Religious Denominations Need a Free Press

One of the most respected voices among evangelical Christianity is the magazine Christianity Today. The publication is the result of a vision by Evangelist Billy Graham who wanted a vehicle to present an evangelical understanding of the world to readers everywhere.

Religious news has been an important feature of the publication from its beginning.  At its founding, Graham said he dreamed of 100 of the world’s best reporters spread across the world providing the most complete coverage of religious news available anywhere.

Through its half-century existence, Christianity Today has covered the sensitive and the sensational developments among evangelical Christians. The magazine is a trendsetter committed to providing a service to its community by helping readers know the “whats” and “whys” about major issues and important news.

That is why it was important when Christianity Today editor David Neff stood before the editors of Baptist state papers Feb. 4 and declared that “Religious denominations need a free press.” In fact that was the title of the first of his two addresses. The second concerned how to report the “bad news” of a denomination.

The irony of Neff’s presentations could not have been more complete. Only days before the meeting Bill Neal, editor of Georgia Baptists’ Christian Index and president of the Association of State Baptist Papers, had been called to the office of the Georgia executive director and dismissed. Thankfully, he was provided a severance that allowed the administration to say he was “retiring.”

But Neal was not the only state paper editor forced out during the year. Illinois editor Michael Leathers announced last summer that he was seeking “another direction” for his ministry. What the story did not report was the cauldron of anger Leathers stirred up when he reported a prominent pastor in the state had been charged with sex abuse of a minor. The state paper did not report the story until after it appeared in the secular news. As later reported, the pastor also had confessed his guilt to the deacons of the church and is now in prison.

Still, some people objected to such a story appearing in their state Baptist paper and the editor ended up seeking “another direction.”

In still another case this past year, a pastor who held a prominent position on a Southern Baptist Convention board announced to his church that he had acted inappropriately and resigned. The news was carried in most state Baptist papers, but the paper in the pastor’s home state never reported the story. After all, reporting bad news does have a price.

A free press among Baptists was not an esoteric topic for the editors. It was a real life issue.

Neff pointed out that when a denominational press attempts to be less than truthful, it inevitably results in spawning a dissident press.  The truth will come out, he said. When it does, a press that has not told the truth the first time will be discredited. Other informational outlets will emerge, and the dissident press will be trusted by the community more than the official press.

While not talking about administrators who insist on spinning the news with half-truths, one can only wonder about the trust level such persons are left with when the rest of the story is finally told.
Only a strong record of good performance builds credibility with the community one serves whether one is a state paper editor or a denominational administrator.

It is often said that the way one reports the “bad news” shows more about one’s feelings toward constituents than anything else. Does one trust the community enough to tell them the truth? For Baptists, this is a key point. Our commitment to the priesthood of believers means truth telling is a theological enterprise as well as a moral enterprise. Fair, accurate and balanced reporting is a responsibility to help equip members to be responsible before God.

Neff talked about the importance of seeing the religious scene from the reader’s viewpoint, about the way reporting helps provide a fair treatment of the whole truth, about helping protect people from those who would take advantage of them in some way.  He recalled a long list of Ponzi schemes that prey on people of faith.

Neff asked if papers help build up the community they serve or tear it down. Does the paper celebrate the good things going on in the community or focus on the negative? He pointed out that all communities, even Baptists, have both saints and sinners. In a sense, the paper is a mirror to the community reflecting both when appropriate. The paper is a service organ for God, for the church and for the readers, he said.

A free press does not mean an unaccountable press, Neff added. Accountability is also part of priesthood. Practically speaking, no publication is independent of its funding source, whether religious or secular. Thus, the question of a free press is a question for those allocating funds as well as for those receiving funds.

Alabama Baptists have always supported a free press. Originally, The Alabama Baptist was privately owned. It was purchased by the state convention in 1919, and it functions as an entity of the convention. The office has been in Birmingham for more than 100 years while the state convention office is in Montgomery.

The paper has a board of directors elected by the state Baptist convention. These directors report to the convention about the work of the paper on an annual basis. They also report to the State Board of Missions at each meeting. At budget-making time, the paper makes detailed presentations about its work to the administrative committee of the State Board of Missions to justify its Cooperative Program allocation.

The state Baptist paper’s board of directors adopted guidelines granting editorial freedom for the editor and put in place a procedure for regular appraisals of the overall work of the editor.  As Neff urged, the directors provide both freedom and accountability for The Alabama Baptist.

The administration of the Alabama Baptist State Convention also supports a free press. Executive Director Rick Lance, like his predecessors, works cooperatively with the state Baptist paper to “tell the truth and trust the people.” Alabama is blessed in that regard.

Those of us privileged to minister through the state Baptist paper are grateful for the commitment of Alabama Baptists to a free press. It is important to our community as Baptists. Please join us in praying that the paper will continue to merit the confidence and trust of those it serves.