ALEXANDRIA, La. (ABP) — The new executive of the Louisiana Baptist Convention is asking the convention's newspaper to dissolve its independent board and come under the executive's authority.
Under the proposal from executive director David Hankins, the Baptist Message would be controlled by the convention's Executive Board and assume a public-relations role for the convention.
The new structure would provide “a uniform, comprehensive, coordinated, intentional, efficient and effective communication plan for the Louisiana Baptist Convention that will employ an array of specialists from various disciplines, utilizing all available technologies,” Hankins said, as reported in the April 13 issue of the newspaper. The proposed communication plan would include print media, Internet, public relations, marketing, multimedia and missions promotion.
“We're at a time of transition,” said Hankins, who is a leader of SBC conservatives and a former vice president for the SBC Executive Committee. He noted Baptist Message subscriptions have dropped and the publication now is facing a change in leadership as Editor Lynn Clayton retires at the end of 2005.
Meanwhile in Missouri, a conservative newspaper created by the Missouri Baptist Convention may move the other direction — from answering to the executive director to answering to an executive board committee — after a controversy related to journalistic freedom.
State Baptist newspapers have been a frequent battleground since conservatives gained control of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1979. About 10 of the 40 newspapers function with their own boards, while others are operated by committees that relate to convention executive boards and some report to the executive director.
In Louisiana, Hankins presented his proposal to Baptist Message trustees during a called meeting in Alexandria in early April. Those trustees called the meeting primarily to hear recommendations from Hankins concerning “possible methods and structures for better cooperation and stewardship” between the convention and the newspaper.
Hankins said his goal of having at least 90 percent of Louisiana Baptists “thoroughly integrated and enthusiastically supportive” of the state convention will be better served by a centralized communication structure and an editor articulating a Christian worldview.
Louisiana Baptists “don't want to be bound by” the past in addressing their communication needs, he added, according to the Baptist Message. It is clear the state convention has not been able to tell its story very well, Hankins said. Noting Louisiana Baptists are in decline and disconnected, Hankins said a communication strategy may determine success or failure.
Asked what would happen to state convention funding of the Baptist Message if trustees decided against his proposal, Hankins said he could not guarantee he would support the current arrangement and likely would push for the newspaper to rely on other revenue. He said he will move ahead with plans for a new communications division regardless of the newspaper's decision. But he added he does not intend to lead a convention fight over the issue.
Discussion during the trustees' meeting included debate about whether an independent board raises the confidence readers have in a newspaper's reporting.
Hankins suggested true freedom of the press is not the goal of a Baptist newspaper — promotion of the kingdom of God is, and news decisions are made with that in mind, whether or not the paper operates with a separate board.
Clayton, on the other hand, emphasized the importance of a newspaper that has proven itself trustworthy. He suggested the results Hankins is looking for could be reached with the state convention and the Baptist Message working in tandem toward common goals.
However, Hankins said he is convinced that keeping things under two chains of command will result in inefficiency. And depending only on a newspaper for communication, he added, is not the future. Nonetheless, Hankins said he intends for the convention to have a newspaper, but what it will look like remains to be seen.
Baptist Message trustees delayed a decision on Hankins' proposal until their regularly scheduled May meeting.
In Missouri, a member of the Executive Board of the conservative Missouri Baptist Convention recommended placing The Pathway, news journal of the convention, under the authority of a work group of the board instead of the executive director.
Last year, state executive David Clippard fired Pathway's managing editor, Bob Baysinger, after the reporter wrote a story about sale of the convention building to make way for a new county jail. Clippard reportedly had agreed to keep the sale quiet so county officials could negotiate with other property owners. County voters later rejected a sales-tax increase required to build the jail, negating the $2.8 million sale.
Executive Board member Roy Dameron cited “the Baysinger debacle” as evidence that The Pathway should not be under the executive director's control, according to the website Ethicsdaily.com. Such an arrangement “is not an appropriate working relationship and is not conducive to adequate journalistic reporting,” Dameron said in an e-mail.
Mitchell Jackson, state convention president, countered that The Pathway already has “journalistic integrity,” adding: “Yet we must not forget that The Pathway's primary purpose is not journalistic integrity; it is to serve the MBC and leaders of the MBC as a vehicle of communication with our churches and members. I believe to take it out of the control of the executive director would be like taking control away from a pastor of his own church's newsletter.”
The Missouri convention established The Pathway after Word & Way, the convention's historic newspaper, moved to select its own trustees. The convention also defunded Word & Way, removed it from the convention's building and filed a lawsuit to regain control. The lawsuit was dismissed but is under appeal.