;)
The Future of Baptist Newspapers
Posted by Roger Ferrell in Baptist Life, News & Culture
I listened to a podcast a month ago about the Christian Science Monitor. This well-respected national newspaper has recently made the decision to move to the web. No more print edition. What prompted this move? Their circulation is down, way down. It seems few people are reading newspapers anymore and those that are read their local daily or one of a few huge international papers like the Washington Post or the New York Times. But more and more people are getting their news from a screen through television news channels like Fox News or CNN or internet sites like MSN or Yahoo or the Drudge Report or through blogs like Hugh Hewitt or even, well, this one.
I had lunch this week with a friend who works for a respected Baptist state newspaper. We talked awhile about their ministry and the future of denominational journalism. He told me that subscriptions to their weekly print edition are way down, and that they are stepping up their efforts on a web edition of the paper.
I told him that our association last year made the decision (mostly financial) to quit bundling our newsletter into the state paper. Now we are sending a weekly e-newsletter and only sending a print edition to those who request it. We are no longer sending the state paper at all. If people in our association want that, they have to order it or read it online.
Most of our state conventions have a newspaper of some sort. Some of our frontier conventions are now only sending an electronic version. Others are moving to web-only versions. Still others provide a basic newsletter and nothing more.
As the newspaper industry tries to reinvent itself and compete with blogs and other forms of communication, how is your state Baptist paper doing? Do you read it? Is it of value to you? Would you pay for an online edition? Would it affect your life or ministry if it just disappeared?
No one seems to know what the future will hold for denominational journalism. I know one thing: we need accountable , diligent communicators to tell the stories that are affecting our churches, to share testimonies of what God is doing, and to call us to task when we get off track.
But I guess that’s what sbc IMPACT! does every day. And why I am glad to be a part of it.
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
Brother Geoff,
Good and relevant article. I think we have just begun to realize these new collaboration technologies, and it will only get better. The buzz about blogs or online papers is the ability to respond. It is human nature to want to be heard and the forums that make that possible can be beneficial.
Blogs, e-newspapers, etc. will need to work more diligently than ever to have well written, investigated, and accurate news to report, now more than ever, especially if feedback is solicited. I love the print,…but it is becoming a way of the past.
There are some positives for the church if the technology is used properly. It is less expensive. The convention should profit from the cost savings, and the rapid deployment of stories. It will take more dedication on the ground and more dedication in the edit room, but wow!….what an opportunity to write and tell about the good news and not have to wait on the newspaper to hit your front door!
As someone that has worked in this type of industry for the last 20 years…. We are just now beginning to see the collaboration tools really have impact. It can be very, very good or very, very bad. The very, very good will demand committed discipleship.
Blessings,
Chris
Content, writing, photos, etc are all great in the Baptist State papers, but the paper format has long ceased to serve the medium. Those of us who are interested in Baptist life have daily, immediate access to the news we are interested in through blogs, websites, and news subscription services.
As missionaries living overseas we have always received at least one State Baptist paper in our mailbox. The problem is they arrive anywhere from 12-16 weeks after the date. By the time these get to our mailbox the content is “old news” that we have already read about through our daily subscriptions of Baptist Press or Associated Baptist Press releases.
Something else I see happening is that people tend to gravitate towards those publications that already reflect their own convictions/biases. It would seem that even in Baptist journalism there is politics and slant to the writing. Those that do not take a slant are not as read or discussed as those who do. What that will mean for the future of Baptist journalism I don’t know, but seems already a reality.
Chris,
Blogs do have much potential for good, or for evil. We have all seen that. And at most of the conferences I have been to lately, someone is teaching at some point on using facebook, twitter, or other tools for ministry. Just as no one much writes letters these days, I think very few of us will be looking at many printed materials in five years. Ebooks will probably take the place of magazines and newspapers for many people.
But I wonder who will blog or write about the things our state Baptist papers write about if there is no revenue stream to pay for it? Though there is some income from online ads and such, many of our state papers are slashing budgets because they cannot hit on a workable business model for digital (as opposed to print) media.
We need to make sure we do a good job not only of telling stories of churches and kingdom ministries on our blogs, but a good job of making sure people can find these items if they go looking.
Guy,
I do see bias in our blogs. And it is very much a problem in mainstream media as well (Have you watched CNN or Fox News lately?) What I like about our blog is the opportunity to comment and the strict biblical standards of dialogue and the accountability that brings. I do hope that any bias we have is strictly biblical!
Roger, Check out the article I prepared in late 2007 relating to this trend. http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=26985. Part of the reason Louisiana Baptist collapsed its mission magazine into a Webmagazine relates to the changes in technology and the ever expanding cost of old printing and postage technologies. We still use a direct mail component sent free of charge to all the people on the ACP. It is a new day.
