There are more than 27 million Sikhs around the world, which makes Sikhi (also known as Sikhism) the fifth-largest major world religion. Yet the Sikh tradition remains largely unknown to the global community – no other religion of its magnitude is as misunderstood as Sikhi.
The Sikh religion has been underrepresented and misrepresented in the popular media, and these problems have contributed to the serious challenges that Sikhs experience today, including negative stereotypes, discriminatory policies, and violent hate crimes.
This guide — a collaboration between the Sikh Coalition and ReligionLink and updated in 2025 — aims to provide reporters with basic information on the Sikh tradition and to help facilitate accurate coverage on Sikhs and Sikhi.
Author Information & Acknowledgements
Sikhi: A Reporter’s Guide (2025) was revised by Simran Jeet Singh and Nimarta Kaur, with editorial support from Harman Singh, Graham F. West and Abby Kelly Gualdoni from the Sikh Coalition and Ken Chitwood, Judith Golub, and Deborah Caldwell from the Religion News Foundation. The updated design is by Afy Inyang of the Sikh Coalition.
Sikhism: A Reporter’s Guide (2017) was a collaboration between the Religion News Foundation and the Sikh Coalition. The guide was written by Simran Jeet Singh, with editorial support from Jasleen Bawa, Mark Reading-Smith, Jagmeet Singh, Mary Gladstone and Kimberly Winston. Design was by Katie Shull of Shull Design, with support from Satjeet Kaur. Heather Tearney, Andrew J. Martin and Thomas L. Gallagher provided additional contributions to bring the first iteration of this product together.
Please direct comments and suggested updates to: [email protected] and [email protected].