The Reformation party

Debates on the health of information, monologues, music on the day dedicated to our newspaper. The full video of the day

A nice afternoon and evening, of friendship with Reform – The Echo of the Waldensian Valleys: at the Waldensian temple in Pinerolo, Saturday 15 October, it was not only a question of discussing important issues regarding the world of the press and periodical publishing, but also of gathering around an instrument that responds to the Baptist, Methodist and Waldensian churches and contributes to maintaining links between the various realities scattered throughout the country: the Waldensian valleys, large and medium-sized cities, smaller communities, children – in some cases – of evangelization in the Risorgimento and reinvigorated, in other cases, by the presence of citizens from other parts of the world.

The first part of the afternoon was dedicated to a series of greetings: an informal passage. We met the representatives of the Bmv-Baptist, Methodist and Waldensian churches, editors of the newspaper, but also the previous directors, in presence, in voice or on video (the first director Giorgio Gardiol was also mentioned), who promoted the birth of this instrument or that have catalysed its renewal and relaunch (“Reform goes into four” – 2014). There was no shortage of interventions by the editorial offices that work with us, precisely in this communication system: the press agency Nev – Evangelical News And Evangelical Beckwith Radio. The interventions of the mayors of Pinerolo and Torre Pellice and of the senator Ivan Scalfarotto, in the outgoing government Undersecretary for the Interior with delegation to the cults, were welcome.

The round table on the afternoon of Saturday 15 saw Emmanuela Banfo, Ansa and collaborator of the Reform, Giorgio Zanchini, host of Rai programs, Alberto Custodero, La Repubblica, moderated by Gian Mario Gillio.

One of the most pronounced words was pluralism, which, Banfo pointed out, does not mean having many newspapers, but saying different things: a word that concerns, for example, the need (and difficulty) of talking about minorities, paying attention to the polarizations that always characterize plus public discourse (Zanchini).

Another topic touched upon was the crisis of print journalism (citing the opening article of the last issue of Riforma) parallel to the growth of the online one, and of communication via social media also used by the media: also cited here Reform, the whose growth on social media has amazed Custodero, but it is also true, Banfo noted, that as Protestant churches we still have to work a lot, and improve, on digital communication. Undoubtedly, however, he continued, there is a world interested in Protestants and a demand for “religious” that is wider than our churches.

From this issue one inevitably slips on to young people: if Italy has always been a country that reads little, what can one expect, considering that the new generations show that they are looking for more careful information, especially in some areas ? The knot of communication with / for young people and their involvement also touches Reform, and reflection must certainly be deepened.

Relations between newspapers and readers also change, it has been emphasized, today much less “identity”, even if the universe of Reformation-L’Eco delle valdesi continues to stand out in this regard, given the deep, “personal” bond, often “Face to face” that characterizes it. A “publishing miracle”, as Custodero defined it, with very low circulation and budget, but widespread throughout Italy and beyond …

The question is that the crisis of “traditional” journalism is only partly linked to social media: what are the deeper causes? First of all, the debasement of the journalist’s profession was highlighted, reduced in public opinion to the servant of the powerful, incompetent, tendentious, forgetting that pure objectivity does not exist, that the journalist will always offer a perspective, and that the truth is the goal to strive for, not an achievement.

That said, the training of journalists remains fundamental, whether in schools or in the field, a training that never ends (not unlike other professions, moreover): the journalist must return to being at the center of information, bearing in mind that he is not the only actor.

In the evening Diego Passoni, voice of Radio Deejay who a year ago made his own reportage in the Waldensian structures and historical places, he recounted, introduced by Valentina Fries, his own journey between an initial faith, a period of spiritual crisis and contact with the Waldensian reality. A person who knows how to speak to young people (and not just “about” young people), still in research, but who has well grasped the need for a solidity of references that goes beyond a generic need for spirituality. His reference to the Incarnation brings us back to the center of faith. Following a friend from the Pinerolo area, the saxophonist Emanuele Cisi, accompanied on the guitar by Alessandro Chiappetta, put his jazz invention and his translation into a beautiful book What do you think when you play.

Below is the complete video of the day, thanks to Radio Radicale which filmed the entire event, available also at this link.

Photo by Samuele Revel

The Reformation party – The echo of the Waldensian valleys