This ESRC-funded international partnership, between Kim Knott (Lancaster University) and Lori Beaman (University of Ottawa), enables research networking between the United Kingdom and Canada on an interdisciplinary and comparative basis. Both countries have diverse populations, but they have considerable differences with regard to religion, law, politics, public policy, media and multiculturalism. The network focuses on the ways that mainstream media in the UK and Canada portray and represent majority and minority religions and their relationship with the secular state. It is important in both countries to analyse and question how the media contribute to constructing the public image of different religions and their members, and for researchers to engage with media professionals and religious representatives on these issues. We examine controversies on religious topics that attract media attention and the similarities and differences in the two countries, and are developing a matrix for comparing media datasets that will, in turn, produce a comparative analysis of media coverage of religion in the UK and Canada, with foundation building for a similar analysis in other countries including Australia and New Zealand.