wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, ENI covers it

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - Feature
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org 
For immediate release - 01/10/2004

 FROM AFGHANISTAN TO ZIMBABWE, ENI COVERS IT

 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: 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]

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153  +41 79 507 6363
	 media@wcc-coe.org 

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 The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in
 more than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
 traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
 cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly,
 which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally
 inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
 general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.