Religious diversity: What information and what kind

Abstract

Religion and religious groups often become news, even though the means of communication secularized not show greater interest in religious issues. However, in a logic of news consumption, religious issues have a large market. Especially scandals, conflicts and violence cases. Since the 60s, the social and institutional context have been secularized significantly in Basque society and the generation gap is evident. Before and after that secularization process, ethnic minorities unrelated to Catholicism were practically invisible. Recently, and for various reasons, when religious diversity has become evident, it manifests itself increasingly in the media. The attention that the media show religious minorities the treatment given have much influence on the group itself, the opinion of the population and the development of attitudes. Considering the above, in this article we collect the point of view of religious minorities and their experience with the media, how they represent their situation and reality. In the Basque Country, regarding to this, after doing interviews and focus groups with religious minorities, we have developed a list of concerns. The main points of this list are: invisibility, unless something particular happened it does not become new; When they become news, information has a negative undertone; no respect for data and manifestations, vocabulary and explanations are not adequate; often the information and opinions are mixed. In the last part of this work, we make ourselves a fundamental question: Is it a concern with real basis? To answer this question we have analyzed several media (Vocento Taldearenak, Gara, Deia, Berria) in the last 5 years.