Students at Booth College will soon begin pondering how the media covers stories with religious roots. On Tuesday, March 2, 2010, Booth College will sponsor a special presentation and panel discussion titled “News & Good News: Religion and Journalism”. The presentation and lively panel discussion will bring together acclaimed author Diane Winston and scholars, journalists and students to discuss how contemporary ideas of what is newsworthy stemmed from the Puritan experience and why religion remained central to news for three hundred years until its became marginalized in the 20th century.

This provocative presentation and panel discussion is part of the first lecture series sponsored by Booth College's Centre for Salvation Army Studies. Other lectures in the series include, “My Cross to Wear: Religion and the Salvation Army Uniform” on Monday, March 1st at 10:45 am and “The Angel of Broadway: Religion, Media and army Lassies,” on Monday, March 1st at 7:00 pm. This inaugural series seeks to involve students, faculty, academic advisers, and staff members in a collaborative initiative designed to spark campus discussion on critical issues of the day. An interactive Q & A session will follow.

Diane Winston holds the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. A national authority on religion and the media, her expertise includes religion, politics and the news media as well as religion and the entertainment industry. Winston has worked as a reporter for several leading newspapers in the United States, including the Baltimore Sun, Dallas Times Herald and the News and Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her current research interests are media coverage on Islam, religion and the news media, and the place of religion in American identity.

Winston is the author of Red-Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army (1999); co-editor of Faith in the Market: Religion and the Rise of Urban Commercial Culture (2002) and Small Screen, Big Picture: Television and Lived Religion (2009). She has directed religion and media projects at New York University and Northwestern University. Winston holds a Ph.D. in religion from Princeton University, an M.S. in journalism from Columbus University, a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a B.A. from Brandeis University.

Donald Burke, President of Booth College says, “Diane Winston will provide an important perspective on the complex relationship between religion and journalism, helping us to understand how religion is covered in the media.”

Booth College is a Christian University College sponsored by The Salvation Army that brings together faith, rigorous scholarship and a passion for service. The College educates students to understand the complexities of our world, to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to be active contributors to society, and to know how to bring hope, social justice and mercy into our world.

Find out more by visiting www.boothcollege.ca




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