Just yesterday here in Oklahoma the Messenger (still in print as a state paper) reported a big cutback at Glorieta.
While other SBC operations may be cutting back they will likely revive when the economy improves. The situation with the papers is that they are suffring a DOUBLE whammy — one cyclical and one longer term and irrevisable; the poor economy AND the switch from physical print to the web.
The problem with the web is that there is no business model for the state papers to survive via the web since very few people are going to pay for news via the web and popup ads are not likely to be viable for web-based state papers. Either the papers are going to have to be subsidized by the state conventions or they will be gone.
What is going to take the place of the investigative journalism that the Baptist state papers have traditionally provided which shed light on areas needing change in SBC operations?
Brother Roger,
My apologies for addressing the wrong guy….( I must have had Goeff on the brain, ..Dangerous
)
Your post is one that needs to be discussed widely and deeply within the convention. You are right,…that bad things can come from ill motives and men and women that are not seeking the face of God, but have other axes to grind.
It has been interesting for me to watch the transition within Lifeway for instance and their magazines. Before my wife decided to come home and take care of her mom full-time, she was the Art Director for the HomeLife and its transformation from the tabloid to the magazine, while at the same time the readership subscriptions were declining from the millions into the hundreds of thousands. That was seven to eight years ago…. So instead of stem the reality that Homelife is better served digitally,…Lifeway continues to lose money supporting an old format. I know the guy that runs the Lifeway network,…and the talent is available,…the management on the other hand is beginning to learn. Lifeway is sort of a lost culture these days…..hopefully an encouraging culture can be revived.
The convention cannot allow so much time to elapse before a well defined plan is hatched to capture the minds and hearts of Baptists across the world. There are good ways to do this …maybe we can help Baptist’s get pass the “shock jock” journalism that is the fad today…to real journalism that meets the needs of the Christ follower and encourages one another to good works. It seems we have a ways to go….but with hard work, it can be accomplished.
Blessings,
Chris
Chris:
I hope that you are correct that something can be done to “save” SBC journalism — regardless of whether we are talking about physical print or the web.
We need more than just a news agency like the Baptist Press. We also need some type of and “editorial page” to weigh-in on what is going on in the SBC.
For example, the INDEX was in the forefront in identfying the problems at the NAMB which led to the overhaul in Alphretta. We need “inpedendent” voices such as the state papers who are not direct employees of the SBC agencies or the executive committee.
Brother Simpson,
You bring up a very important point to engage a higher standard in journalism within the SBC. It should be the intent of the SBC to form independent forums, not necessarily independent of Baptist thought, but independent of Baptist politics and selfish motives. That is critically essential in developing a culture of trust and a balance of responsibility. The SBC “should” be the place that it can occur. It obviously will not occur at CNN, FOX, Baptist Press, etc….because those institutions are not necessarily designed to foster a culture that builds unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The current landscape of journalism within the SBC is self serving,….its needs another foundation and culture of leaders that are willing to speak the truth in love.
Blessings,
Chris
Just one brief note about the Baptist Messenger here in Oklahoma.
When my wife and I moved to Oklahoma I wanted to get the Messenger. I asked my local church if they paid for it — but they said no because they “are phasing out paying for the Messenger for members”. The church said that they only pay subscriptions for the Messenger to those that are “leaders” (maybe not the exact term that was used) of the church. This was back in 2005.
I asked an “old time” member and he told me that “in the old days” that every member received the Messenger as a matter of course. If my church is typical then I’d say one cause for the slow demise of the state papers is that the churches are marginalizing them.
In any case, I get the Messenger, and I pay for it myself.
I used to get the Baptist Standard and pay for it myself but I don’t subcribe to it anymore. I think Marv Knox did a good job as editor of the Standard. His was a voice calling for a civility at a time when Baptist life in Texas was literally coming apart at the seams.
Usually, by the time I get my paper, I have already read everything on BP. Usually, weeks earlier.
Blogs are the way to go, to allow input and discussion of pertinent issues.
Brothers,
I think we will see many of our state papers go digital in an e-newsletter format. My suggestion to my friend was that they think in terms of organizing the information coming out of the state convention and use a variety of platforms: blogs, an e-paper, print edition for those without email (this group is getting smaller but still sizable and influential at this point), perhaps a Pastor’s edition newsletter, e-blasts on events, and a top-notch interactive website. They also can do targeted stories and marketing based on location of the reader, church size and other factors. You cannot do that in ink-and-paper publications. I think many of our large state conventions will be combining all these functions and combining their PR and marketing people with their news people. Most small conventions have already done all this.
For the record, the Christian Science Monitor – according to the interview I heard – is moving from a daily print edition to a weekly print edition. They’re not prepared to give up on print entirely; at least not at this time.
