JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Associated Baptist Press and the Baptist Standard of Texas are creating a “strategic alliance” to improve the quality and efficiency of their news organizations.
The two have cooperated closely for more than a decade, but the new alliance signals shared vision and integrated resources, reported ABP Executive Editor Greg Warner and Standard Editor Marv Knox.
ABP, an independent news service with offices in Washington, D.C., Dallas and Jacksonville, Fla., supplies news and feature stories, primarily about Baptists but also other Christians, to denominational and secular media, as well as directly to subscribers. The Standard, a Dallas-based newspaper affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, has about 100,000 subscribers to its print edition. Both organizations also disseminate their news directly through websites and e-mail.
The new relationship could include some shared operations, coordinated news gathering and dissemination, expanded electronic distribution capabilities, and perhaps other services, Warner and Knox said.
“These days, it's really clear that those of us in Baptist journalism can strengthen our ministry by working together,” Warner said. “While Associated Baptist Press and the Baptist Standard have been doing this for a long time, we intend to explore other steps we can take to share our load, reduce overlapping efforts and create new ways to distribute information about global Christians.”
“Fast-developing trends impact our ministry every month,” Knox added, citing wireless Internet access, electronic feeds to cell phones, and audio and video podcasts. “But even with these innovations, we're committed to the traditional print media that remain an important part of our heritage as a free press for Baptists. We believe close collaboration will help us do our jobs better than ever — through a variety of distribution systems.”
Warner noted: “We have only one goal — to provide Baptists and global Christians with better, more reliable news and information.”
“And it's clear we can do far more when we work together than we can working independently,” said Knox, one of several current or former Baptist editors who serve on the ABP board.
The Standard board approved the concept Feb. 24 and appointed a subcommittee to draft specific recommendations. The ABP board approved the alliance April 7. A joint committee will work out details of the arrangement for approval by both boards.
Already, ABP's news editor, Hannah Elliott, works out of the Standard's office in Dallas. Both organizations have agreed to share the expertise of the Standard's administrative assistant, Beth Campbell, to help coordinate fund-raising efforts for both.
The boards intend to conduct market research to help them plan their alliance. Warner and Knox predicted the study and implementation process would last about 12 to 18 months.
Associated Baptist Press began in 1990, launched primarily by editors of state Baptist newspapers. In addition to those papers and about 60 secular daily newspapers, ABP subscribers include secular and faith-based media providers, radio and television stations, churches and religious organizations, and about 3,000 individual subscribers.
The Baptist Standard has published continually since 1888 and has been affiliated with the Texas Baptist convention for almost a century. Its readership is primarily in Texas, but the paper also circulates nationally and internationally.
For more than a decade, the Standard has been ABP's largest outside news provider and user.
In 2005, ABP distributed 663 news articles. The Standard wrote more than 70 of them, and the Texas Baptist convention's news service produced more than 30 others. Ken Camp, the Standard's managing editor, provided 58 articles to ABP. That total ranked third — behind ABP Washington bureau Chief Robert Marus and Warner — in volume of ABP production.
Last year, the Standard printed 235 ABP stories, about 35 percent of the total.
The editors suggested the new alliance, though not a merger, is a logical next step for both organizations that will not only save money but expand the capabilities of each.
“We're already in a trusted relationship,” Warner said. “That's why it fits,” Knox added. “Even though this is a new and unique arrangement, it seems totally natural.”
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