Communication in Judaism and Islam

Beginning with the more ancient Judaism and finishing with Islam, this chapter introduces the communication teaching of each religious group, examining ethical guidelines for communication, then looking at the ways that the different religions use communication media. Language, speech, and communication play a central role in Judaism. Perhaps the most significant contribution of Jewish thought to mass communications concerns regulating the transfer of or information sharing among people. Judaism offers principles about the threat to secrecy characterized by the digital age. Psychological and ideological news values play important roles in the construction of news in the Israeli media. The Haredi media have incorporated certain standards foreign to mainstream journalism. The Modern Orthodox hold a view that Judaism and modernity do not inherently conflict. The chapter discusses the changing modes of communication in modernity and how this has led to the fragmentation of religious authority in Islam.