The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will be the keynote speaker at the fifth Religion Media Festival “Exploring Belief” on Monday 12th June at the JW3 Centre in north London.
He will be interviewed by ITV presenter Julie Etchingham, following a tumultuous year in the life of the nation and the Anglican church, when he has never been far away from the headlines.
The festival will also include Daisy Scalchi, the BBC’s Head of Religion and Ethics, Television, on her recent Broadcast article: “Why I’m targeting secular viewers: taking the genre out of its perceived silo and growing religious literacy with universal themes like love”.
The annual festival will feature interviews, panel discussions and lively debates, capturing stories and issues from the world of religion which are making the news. Media professionals including journalists and broadcasters will have the opportunity to hear new ideas, find new contacts and explore news stories in greater depth.
In a festival first, the Radio 4 programme “Beyond Belief”, presented by Aleem Maqbool, will be recorded with the audience providing the questions.
Professor Opinderjit Kaur Takhar – Director of the Centre for Sikh and Panjabi Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, and President of Theology and Religious Studies UK, will deliver a polemic on the portrayal of Sikhs in the media.
A panel of top religion journalists including Kaya Burgess from The Times and Burhan Wazir, Editor of Hyphen, will be quizzed on how they report religion.
Roger Bolton will chair a discussion on the influence of religion on world affairs, with Michael Wegier, CEO of the Board of Deputies of British Jews; Mudassar Ahmed, founder of the Concordia Forum for western Muslim leaders; Barnie Choudhury, editor-at-large for Eastern Eye; and Chine McDonald, Director of Theos.
The festival will include news of our latest Creating Connections events, where we will bring the local media and faith leaders together in Bristol, Coventry, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bradford and Norwich. We will also launch our new RMC community journalism award to encourage local journalists as they reflect under-reported communities.
The full programme with the link for booking tickets is here:
https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/events/religion-media-festival-2023/
