Every Missionary a Journalist

by David E. Kucharsky

Give a secular newsman the choice of interviewing a pastor, evangelist, theologian, Gospel musician, Christian teacher, church historian, or missionary, and chances are he will pick the missionary.

Give a secular newsman the choice of interviewing a pastor, evangelist, theologian, Gospel musician, Christian teacher, church historian, or missionary, and chances are he will pick the missionary.

Politics and sports are the dynamics of our time. Religion for the most part is an also-ran among topics that arrest the attention of today’s millions. But one aspect of the religious scene still arouses curiosity, even in the unregenerate: missionary news.

David Brinkley of NBC’s famed television news team of Huntley-Brinkley, says, "There is a great public interest in missionary activity around the world. Whenever we do foreign documentaries and fail to mention the missionary angle, many people write in asking, Why not?"

Unfortunately, evangelicals generally fail to capitalize on public interest in the foreign missionary enterprise. Great opportunities are slipping by as powerful new communications modes and techniques are largely ignored. It’s time for every missionary (and missionary-minded person) to take seriously the vast potential of modern mass communications media for gaining not only additional funds for the Lord’s work, but more able and dedicated foreign service candidates.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Missionaries should realize, first of all, that they must assume personal responsibility in attracting a wider audience for missionary news. Even the largest news agencies do not have enough resources to keep tab on every little corner of the globe. They must rely on assistance from missionary boards and missionary personnel in the field. Consequently, the missionary must learn enough about the workings of contemporary journalism to be able to relay news.

The busy missionary may complain that he doesn’t have time to study a subject that is of questionable immediate value in his work. He should remember, however, that virtually every missionary is already in the communications business. His calling is to tell unreached multitudes. of saving grace, and he must also spend a substantial portion of his time letting the folks at home know what’s going on. If it only helps him to eliminate wasteful practices, a few hours of concentration on the how of more effective communication will save many days over the long haul. In today’s highly sophisticated world every missionary needs to be a complete communicator.

As it stands now, missionaries often hinder wider missionary news coverage via newspapers, magazines, books, films, radio and television. Yes, even that revered evangelical missionary institution, the prayer letter, can be an impediment.

Attitudes alone make a big difference. Missionaries may presume, for instance, that certain segments of the press discriminate against them, so they forego entirely any liaison with news agencies. But anyone who has ever worked for a major news agency knows that discriminations are rare. If the work of a church or other religious organization is ignored, the more likely explanation is scarcity of hard news, poor relations resulting from one or two unhappy experiences, or just plain laziness.

The value of an alert news policy is seen in a recent missionary photograph featured by the Washington Post, one of the nation’s most influential newspapers with a circulation of some 400,000. The Post carries a good weekly religious news feature section inside, but church-related stories on the front page are rare, and many Washington area churches undoubtedly feel that newspaper publicity efforts are futile. The publicity chairman of a small evangelical church in suburban Washington, however, tried a brief friendly letter tactfully inquiring of photo possibilities in a model Vietnamese village. The pastor 4 the church had a call back the same day, and the Post subsequently carried a front-page picture in full color that served to publicize the church’s annual missionary convention.

ASSORTMENT OF FEARS
An assortment of fears alsohandicaps missionary news gathering. The missionary and his board will sit out a good story rather than risk side effects from too much exposure. They fear misunderstandings arising out of inaccurate reporting. They are afraid of reprisals from governments under whom they serve, or from contributors on whose financial support they rely. Their stock instruction to newsmen, therefore, is, "You can’t print this because it might hurt our work."

Naturally there are some perils in news dissemination. But the tendency of some missionaries to rule out all news contacts for that reason is as sensible as abandoning air travel because that, too, has some risks. The missionary’s attitude should be to plunge in and try to reduce the risks; one good way is by establishing rapport with publishers and reporters.

A missionary uses good judgment when he withholds criticism of the country in which he is a guest. Fair comment, however, is necessary to thorough news accounts. If a pagan country decides to oust Christian missionaries, it will find sufficient pretexts, no matter how careful missionaries have been in public utterances. A missionary ought not to be afraid of the ultimate effect of truth. But he should distinguish truth from political conjecture, which is to be avoided in church appearances as well as in print.

Some missionaries apparently regard it necessary to give the impression of being poverty-stricken. Such an image may elicit a few extra dollars from folks who cry easily, but the overall effect is undesirable. To those in the world, there is still a tendency to equate missionaries with penniless old ladies in tennis shoes. That image needs to be corrected, for it fails to square up with the facts, namely that most missionaries are people of great purpose and courage, mentally alert, and physically fit, who have no desire to be pampered, financially or otherwise.