Two other innovations I’ve heard about include a not-for-profit wire service that relies on an endowment to fund its operation and then gives away the stories to anyone (provided they are properly credited) and a community-based approach similar to public radio or public TV where fund-drives and small donations pay the bills.
One of the criticisms of Baptist papers is a lack of freedom (either real or perceived). That is, when the reporters are paid by the state convention it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between PR and news. Since the web allows for a much cheaper operation, it may be time to think about building in a greater distance between the convention and the paper.
This is a little off topic, but I wonder why more churches don’t cut out some of the newsletter subscriptions–just to email newsletters except for those who wish to keep getting the paper one (those who don’t use the internet). Seems like it would save a lot of money.
Bowden,
We’re both right, I think. Here’s the story: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1029/p25s01-usgn.html
Printed paper is slowly becoming the least effective way to deliver the information for today’s readers. But another question needs to be asked. Where is the information printed that is reporting the activity of God?
I stopped reading the state Baptist papers when more than half of the pages were reporting the activities of men fighting men in the CR or something that was more focused on man’s activities than upon the activity of God in the state. I knew of life changing actions that were taking place in the prisons of Virginia that God was doing but it was never printed. The information was provided but ignored. I wondered what other worthy activity is ignored by the printed page so that more of man’s activity can be printed.
I like SBC IMPACT because it is the reports of people doing their best to be obedient to God’s call on their life. For the most part, it is people encouraging people and reporting how God is working in their culture. This blog encourages me. I need that. Strong personalities are evident but humility is also evident.
SBC IMPACT, thanks for being an oasis in a dry world.
Charles
Charles pyles 15;
Amen, my bro. amen. Sempterdeogloria. Too much of man very little of
God is seen in the papers. ”In the last days there shall be
boasters. . .”
Charles,
Thanks for the testimony and the encouragement to us here at IMPACT!
Roger (and Bowden),
As a board member for the BGCO who serves on the Baptist Messenger subcommittee I can tell you a few things about state papers – especially the Messenger.
First, all state papers (along with all print media) are losing print subscribers weekly. So far this is less true for the Messenger, but it is still a trend, even there. The average reader of the Baptist Messenger is a 60 year old woman. It is unclear what can be done, if anything, to stem the tide. I continue to try to challenge our folks to think about options and alternatives. Many state papers have cut back to bi-monthly or monthly. The Messenger will remain a weekly for now for several reasons, chiefly because monthly news is inherently old news. Anything less than that and it would likely be better to go to a magazine format rather than a paper format. Also, the Messenger is the third largest newspaper in Oklahoma in circulation (behind the Oklahoman and the Tulsa World). It still has a good bit of influence in the state.
Second, even in Oklahoma the state paper is already subsidized (to the tune of $1M/year presently). We are not looking for ways to increase that subsidy. Where that leaves us is uncertain.
Lastly, I don’t know how other states do it, but the Messenger is not an independent paper. It is a part of the Communications team of the BGCO. The Communications team leader is in charge of PR for the convention and also serves as the general editor for the Messenger. Don’t expect to see any form of critical or independent journalism there. You’ll have to decide for yourselves whether or not that is a good thing.
Roger,
I may be in the minority, but I’m still a big fan of the print Baptist State Papers. Especially if they are conservative. You can usually figure that out by whether they print BP articles on a regular basis.
I know you can go to bpnews.net or the state paper website and get daily stories much quicker than subscribing in print. But, there are reasons that the print paper is still viable.
1. Many still do not have internet access.
2. Many who do have internet access don’t take the time or trouble to keep up with Baptist news on their computers.
3. Having the paper on your table at home makes the information more easily accessible.
4. Anyone in the family can pick it up and thumb through it.
5. The print version often better keeps you in touch with local state news, staff changes, revivals, obituaries, etc.
6. Your mailman knows you are a Baptist.
7. You can read it anytime, anywhere.
8. A print version (hard copy) should last through at least the first half of the Tribulation.
9. It’s a way of reminding your church leadership once or twice a month that after all, you are Southern Baptist.
10. They have credibility and accountability.
11. State Papers don’t get nearly as mean as the bloggers.
David R. Brumbelow
What disturbs me about this trend is the number of people who would read a newspaper but won’t go to an electronic publication. Many of us who are early baby-boomers have not learned to use all of the latest electronic gadgets. Email is beyond many of my friends and text messaging and other forms of communication are out of the question. Admittedly, we are dying out and that facet of the problem will fade away.
On the other hand, I wonder how many of those who have busy lives will stop to read electronic media as compared to those who would peruse a paper on the bus, at the coffee shop, etc.
I’m not a scholar about the newspaper business. But I’ve been told that most newspapers were orginally subsidized by political parties for the purpose of spreading their brand of politics. Perhaps there is a message in this for those who want news in print form.
At the same time, I’m convinced that social networking could be one of the better soul saving tools ever invented if use properly.