Categories: uncategorized
Date: 14 July 2006 09:50:11
Reading around the free online versions of different religious publications is interesting.
The Church Times seems to have an emphasis on domestic and international social action and internal politics.
The Baptist Times looks to have an emphasis on international social action and countering the rise of secularisation / defending the gospel.
The Methodist Recorder appears to place their focus on no particular area. They appear to have self-reflection (as opposed to internal politics), social concern as well as social action (domestic and international).
The Tablet appears to be cultural, political and theological with a thouroughly international foucs. They also appear to go beyond the more denominational focus of the other publications.
Not sure what that tells us generally, but overall I have to say that the religious press can do more to depress than inspire with their general focus on what's wrong, rather than what's right (apart from the odd rather twee story). I know bad news is a key news value, but I think the denominational religious media have a long way to go before they become as readable as their secular counterparts.
That said, there are exceptions in the Christian media generally; the main one being Third Way which is worth investing in, in it's real paper based format.