Last month, I began a Sunday morning by walking several blocks with colleagues to hear the glorious Mormon Tabernacle Choir and tour the historic Temple Square, home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. During the next several days, the growing, global Organization of News Ombudsmen, journalists who field concerns at news organizations from here to Istanbul, discussed issues as varied as whether truth has become a casualty in the Middle East conflict and reader perceptions in secular Islamic countries since Sept. 11.
We also got a fascinating look at the challenges of newspaper journalism in Utah’s “theocracy” religious environment, in the words of James Shelledy, editor of our host paper, The Salt Lake Tribune. It turned out that the struggle for fairness and balance is unique “in the only place where even Jews are Gentiles,” as Shinika Sykes, my counterpart at the Trib, put it.
Ted Pease, head of Utah State’s journalism department, led the discussion by reminding us: “You all operate in communities that are not dominated as this one is by a dominant religion that affects every aspect of what we do. Here, there is more of a collision between the first and the third freedoms contained in the First Amendment than in other places.”
He first introduced John Hughes, editor of the Latter-Day Saints-owned Deseret News in suburban Salt Lake City and a former editor of The Christian Science Monitor. As a Deseret News consultant, Mr. Hughes’ recommendations had included the need “to erode the perception that the paper reported news through a Mormon Church lens.” He said his wife, “who is a member of the Mormon church, was not crazy about the idea” of him accepting the post, but the church wanted “a community newspaper reaching out to all nationalities” despite its one-third Mormon newsroom, and had assured his independence. “That commitment has been honored, and I would not have remained had it been otherwise.”
But Mr. Shelledy said there are real issues of pressure from the church. It’s hard for LDS members to understand the criticism when the church moves into the secular arena, such as when it bought a section of Main Street and closed it off, he said, and his is the only area paper willing to take the flak that comes with getting such issues out in the public.
“The church is very much a part of the culture and very much a part of the government,” Mr. Shelledy said. “The rule of thumb for our secular newspaper is anything that affects secular matters or crime is fair game to cover and report, and when the church enters the secular arena, that’s also fair game. In the real world – and Utah is not – we’re the only daily newspaper willing to take the lead. Where John (Hughes) is not going to initiate the story, once we get into that area, the other newspapers pick it up, and it becomes a topic of discussion.”
Regarding “the picture of Utah as a wholly owned subsidiary of the church,” Ron Thornburg, managing editor of The Standard Examiner in nearby Ogden, said, “One stereotype that is true is religion is the story in the state.” But the culture is to not criticize in public, and disagreements are handled behind the scenes. “The traditional definition of news is stretched because our readers demand it.”
Chris Smart, editor of The Salt Lake City Weekly, had fun just tweaking the others, but even he said that it’s “hard to know where religion stops and the politics begin. Most members of the Utah Legislature are male Mormons who hold priesthood, so when the legislature restricts liquor, is that a Mormon thing or the legislature?” He, too, cited what has become a lightning-rod issue: “the sale of a block of Main Street so the Mormon Church could expand its campus. It was a done deal, then they announced it. Everybody is angry except Mormons.”
Of course, this all reminded me that news organizations also don’t suffer criticism well, one reason that the recent growth spurt in the 72-member ONO has happened mostly outside the U.S. More from the meeting to come.
C.B. Hanif is an editorial writer and ombudsman for
The Palm Beach Post. Items for Listening Post may be sent to lp@pbpost.com
