PCUSA: Do we need a spin doctor?

In a story on the just-concluded GAC meeting in Louisville, the Layman Online reported this little nugget:

After the issue of communications was raised, one council member suggested the denomination needed to hire a press secretary to make sure the news is positive. Council members have frequently complained that news stories – even some from the denomination’s Presbyterian News Service – have given the council and the denomination a negative image.

This was a joke, right? Surely this unidentified council member didn’t mean to suggest that a PR flack could alter reality and “make sure the news [of the PCUSA] is positive.” Surely he or she didn’t believe that squandering the denomination’s shrinking funds on a spin doctor would be responsible stewardship – or be likely to succeed. Surely this council member wasn’t serious.

Alas, the unidentified member probably was serious and simply reflecting a common knee-jerk reaction to published reports that the denomination has once again done something dumb. This blame-the-press/control-the-press mindset is well-established in the PCUSA.

Oscar McCloud of the New York City Presbytery tried the same tactic at the 217th GA with regard to the divestment debacle. Rather than just admit that trying to punish Israel for the actions of Palestinian terrorists was a bad idea, he offered this language instead: “We regret any reporting that has caused any misunderstanding of the PCUSA’s commitment to peace and justice in Palestine and Israel.” [emphasis added] McCloud seemed to be saying “We’re fine with beating up on Israel; we just regret that it was accurately reported.” A few others climbed on the same tired, old bandwagon but, in the end, the GA wasn’t interested.

[In the same story, McCloud was credited with a brutally frank and accurate assessment of how the PCUSA responds when the GA’s actions cause members to suffer: “I don’t believe we have a tradition of apologizing when what we do pains Presbyterians.” Indeed.]

Those of us who have been around for a while remember 1993 when the Louisville bureaucrats thought they could manage the news of the original Re-Imaging God conference. But the news was too awful and too widespread. It eventually cost one staffer her job and was very likely the reason long-time Stated Clerk James Andrews lost his bid for re-election in 1996. [At the time, given his efforts to paint a happy face on the hideous paganism that permeated the conference, I thought Andrews got what he deserved. Looking back over the reign of the man who defeated him, I’m not so sure.]

These folks remind me of Amity mayor Larry Vaughn in the movie Jaws. He had to deal with the arrival – just before the lucrative Fourth of July weekend – of a man-eating shark off the town’s beach. His solution to the problem was spin control. Ignoring the obvious danger to both swimmers and the long-term welfare of his town and its merchants, he tried to manage the news and minimize the threat.

He was living in a dream world, of course; no positive word, however skillfully spun, could deter the great white shark patrolling the waters crowded with bathers. But Larry tried, fully prepared to sacrifice both people and Amity’s future for a profitable holiday.

We shake our heads at Larry’s lack of integrity. We wonder at the blind self-interest that leads people like him to think they can change the harsh realities they face by trying to “make sure the news is positive”. But the truth has a nasty habit of leaking out despite the best (or worst) intentions of those who would like to mask or hide it.

The PNS isn’t going away; we hope it won’t be compromised any more than it already is.* The Layman isn’t going away; neither are the readers who find it – with all its flaws – more trustworthy than the denomination. The secular press that reported the GA’s stealthy implementation of local option and the PPC’s publication of David Griffin’s trashy book isn’t going away. The truth isn’t going away.

If the PCUSA wants to “make sure the news is positive”, it should make positive news.

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* For example, the PNS story on the “Hope of the Church” conference in July simply gushed with enthusiasm and good vibes over the optimistic assessment by “this unprecedented body of PC(USA) heavyweights, including 16 general assembly (GA) moderators and nearly all of the 11 PC(USA) seminary presidents.” Curiously absent was any mention of former moderator David Dobler’s sober assessment that the PCUSA was already in schism.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 4th, 2006 at 11:46 pm and is filed under PCUSA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.