Penny Mulvey is very astute in her understanding of how Christian organisations can engage and begin to understand the public media. This article, written in 2008, is worth reading. If your organisation, or your church, needs to deal effectively with our increasingly ‘pluralistic’ society, Penny would be a good mind to start with.
Our own associate Allison Brown would be another.
Penny Mulvey_Working Together_Engaging in the Public Space
To me, one paragraph stands out.
“Journalists look for news, and by and large, news is negative, but there are also opportunities for positive stories.”
As a Christian I know there are many amazing stories about men and women of faith and peace that would paint a hugely different picture to the negative picture that usually prevails. Many of these stories originate through Christians working in community. This begs a serious question for the broader Church, “Why are these amazing stories not being told?”
Penny expresses two concerns about the Church dealing with the media, which you will read. I sense there is also a big question of who controls the leadership in the Church that prevents the ‘good news’ being communicated among the people of Australia through the public media.
Penny understands the media very well having worked in it for as long as she has.
Within AMEP we naturally explore the networked connections of the media and powerful meaning makers in key sectors of the global economy, and our Australian society. These connections will increasingly bear down on the Australian people. As is our calling to help the Church, we constantly reflect on how society can be made whole, under the “reign of God”, through Jesus’ leadership. In our case, we are looking through the lens of “media”.
Right now, there is probably a disconnection between those of us who are Christians in the media and the clergy who are perceived by the world at large as the ‘voice and image’ indeed the ‘message’ of the Church. That disconnection needs to be rapidly overcome.
Bob Simpson
The Australian Media Engagement Project (AMEP)