Everyone knows that the average missionary has a slim bank balance and few fringe benefits. He need not continually demonstrate hardship. If a missionary does manage to install a fancier appliance or hire a maid, he need not hide the fact, thinking that anyone will begrudge him that. And need it be said that implied misrepresentation of one’s financial status borders on deceit?

This brings up the whole problem of objective reporting. Is a news source obliged to "protect" that in which he has a personal interest, to try to quash any elements that might tend to unfavorable impressions? Is it really necessary to confine reports to that information that speaks of successes or arouses sympathy?

The problem grows out of the natural inclination of most people to fear criticism. In the case of missionaries, they are anxious lest stateside supporters catch them in an error of judgment, or a doctrinal deviation, or perhaps in a policy disagreement. One can imagine the thoughts that race through a missionary’s mind when he sits down to pen a prayer letter, how he sifts his experiences and pores over word choice so as to try to generate just the right shade of meaning.

But how bad, really, are the effects of "bad publicity"? The folks back home are realistic. They know that missionaries can make mistakes. They know that even the best-laid plans go awry. And they will be understanding and forgiving. What can really lose esteem for the missionary is the passing of such information via the grapevine that is inevitably pressed into service when direct communication channels are avoided. Don’t try to cover up.

President Kennedy used to demonstrate dramatically the art of effective communication, especially when put on the spot in news conferences. Few men of our time have so mastered the ability to field a hostile or embarrassing question, to roll with the punch, and to turn it to advantage, usually in a burst of wit.

David Ogilvy, the advertising wizard, says that his phenomenally successful advertising campaigns havebeen based on the premise that factual advertising outsells flatulent puffery. His advice is, "Avoid superlatives, generalizations, and platitudes. Be specific and factual. Be enthusiastic, friendly, and memorable. Don’t be a bore. Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating."

The news department of Christianity Today often receives from missionaries otherwise acceptable news reports that are simply too old to publish. This is a fast-moving world, and holding a story even for a few hours can render it obsolete. Journals like Christianity Today, which has a "closing time" that compares favorably with leading news magazines (the issue containing a 960-word editorial eulogizing President Kennedy was off the press the morning following his assassination), feel they owe their readers the latest possible developments. Reports slow in coming thus are crowded out.

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
Now a few positive, practical suggestions for missionaries who want to be better communicators:

1. Rely on facts, and let them speak for themselves.

2. Cultivate friendships among secular newsmen, even if they be hard-drinking eccentrics, but use the utmost tact in suggesting missionary story possibilities, and avoid pressuring.

3. Don’t fail to produce once you have made a commitment.

4. In the event of an emergency situation-major military action, natural disasters, accidents, etc.-get to a telephone, a short-wave set, or a telegraph station immediately. Keep sending until you feel you have given more than enough information, then send more, even if the detail appears trivial. Tell where you can be reached.

5. Analyze your own weaknesses in writing and speaking. The best little book to help you is Sue Nichols’ Words on Target (John Knox Press, Richmond, $1.50).

6. See that your prayer letter is mailed to your hometown newspapers and radio and television stations.

7. Report on all aspects of missionary work, not just conversions.

WHAT BOARDS CAN DO
Missionary boards can also take some vital steps toward a communications revolution. They can secure competent journalists to give briefings at conferences. They can arrange journalistic seminars and short study courses, and perhaps collaborate with a publisher on a religious news manual. Presbyterians are now sending journalistic specialists abroad to conduct on-field training for missionaries.

Some daring board might even be willing to finance a secular newsman’s overseas trip to one of the fields. This is a common practice in the commercial world. No legal guarantee of a story can be made, but sponsors are seldom disappointed.

Boards could take another important step by assigning to a competent individual, at least on a part-time basis, the responsibility for news media liaison. This person, if given adequate access to letters, reports and other information from the field, could open up a vast area of promotional opportunities. It is not a matter of an expensive, institutionalized public relations program, but merely ferreting out interesting incidents and seeing that right people in the right media are promptly advised.

Louis Cassels, United Press International staff correspondent whose weekly religious column is read by millions throughout the country, says he is always looking for human interest stories about missionary work. The best such material, he says, now comes from Betty Jo Taylor of the Board of World Missions, Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Cassels uses Miss Taylor’s material regularly, because she writes about specific situations, things that have a point and that mention people and places.

Any missionary tempted to minimize the power of the secular news media should review the impact of the StanleyLivingstone story. This memorable episode in missionary history came about because James Gordon Bennett’s New York Herald, at great expense, sent a top reporter to Africa to hunt for Livingstone. The hunt produced one of the best running features of the century in the newspaper world. It also brought Africa to the attention of the American public, and probably did more to attract attention to that continent than any other single development. Something like that could happen again. And in this day of communication satellites, intercontinental television, wireless photo transmission, and global radio coverage, the impact could be infinitely greater.

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EMQ, April. 1965, pp. 34-39. Copyright © 1965 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS). All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.

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