Media can help! This idea can help you harness your local home paper to carry more interfaith perspectives on religious, spiritual and current topics. Instead of waiting for a local newspaper journalist to call you…go to them and suggest this idea.

Nicole Neroulias, a staff writer and religion page editor for the San Mateo County Times, a local home town newspaper in San Mateo CA, is instituting a great idea. In response to readership asking for more religion coverage, she launched an interfaith column.

She invited four leaders from different faith traditions to contribute a 500 word article once a month to the Faith page. She says that most often each writer chooses his or her own topic and writes very well. She assists with topics and some editing as needed. Currently, a rabbi, a Muslim community leader, a Catholic priest, and an Evangelical minister volunteer to write once a month for the column. Nicole researched leaders popular in the community, interviewed them and asked for a writing sample. Nicole says sales have gone up when the Faith page runs. She says if you want newspapers to be more proactive with interfaith news – write letters to the editor and find ways to show them that higher sales result.

Many thanks to Iftekhar Hai, URI representative and founder of United Muslims of America Interfaith Alliance, who is one of the writers to the Faith page and wanted to share this idea.