The Religion News writers Association is a charitable, literary and educational organization whose purpose is to promote excellence in media coverage and in public discourse about religion. RNA envisions religion reporting and commentary informed by civility, accuracy, fairness and insight.
In 1999, RNA created an educational and charitable arm, the Religion News writers Foundation. Since it’s founding the RNF has received millions in grants to create tools and training for religion reporters. To be a member there is a $50 a year fee for journalists and educators, and a $25 a year fee for students.
When the site first opens up, the right hand side of the page is where members can sign in and underneath that there is a “latest news” column. Under the news column there is a calendar of events pertinent to the RNA. The main thing that sticks out when you first open the site is a headline that reads “Chandler Student Award”. It is encouraging students to enter the 2010 Chandler Award for Student Writer of the Year in Religion. Under that major heading ore three smaller columns labeled “Religion Link”, “RNA Conference”, and “Training”. The religion link column showcases issues that have to do with religion and writing and provides resources for those who want to cover a specific topic of religion. The resources seem to be very helpful. The RNA conference talks about their RNA conference in Denver, Colorado that will be held in September, and the training column links you to KnowledgeWebb which offers dozens of do-it-yourself lessons in digital media, including "Twitter basics”. The far left column of the page has links to RNA’s sister sites, membership and networking, donations, career center, about us, and a few other tabs that have to do with scholarships and advertising.
I think that this site can help journalists by providing them with resources for writing about religion. The religion link section of the site seemed to be the most helpful because it provides religion story ideas and resources. For example, on April 28th the post was about “National Day of Prayer, and a National Debate Over Prayer”. It gives a brief history about court decisions about this issue and provides resources about the court case and other links that pertain to this topic. The career section of the site is really helpful because it provides a job search function as well as a job posting option. You can also post a resume or search for other resumes if you are hiring.
On a scale of 1 to 5 I would rate this a 3. I really liked the religion link resource, but I felt like that was about the only resource I could use as a journalist. Being a non-member I wasn’t able to utilize all of the resources the site had to offer, and I think if they get enough funding it might be more helpful to offer those benefits free of charge. Writing about religion is a tricky subject, so I am glad this resource is available for journalists to look at and reference to in times of confusion or even curiosity.
I think the idea of charging for membership to the association is discouraging, especially in the online "freenomics" of today. I understand that membership goes beyond online access, but like Allison said much of the information is restricted to non-members. It does, however, appeal to the niche communities that tend to have more success online by making the information extremely relevant to a specific, targeted audience.
ReplyDeleteHaving to be a member of the association really deterred me from using this site. I think there is a lot of information here, but most people will be turned off by the fact that one must be a member. Especially for students, due to that fact, I am not sure many people would sign up to use this niche resource.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the annual fee could be discouraging. However, I did find some useful information. If a journalist was writing a story that focused on religion, or had some sort of religious aspect, this site could be a great place to begin research. They have articles about religion in the news. For example, the post about Muslims in America was very interesting. It provided detailed information and links about the topic. I think this is a great source.
ReplyDeleteActually, nearly all the information is free. ReligionLink is free, as is a Religion Stylebook, a Primer to writing about Religion, and links to dozens of religion sources. The one thing you can't get for free is a directory of the organization's members. Membership also gives people discounts on entering contests or attending an annual training conference. But anyone can enter the contests and go to the conference. It just costs more if you are not a member. RNA has more free resources than just about any other membership group I know.
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