wfn.org | [PCUSAnews] Presbyterians get time in the spotlight

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Note #6712 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Presbyterians get time in the spotlight
15-June-2001
GA01152

Presbyterians get time in the spotlight

'Gay Ordinations' brings cameras, microphones, laptops

by Frank Buhrman

LOUISVILLE, June 15 – When the 213th General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) deliberated Wednesday over the somewhat
contentious issue of whether to allow peaceful demonstrations on the
Assembly floor, lots of cameras were on hand – all providing the
official coverage arranged by the church.

	Forty-eight hours later, as commissioners engaged in impassioned debate
over a proposed constitutional change that would allow the ordination of
homosexuals, there were yet more cameras, and this time they reflected
intense news media interest in the church's struggle.

	Half a dozen television stations, a handful of radio stations and a score
of newspaper and other print media reporters covered all or part of Friday's
General Assembly session. Women and men who had come to Louisville in
relative anonymity suddenly spoke on the ordination issue with multiple
television cameras pointing at them. Reporters from print and broadcast
media checked the spelling of their names for possible inclusion in a story.

	The broadcasters on the other side of those cameras were younger than the
vast majority of the speakers, Youth Advisory Delegates excepted. Print
media representatives were younger on the average, but perhaps not by as
much.

	The General Assembly and its issues lend themselves more to print
journalism, where coverage of something taking hours of a writer's time is
not uncommon, especially in specialized reporting. Radio and television are
another matter. The cameras keep moving, covering neither the entirety of a
fire nor of a meeting. For television or radio, polity means a lot of down
time.

	The increased attention presents the challenge to assembly organizers of
allowing full coverage while maintaining order. Members of the General
Assembly Newsroom staff briefed reporters and camera or video operators on
where they were allowed to shoot and where they could not. Reporters were
told who was available to answer questions. Two news conferences were
scheduled, with representatives of those for and against changing the
ordination standards.

	For many from the general-audience media, it was just another assignment. A
television reporter arrived on short notice, switched to this story when
another staff member had to leave early. She took it in stride.

	For Presbyterians, it was anything but something to be taken in stride. As
the rest of the world watched – the Washington Post called within
minutes of the final vote, and the phones rang frequently after that –
the church tried to determine its future with more love than bleeding.

	In the stories, that will be the most difficult "news" of all to report.

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