wfn.org | NCC Communicators Criticize Reuters on Billboard Space Issue

["Nat'l Council of Churches" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>]

For Immediate Release

NCC Communication Commission Criticizes Reuters
For Refusing to Sell Billboard Space to United Methodists

October 29, 2003, NEW YORK CITY - The Communication Commission of the
National Council of Churches, whose members direct the communication
programs of more than 30 national denominations, has issued a statement
concerning the refusal of Reuters Corporation to sell space to the United
Methodist Church on Reuters' electronic billboard in New York's Times
Square.

Reuters canceled its billboard agency's $30,000 Thanksgiving-week contract
with United Methodists solely on the basis of its policy not to accept any
religious advertising, regardless of content.

The Commission's statement follows:

Religious faith is a major force in Americans' lives.  More Americans attend
worship each week than attend sports events.  Religion has a rightful place
in the public square and an important role in the national discourse.  Free
expression of ideas, guaranteed under the Bill of Rights, makes the American
democracy work.

But today, the public square is becoming increasingly like private property,
overtaken by larger and larger corporations who control more and more of our
channels of communication, from cable to broadcast networks to newspapers to
billboards.  If we get to the point where a handful of corporations can buy
up the walls of the town square and rule that certain topics, like religious
faith, cannot be expressed there -- even when those who wish to speak are
willing to pay for the opportunity -- American democracy will truly be at
risk.

What is it that these corporations -- and by extension, society -- are
afraid of?  The voices of faith?  Are we afraid that hearing these voices
could change the agenda of the conversation from consumption to conscience?
The public is daily barraged by a torrent of legitimate messages about
buying and selling; the soft-spoken message of faith is about meaning and
purpose.  If religious speech is banned from the public marketplace, the
remaining dialogue will revolve solely around getting and spending.  But
life is about more than this.  The community of faith should be allowed to
say so and let people decide for themselves.

To imply that religious and political speech might be in the same class with
messages that are "pornographic... libelous, misleading or deceptive in
nature," as Reuters did in explaining its refusal to carry the United
Methodist ad, is a frightening use of the power of media ownership. The fact
that 17 broadcast and cable networks and scores of local TV stations have
already carried the United Methodist ad is evidence enough that the problem
is not with the ad -- it is with Reuters' policy.

The free and vigorous expression of ideas and values, and the positive
message of religious faith in particular, is an essential ingredient in the
American way of life, especially in these days of religious pluralism and
the need for mutual understanding.  We call upon Reuters and other
corporations who have similar policies to rethink the perilous path some of
them have begun to travel.

Communication Commission of the National Council of Churches
Eric C. Shafer, chair, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Chicago, IL
Ann Gillies, vice chair, Presbyterian Church (USA), Louisville, KY
Robert Chase, secretary, United Church of Christ, Cleveland, OH
Larry Hollon, treasurer, United Methodist Communications, Nashville, TN
Wesley M. "Pat" Pattillo, NCC Associate General Secretary for Communication,
New York, NY

And the following members of the Communication Commission who added their
names to the statement:

Fr. Bob Bonnot, San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council, Los Angeles CA
David Chandler, American Baptist Churches in the USA, Valley Forge, PA
Dan England, The Episcopal Church, New York, NY
Deanna Hollenbach, Moravian Church in North America, Bethlehem, PA
Steve Horswill-Johnston, United Methodist Communications, Nashville, TN
Tom Lapacka, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, St. Louis, MO
Kermit Netteburg, Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Silver Spring, MD, and Simi
Valley, CA
Dianna Ott, Presbyterian Church (USA), Louisville, KY
Richard Schramm, American Baptist Churches in the USA, Valley Forge, PA
Jim Solheim, The Episcopal Church, New York, NY
Nikki Stephanopoulos, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, New York, NY
Philip Tanis, Reformed Church in America, Grand Rapids, MI

This list will be updated periodically as others add their names.

-end-

Media Contact: Pat Pattillo, NCC, 212-8709-2048/2227

---
Send E-mail address changes to: nccc_usa@ncccusa.org