Christian journalists persecuted for their faith tell their stories

SELANGOR  – Twenty journalists from 13 Asian countries attended the Asian Journalists Roundtable organised by SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication here on 10-11 March 2017.

The meeting was held at the Ecumenical Centre of the Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) at the Jalan University Selangor.

The theme of the roundtable was “Hope and trust in communication in our time.”

The purpose of the association, said Jim McDonnell, secretary of SIGNIS World Journalism Desk, is to promote professional journalism ethics in the era of the media, in order to create a global network of Catholic journalists worldwide.

“In this way, you support freedom of expression and strengthen solidarity among Catholic professionals,” he added.

Most of the journalists reported that being Christian is a real challenge in the field of communication.

Pakistan reported that it is not easy to enter the field of journalism and media if one belongs to a religious minority while Indonesia stated that one cannot use one’s Christian name in the official press.

Another theme tackled at the meeting was the proliferation of false information (fake news), increasingly common in a world where it is difficult to check the reliability of sources.

For this, Alan John, Asia director Journalism Fellowship, said the journalist’s task becomes even more important.

Filipino Perry Lamanilao Paul said, “We need to bring first-hand information and always check with extreme accuracy the stories we tell.”

Cambodian Cheng Chomneth said the journalist must regain confidence in the profession guiding principles. – AsiaNews