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Religion Communicators Council (RCC) 2011
By Philip Lee, WACC Deputy-Director of Programmes 
| | The National Convention of the Religion Communicators Council took place in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, 31 March to 2 April 2011 on the theme “Communicating Outside the Box”.
As a curtain-raiser to the Convention, WACC Global and WACC North America joined forces to screen The Garden at the End of the World, a documentary by Australian film-maker Gary Caganoff and winner of the WACC-SIGNIS Human Rights Award 2010. The film portrays the lives of those hardest hit by the consequences of war in Afghanistan – widows and orphans, who number tens of thousands. It follows two women, Afghan refugee Mahboba Rawi and internationally recognised permaculturalist Rosemary Morrow, who offer alternative views on how to solve the problems facing the country. |
Through two remarkable women, Caganoff elicits stories and images of Afghanistan rarely seen before. Neither sentimental nor sensational, the film explores the social depths and complexities of war-torn Afghanistan. Stunning visual imagery combines with heart-rending stories that not only raise moral questions but offer a glimmer of hope in the struggle to survive and rebuild lives.
This documentary film is available for purchase from the website of Lysis Films: www.thegardenattheendoftheworld.info/Home.html Opening plenary
 | | WACC was privileged to make the opening plenary presentation. Dr Sarah Macharia, coordinator of WACC’s programme on Media and Gender Justice and of the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), spoke on “Gender and the news media: A new approach to building lasting peace?”
Speaking on the topic of “Gender and the News Media: A New Approach to Building Lasting Peace?”, Dr Macharia explored how societies have become increasingly polarised along competing political or ideological positions. This has often led news journalism to prefer one-sided positions over more balanced positions. This results in certain interests and voices being accorded grossly disproportional print coverage or broadcast time. | Dr Sarah Macharia, programme manager, Media and Gender Justice, (WACC)
| | | “The imperative to focus on news media becomes clear when we consider two facts. The first is that the news is the foremost source of information about issues and events, knowledge that in turn informs communities’ understanding of and responses to their world. The second is that the news has the ability to influence policy agendas as issues attain centre-stage in public debate,” she said.
WACC’s Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) has starkly demonstrated that the diversity present in reality is veiled or ignored in the world depicted in the news. Furthermore, news tends to magnify and normalize discrimination, injustice, and inequality when it comes to gender difference. See: http://www.whomakesthenews.org/
Dr Macharia pointed out that, “If the rate of change observed in the past decade in women’s presence in the news is maintained, it will take at least 40 more years to reach parity. The GMMP 2010 report contains a plan of action intended to not only accelerate the pace of change but also re-direct progress to areas of media policy and practice that constrain advancement towards more gender-equitable news media.”
Drawing on research findings, the presentation suggested how the advancement of peace can be strengthened by gender-fair and gender-balanced reporting. It argued that representing society in all its diversity is the key to the emergence of a more equitable world. “The challenge is to overcome inequality and injustice whatever its roots. Or, to put it another way, communicating justice and equality is a task for us all, religion communicators included.”
Subsequent plenary sessions during the Convention heard media consultant Lorri Allen of Family Life Radio network in Tucson, Arizona; Associate Director of the White Office of Public Engagement D. Paul Monteiro; and William J. Clinton Professor and Dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service James L. Rutherford.
Knowledge-sharing workshops
The Convention programme included a variety of workshop experiences. One explored the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) findings in more depth. Participants heard Mary Jacobs, staff writer for the United Methodist Portal [http://www.umportal.org/] respond to some of the issues raised by the previous day’s plenary presentation. Ms Jacobs’ professional experience includes being a freelance writer for the award-winning religion section of the Dallas Morning News and contributing to Religion News Service. She has received national awards from the Associated Church Press, the Religion Communicators’ Council (RCC) and the United Methodist Association of Communicators.
Workshop participants learnt more about the history of the GMMP and its methodology. They carried out a coding exercise in relation to recent news coverage of the sex discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart. This “class action lawsuit” brought on behalf of some 1.6 million women claims that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. favours men over women in pay and promotions. Lively media coverage has ranged from overt bias against parity, describing the lawsuit as frivolous, to well argued support for gender equality.
Derose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards
The Convention saw the annual Awards of Excellence to active RCC members who had this year submitted 268 entries. Each entry in ten categories is judged on overall quality, including concept, design, creativity, style, use of colour, appropriateness of material, creative use of resources, communication value, and effectiveness in achieving its purpose. From among the Awards of Excellence, one best of class trophy is presented in each category.
