Love it or hate it, the media plays a vital role in our lives. At its best, media gives a voice to the voiceless, holds the powerful to account, and highlights unjust practices while entertaining us and keeping us informed.

As Christians, we affirm and support the media’s vital role in our society. We promote the highest standards in the media and give our backing to the vast majority of people working in media as they strive for integrity and truth.

From national newspapers to local radio, from websites to specialist publications, from TV networks to blogs, all have a valuable role to play. A thriving global, and national, media matters to all of us. We want to know about our world, its celebrations, its problems, and its joys, and we need a thriving media to help us engage with it.

First established in 1967 as the Churches Advisory Council for Local Broadcasting (CACLB), the MediaNet helped to coordinate, and develop, the churches response to shape, and create, religion programming for local BBC radio stations across the UK. Today, the MediaNet’s primary mission purpose is to support, encourage and inspire Christians who work in, and with, media. This is expressed through an extensive programme of online and offline activities including an annual Church and Media conference, regional gatherings, blogs, stories, a regular newsletter, a monthly podcast, and a prayer service.

• Please pray for honest, reliable, and accurate journalism and programming. In a world where there are claims, counter-claims, and disagreements, we need people of integrity in the media committed to being truthful and fair in all they do, and in the output, they write, produce and create.
• Pray for people in traditional and non-traditional media, who care deeply about what is going wrong in society; who have Jesus's heart for the poor and the dispossessed; that want to see change and are able to make content that shines a light on what's going on.
• Pray for leadership in newsrooms, production companies and on location, who can change the work culture within the media, and for Christians in all positions to help influence that change; to stop the exploitation of younger, and in particular, female staff.
• Pray for Christians working in media to shine for God and become increasingly more influential; for effective discipleship of young Christians who are looking to build a career in, or will be working with, media; for young people looking into a career in media to receive the right support and advice.

On the 4th November, later this year, we invite church leaders and church communities to set aside time in their meetings to pray for their local and national media, and for those who serve our Lord in the media workplace.
Our hope, our prayer is to see Christians working in, and with, UK media, flourish and become key influencers: to see the life-affirming Gospel message of faith, hope and love increasingly reflected in the UK media content; to see more and more stories of transformation.

Steve Cox
Chair, Church & Media Network