also went on to discuss how in some countries, religion is a way of life. Such as Iran, which is one of the only theocracies. The people that live in these countries are largely influenced by religion and use it for politics, and when making judicial decisions and so on. We also discussed how now, there are imagined communities online, where people of the same religion can discuss things together, for example, Buddhist Bloggers, who connect with each other to discuss similar beliefs.
- 5. THE SEMINAR CONTINUED We also discussed how religion can become problematic for people who visit countries and do not share the same religion as the country. An example of this is India, which has Hindu nationalism. When Shahrukh Khan’s new movie Raees was set to release, the government did not want it to be released in India due to the lead heroine of the movie being a Pakistani, Muslim actress, Mahira Khan. Towards the seminar we also discussed mediation and mediatisation and used ISIS as an example of it. This is because they post horrific videos online, so it can be said that they have adopted media logic where they would not have done that in the past.
- 6. MY THOUGHTS I think that there are good parts of religion and media and then there are definite negatives with the relationship between religion and the media. I feel that one of the negatives is definitely when the media can tend to portray certain religious groups in a negative way. It seems that as soon as a Muslim does something, they are immediately portrayed as a ‘terrorist’, however this is not always the case for other religious groups. On the other hand, the media has also allowed positive things to happen, such as people being able to communicate online about their shared beliefs instead of keeping it to themselves. The media has also allowed for some debates to happen, which is not necessarily a bad thing, because citizens are able to learn something new when being exposed to information they may not have had several years ago.