Winner of the best of class trophy in Class A – Periodicals was Gregg Brekke of the United Church of Christ for StillSpeaking Magazine. Brekke is a member of the WACC North America Executive Committee. “The covers of this magazine are so striking they would draw attention from across the room,” said the judges, who called the publication a “great concept” and “highly readable.” Accepting the award, Brekke (photo right) noted the transitions that have taken place over the last two years in communications at the UCC. Recalling the 25-year history of the United Church News newspaper and its move to a web-only resource 18 months ago, he said, “I’d like to thank all those who discerned and believed with us. It took a leap of faith to launch this new magazine.”
Both 2010 editions of StillSpeaking Magazine garnered additional awards for their respective photo essays: the Spring/Summer edition earned an award for its “Belonging” theme and the Fall/Winter edition received recognition for its theme of “Blessing.” See: http://www.ucc.org/news/voices.html
| |  | | | | Gregg Brekke: Winner of the best of class trophy in Class A – Periodicals | Wilbur Awards 2011
Documentaries on Haiti and Liberia each won Wilbur Awards at the Religion Communicators Council convention held March 31 to April 2, 2011, in Little Rock, Arkansas. Recognizing excellence in communicating religious issues, values and themes in the public media, and first given in 1949, the Wilbur Awards are judged by media professionals through a jury process. With 22 communication nomination categories, candidates are judged on content, creativity, execution, and results. Winners are chosen in the fields of newspapers, radio, magazines, cartoons/comic strips, books, television news, television documentaries, feature films, and web-based communications. 
| | Rainbow Town: The Documentary, directed by Lauren Selmon Roberts, is the true story of a Liberian orphanage. With civil war raging around her, Mother Feeta was presented with a stark choice: to protect the orphaned children forced into her life or to abandon them and go in search of her own family. She wanted the children to live, so today, seven years after the fighting ended, they are living at a rural Liberian farm named Rainbow Town. All 86 of them.
To the beat of an original soundtrack by the children and narrated by Mother Feeta, three of her children, and Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, this documentary unearths the price of war, while illustrating the strength of the human spirit. Major problems constantly face Rainbow Town, but clinging to faith and each other, Mother Feeta and her children find a way to overcome. Web site: http://rainbowtown.org | Haiti was the setting for a second prizewinner. Haiti: Religion’s Response to Disaster is a CBS Religion Special about the assistance given to the people of Haiti. John P. Blessington is the executive producer and Liz Kineke is the producer. It was produced in cooperation with the National Council of Churches, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Islamic Society of North America, the Union for Reform Judaism and the New York Board of Rabbis.
After a 7.0 magnitude earthquake ravaged the country in January 2010, some of the first responders were religious relief organizations. These faith-based groups continue to work in Haiti, as the road to helping the country sustain itself remains a long one. The documentary looks at relief efforts begun immediately after the quake as well as the progress currently being made in Haiti by faith-based organizations. Members of Church World Service, Catholic Relief Services, Jewish Distribution Committee, and United Methodist Committee on Relief share stories about their work with viewers.
While religious relief organizations worked to help the living, they often struggled to cope with the dying, with some groups mourning the deaths of their own members. Representatives from United Methodist of Relief Committee (UMCOR) were in Haiti when the earthquake hit and lost two members. Melissa Crutchfield, UMCOR''s Assistant General Secretary for International Disaster Response, tells viewers about the Haitian people’s struggle for survival and UMCOR’s renewed efforts and commitment in Haiti.
The Jewish Distribution Committee (JDC), another faith-based group working in the country, has a long relationship with Haiti. Jewish refugees from Central Europe immigrated to Haiti in 1938 with JDC assistance, an action that saved them from the atrocities of the Holocaust. Gideon Herscher, JDC’s Haiti Relief Director, talks about how the organization is reaching its goals to help the country recover. The JDC has opened a new rehabilitation centre that serves amputees and injured victims.
Memories of the struggle against racial segregation
 | | Participants at the RCC Convention visited the Little Rock Central High School which, in 1957, was racially segregated and where a group of nine African-American students enrolled there were prevented from taking their places on the orders of Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. On their first day of school, troops from the Arkansas National Guard prevented the nine from entering and ugly crowds gathered to protest against desegregation. The ensuing crisis led to the intervention of President Eisenhower and is considered to be one of the most important events in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.
| | Memorial to the “Little Rock Nine” outside the Arkansas State Capitol. | | | In 1960, Michael Traber, who 16 years later joined the staff of WACC as director of its fledgling Periodicals Development Programme (PDP) and editor of Media Development, successfully submitted his PhD thesis to New York University. Its title was “The Treatment of the Little Rock, Arkansas, School Integration Incident” and it examined the extent and focus of attention in the daily press of three African countries. WACC’s new programme contributed substantial resources to the struggle against racism and apartheid in South Africa, supporting two “alternative” newspapers and strengthening community resistance. Undoubtedly, part of the impetus for that programme harked back to the earlier struggle in Little Rock and today it underlies WACC’s commitment to communication rights.
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