News
WCC is a co-founder and sponsor of Ecumenical News International (ENI) which was launched in 1994 as a global news service reporting on ecumenical developments and other news of the churches. WCC communication covers the life and work of the organization and its activities. This special feature article is issued jointly by ENI, the WCC and the other sponsoring organizations to mark the 10th anniversary of ENI. Further information on: http://www.eni.ch.
By Glenn Cross
Geneva. Ecumenical News International, an independent news agency which covers the world of churches and religion for media in every part of the globe, is celebrating its 10th birthday.
From Geneva, where it has its headquarters, ENI's news service goes to mass media, church newspapers and research institutions in at least 50 countries as well as to church officials and members everywhere.
"Those who use newspapers, television, radio and the Web, are crying out for more reliable news about churches and religion from throughout the planet," says Peter Kenny, who joined ENI as editor-in-chief in 2002 after more than two decades working in print and broadcast media. "This news niche can only grow in the next 10 years."
Thanks to a network of more than 30 part-time correspondents around the globe, ENI - with a core staff of five in Geneva - publishes religious and church news from the whole world and has members of its governing bodies in three continents.
"Millions, literally millions, of people are more aware of the existence and the work of the world church because ENI exists," says the Rev. David Lawrence, a journalist from the United Reformed Church in Britain who this year was elected president of ENI's governing board.
"ENI, despite its small staff, is one of the most effective, and relevant achievements of the ecumenical movement," Lawrence affirms. "If it should disappear, a considerable investment made over the last 10 years to create a credible news agency with a wide reach might never be made again."
ENI was launched in September 1994 as a cooperative venture by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.
"The WCC, as a founder and the main sponsor of ENI, rejoices in the first 10 years of work of ENI," says the Rev. Samuel Kobia, WCC general secretary. "We remain fully committed to the vision of an independent, professional, ecumenical news service as an indispensable resource for the witness and mutual understanding of the Christian fellowship worldwide."
The news agency is governed by a charter agreed by the four partners which sets down ENI's aims of honesty, impartiality and accuracy, and guarantees it editorial independence.
"In 1994, ENI produced 179 news articles over four months," notes Kenny. "The following year, the first full year of production, ENI ran 543 stories. In 2003, the agency published 701 news items. And to date in 2004, more than 640 articles have been sent round the world."
ENI has covered events in countries ranging from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, and issues ranging from aid to xenophobia, and many in between - environment, gender issues, globalisation, HIV/Aids, human rights, inter-faith relations, racism, refugees, religious rights, and terrorism, to name but a few.
ENI produces - in English and French - a daily service sent by electronic mail to media around the world, and a printed bulletin published every two weeks. People who simply want a "taste" of news published by ENI can subscribe free of charge to its electronic highlights service.
"New technologies, like e-mail and the Web, have made a real difference to ENI's work," notes Stephen Brown, who works alongside Kenny on ENI's editorial desk and has been with the agency since its launch. "When we started ENI, we thought we would have to use fax to send our news stories to our media clients.
"Of course, it's important to realise that despite the Internet revolution, many individuals don't have access to the new technologies and can't get the news by taken-for-granted e-mail. That's why it's so important that ENI's articles are picked up by secular and church media around the world. That way people can read the news in their own papers and magazines."
Although ENI publishes out of Geneva only in English and French, its news articles are translated by media clients into many other languages, including Afrikaans, Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, Indonesian, Italian, German, Finnish, Spanish … to name only some.
But, says Lawrence, ENI is of greater significance than simply as a supplier of news.
"ENI is a vital mission tool in the battle to keep alive 'the rumour of God' in what we loosely call secularised societies," says Lawrence. "In my own cultural context, the level of disinterest in organized religion has reached quite staggering proportions," he says, adding that not one mass circulation tabloid newspaper in Britain has a specialist religious correspondent, while the less widely bought serious papers have drastically cut the resources and space devoted to religious material.
"On top of that there is ENI's role in the many cultures around the globe where faith is at the heart of national life and political debate," he says, "And ENI is not merely a resource for bringing news in, it is a vital means for making the voice of the marginalised and persecuted heard beyond their own country, and sometimes even within it.
ENI, says Zimbabwean Bishop Sebastian Bakare, has been instrumental in providing information about events taking place in the worldwide ecumenical family. "It is this information of developments worldwide which has helped us in our daily prayers," notes Bakare, who is playing a prominent role in trying to restore peace to his country. "Going through the national crisis in Zimbabwe as we are at present, we feel encouraged and enjoy the spirit of solidarity through prayer."
To mark its 10th anniversary, and with the support of the Church of Sweden, ENI has taken the initiative to organize in November a round-table symposium on the future of international ecumenical news. This will amass agencies and sponsors from around the globe involved in the delivery of ecumenical news in an era when the world is drawing closer together but also is pulling further apart due to the rapid flow of information and misinformation.
"Our job is to resist the pressure to transmit news about the churches that only makes them feel comfortable," notes Kenny. "The truth often hurts the powerful, but comforts the afflicted. Reliable and credible news released in a timely manner is the credo. It's a tough challenge, but a vital one." [1037 words]