As public trust in institutions declines, platforms like Eponymos™ are helping religious organizations reclaim their narrative through media-ready digital storytelling.

Religious institutions have long played a central role in communities, yet their stories are often absent or misrepresented in mainstream media. A growing number of faith-based organizations are turning to new technologies like Eponymos™, a digital newsroom platform that helps organizations publish verified stories and provide journalists with editorial-quality assets.

In doing so, they’re responding to two urgent trends: declining public trust in institutions, and shrinking newsroom resources that limit journalists’ ability to fairly represent religious communities.

A platform built for trust and transparency

Eponymos™ enables organizations to create branded digital newsrooms where they can publish updates, distribute rights-cleared photos and videos, and share stories in a way that aligns with journalistic standards.

This approach aligns with a core principle identified by the Pew Research Center, which found that only 29% of U.S. adults say the media accurately covers religion, with many religious Americans expressing concern about bias or misunderstanding in coverage.¹

At the same time, Gallup reports a steady decline in trust toward major institutions, including churches.² In 2024, only 32% of Americans expressed “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in organized religion, down from 65% in the mid-1970s.²

Platforms like Eponymos™ allow these institutions to regain control of their narrative, without relying on press releases alone.

“Newsrooms want local stories, but they don’t always have the time or context to get religion right,” said Julia Duin, an award-winning religion journalist and media scholar. “Having access to media-ready assets and trustworthy sources improves both the quality and quantity of coverage.”³

Shrinking newsrooms, rising opportunity

The need is urgent: U.S. newsroom employment dropped by 26% between 2008 and 2020, according to Pew Research.⁴ This leaves fewer journalists to cover religious stories, particularly outside of major cities. Journalists often cite a lack of time, visuals, or access as barriers to covering churches, nonprofits, and faith groups in depth.

Faith-based organizations that provide properly licensed media, photos with captions, B-roll, approved quotes, are more likely to be included in news coverage. Cision’s 2026 State of the Media Report found PR-provided content is now journalists’ leading source of story ideas, cited by 66% of respondents, up from 61% saying they were more likely to pursue a story when assets were centralized just two years earlier.⁵

Eponymos™ streamlines that process by turning ordinary stories, about community programs, interfaith efforts, or disaster response, into searchable, shareable, and journalist-ready content, structured so AI-powered search tools can find and cite it accurately as well.

The role of visuals in public engagement

Visual content also plays a critical role in how audiences perceive and engage with messages. Research from MDG Advertising found that articles with relevant images get 94% more views than those without.⁶ And visuals are increasingly important on social media, where many faith-based groups seek to grow awareness beyond their congregations.

By providing images, video, and verified facts through a newsroom platform, religious organizations can:

• Increase their chance of being covered by local or national media
• Build trust with digital audiences through transparency
• Ensure their values are communicated clearly, without distortion

Why you should take a look at Eponymos™

In a fragmented and often skeptical media environment, faith-based organizations face a communication gap. By embracing tools like Eponymos™, they’re closing that gap with greater transparency, higher-quality storytelling, and a stronger relationship with the media.

Not only does this help drive positive, values-aligned coverage, it helps rebuild trust with the communities they serve.

Key Takeaways

• Only 29% of U.S. adults say media accurately covers religion (Pew), and confidence in organized religion has fallen from 65% (mid-1970s) to 32% (2024, Gallup), a trust gap a self-published, journalist-ready newsroom directly addresses.
• PR-provided content is now journalists’ top source of story ideas (66%, Cision 2026), so faith-based organisations that supply licensed, ready-to-use assets improve their odds of fair, accurate coverage.
• Articles with relevant images receive 94% more views, making licensed visual assets a meaningful lever for a resource-constrained communications team.

Sources

1. Pew Research Center, U.S. Public Continues to View News Media Less Favorably than in the Past.
2. Gallup, Confidence in Institutions, 2024.
3. Duin, J. Getting Religion Right: How the Media Covers, and Misses, Faith Stories. Religion Unplugged and GetReligion.
4. Pew Research Center, Newsroom employment has fallen 26% since 2008.
5. Cision, 2026 State of the Media Report; Cision, 2024 State of the Media Report.
6. MDG Advertising, It’s All About the Images.