Religion pages are the pits of American journalism. Nearly every editor knows it, only most aren’t willing to be honest about it. The reason is that most newspaper readers seem to be a lot more interested in the things of God than do most newspaper editors, who by nature are a cynical lot. I know. I was one once.
But this can be the best news a pastor could ever hope to hear, because a pastor is in a lot better position to know what people want and need to hear about the faith than is an editor. And what that means is simply this: as far as religious news goes, an editor needs the pastor and other church leaders more than he realizes.
See, I told you this was good news. Now, how do you capitalize on it?
First of all, a church interested in expanding its horizons through local newspaper publicity needs to realize that this is as much a ministry as anything the church does. Think of what you’re really after. You’re trying to get people to learn about your church so you can present them the gospel and win them to Christ. There is no other medium in the community so readily available to those who know how to use it than the local newspaper. If you’re interested in more newspaper publicity, the person in charge needs to give it the dedication and prayer which any ministry demands.
In a large or medium sized city the newspaper editor is apt to be buried in news releases. Many are legitimate news items, but if every release that deserved to be printed were printed, there would be no room for anything else. So who decides what gets in, and how are the decisions made?
I think it was Benjamin Franklin who first said that we’re better off not knowing how two things are made: sausages and laws. I would add a third category: news story decisions. Deciding what to print is usually done in a rush because newspaper deadlines are hectic. Stories that deserve to run are frequently knocked out by better stories that develop later. It’s a seat-of-the-pants process.
The point is, you need to press every advantage when it tomes to dealing with newspapers, and that’s where personal contact helps enormously. Find out who is in charge of putting your type of news in the paper and let him know who you are. On a large paper it’s probably the religion editor; on a smaller paper, it’s usually the city editor or managing editor.
This doesn’t mean barging in and demanding that your article be printed. It doesn’t mean pestering him over the phone. It does mean phoning or visiting the newsroom from time to time when you have reason to do so, such as giving a news release.
It also means introducing yourself whenever the opportunity arises; at a citywide evangelistic crusade, at a civic event, whatever you’re involved in that will be covered by somebody from the newspaper. Don’t miss any of these chances to establish and develop these contacts. If a reporter or editor knows you as a person, he’ll give your press release more attention. It’s only human nature.
There’s another way to vastly increase your chances of getting news published. To help you visualize this let’s take a look at things from an editor’s viewpoint.
When you see a newspaper page it’s a finished product-news, ads, pictures-all in place. To an editor, however, a newspaper page is a vast expanse of blank space that’s guaranteed to look awfully bland or awfully junky unless he lays out all the elements just so. (Most editors, however, have no say about where the ads go.) Now the only way he’s home free is if he has a screaminghot news story that deserves a big headline stretching clear across the top of the page. Most often he doesn’t, especially on the religion page, so he needs something such as a picture to break up that wide stretch of emptiness. If you can supply any kind of creative picture with your news, even just a head-and-shoulders shot of your special speaker, the chance that your news will get in and will be displayed more prominently is multiplied.
Incidentally, all of this assumes that your press releases are competent in the first place. They should answer the basic who, what, when, where, and why questions, be concise, and give the sender’s name and phone number in case the reporter needs more information. And the release should be in the paper’s hands at least two weeks before you want it to appear if it’s a daily paper; much earlier if it’s a weekly paper. Every church that takes its publicity mission seriously ought to have little trouble getting news items printed regularly.
Most editors don’t know how to deal with people who have a strong faith in God and who arc cager to share it with others. Editors look at religious news in the same light in which they evaluate all other news. The things that make usable stories are controversy, money problems, unusual quirks, and quotable speeches. What they don’t realize is that this isn’t what people want out of religion. Christians, at least those in growing, evangelical churches, attend services to be challenged and inspired. What newspaper editors need to learn is that religion pages can be challenging and inspiring as well; and if they were, they would draw far more readers.
The best way to produce a provocative religion page is to run a well-written, persuasive religion column. And the only way to convince an editor of that is to show him what you mean: write one yourself. A pointed, gospel-based column will bring returns a hundredfold. You’ll reach readers who would never think of darkening the doorway of your church.
But it’s tough. You need to be catchy, concise, incisive, profound, and entertaining-roughly in that order.
Remember that when you write a newspaper column you are writing journalism, not an exegetical paper. You must employ journalistic techniques: interest-catching leads, sharp illustrations, clear and simple writing. Pick a single point you want to make and build your column on it. Aim for about 600 words unless the editor wants more. And if he does, he probably doesn’t know his readers, for I doubt that many will hang with you longer than that. If you try to develop more than one point you’ll never finish in 600 words. Resist the subconscious tendency to write for your friends in the ministry. Write for an imaginary reader who’s on the verge of turning the page and hold his interest.
You can make your column topical by keying off current events and translating a news happening into a biblical truth-but by all means, stick to the Bible. If you strike out into the social gospel or into political commentary you’ll get nowhere. Syndicated political columnists with better credentials than yours are a dime a dozen, and most of them don’t have anything new to say.
Anyone in the church who has a little writing ability can run the church’s publicity program, but religion columns are the province of pastors, for they can write with authority, and a convincing column must be authoritative. If you think you can do it, then do it.
There’s no question that your local newspaper can get your message, which is Christ’s message, to far more people than you can on your own. Knowing how to work with it can go a long way toward determining how effective your outreach will be. Remember that no one is more interested in good news stories than newspaper editors, and it all comes down to this: you, as a biblicallybased church leader, have the best news there could possibly be.
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