2002
ANNUAL
REPORT
TO THE COMMUNICATION
COMMISSION
OF THE
NATIONAL
COUNCIL
OF CHURCHES
USA
Eric C. Shafer, Chairman, NCC Communication Commission
Wesley “Pat” Pattillo, Associate General Secretary for Communication
Commission Offices: 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 880, New York, NY 10115
Introduction
The Communication Department
carries a dual role in the National Council of Churches.
Internally, it is a service agency, providing media relations, interpretation, promotion and public affairs support to all the departments and programs of the Council. During the period covered by this report, the office also provided media relations and other public relations support to Church World Service, relating through a Joint Communication Team composed of NCC and CWS personnel, meeting monthly to coordinate activities.
Externally, the Communication Department is also a program office, focusing its work on media advocacy, media education, network television productions, and professional development for communicators in the member communions and other church organizations of the ecumenical family. Through its ongoing relationship to the NCC Communication Commission, the department collaborates with these denominational partners to advance the ministry of faith communication in a media-saturated age.
Communication Department Staff
Wesley M. “Pat” Pattillo,
Associate General Secretary for Communication
Dave Pomeroy, Director of Electronic Programming (retired June 2002)
Sarah Vilankulu, Director of Interpretation
Carol Fouke-Mpoyo, Director of Media Relations
Doris Glover, Administrative Assistant to the Communication Staff
Shirley W. Struchen, Coordinator of Electronic Programming (began September 2002)
Communication Commission Officers
Chair:
Eric C.
Shafer, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Chicago, IL
Vice Chair:
Ann Gillies, Presbyterian Church (USA, Louisville, KY)
Secretary:
Bob Chase,
United Church of Christ, Cleveland, OH
Treasurer:
Larry Hollon, United Methodist Communications, Nashville, TN
Office of Interpretation Resources
Sarah Vilankulu, Director
From the perspective of one who has paid attention to the image and visibility of the National Council of Churches over the course of 25 years, I can safely say that public awareness of the NCC dramatically increased during 2002.
From the beginning of the year when the shock of September 11 was still palpable, through the build-up to war with Iraq throughout the fall, the NCC under Bob Edgar’s leadership became ever more widely noted for its positions and its work. There were joint efforts with Muslims to defuse post 9-11 tensions across faith lines. There was a high-profile faith-based environmental campaign that made the connections between the consumer love affair with gas guzzling SUVs, our nation’s oil dependency, and the causes of war. And there was a concerted effort with member churches and others to energize a huge anti-war movement, placing people of faith at the very center of this historic development.
By its nature, the work of Interpretation Resources was shaped by the Council’s response to the great events of the year and also contributed to articulating that response to the NCC’s various audiences. The production of the NCC’s 2002 annual report, the drafting and/or editing of other reports, appeals, op-eds, correspondence from the Office of General Secretary and other writing tasks all reflected a most unusual period in the life of the Council. What the Council says and does has, I believe, always been important. But recently it has seemed to matter more to more people.
EcuLink Distribution Continued to Grow
At the same time that our work was gaining in visibility, the staff was still struggling to achieve the balanced budget that has been mandated for the NCC—a goal that was indeed met and which set the stage for increased confidence in the Council. One casualty of that struggle was the spring 2002 issue of EcuLink, the Council’s newsletter. For budgetary reasons that issue was not produced. However, summer/fall and winter issues were produced and reached a record and growing number of readers, due to the Development Office’s efforts to expand the Council’s mailing lists. This continued a trend from 2001, and at the end of 2002, nearly 70,000 copies of the winter issue were distributed.
While EcuLink highlighted the Council’s work for peace and for the environment, it also carried a wide range of stories from every part of the Council’s life, giving readers a well-rounded picture of the NCC. The winter issue 2002-2003 included a four-page supplement covering the activities of the Council and its commissions, which serves as the NCC’s 2002 annual report.
More readers than ever before have responded to EcuLink—many to say they were inspired by the leadership of the Council and its member communions.
Feeling the Pulse of Our Constituents
The Office has the responsibility of responding to constituents and members of the general public who contact the NCC with very diverse information and interpretation requests. By letter, phone, fax, personal visit and, most often, by e-mail, these requests roll in on a daily basis. With few exceptions (for example, extremely hostile and vulgar comments or requests for financial assistance that appear to be “spammed”) we attempt to respond in as full and timely a manner as possible. That means that we are building goodwill—one person at a time—with pastors and lay leaders, Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts, professors, students of all ages, prisoners, chaplains, librarians, congressional aides, staff of other religious and non-profit agencies and many more—some 2,000 in all.
While time does not allow the keeping of detailed records, the comments and questions from the public that we receive help us to have a sense of what issues concern people, and how they are responding to Council stances on the issues of the day. We have been especially heartened by the many people who supported the Council and its member communions in their efforts to slow the rush to war on Iraq.
An Expanding, Changing Portfolio
The position of director for interpretation resources has always included core duties relating to producing publications, NCC displays, providing a documentation service of sorts, and the like. At the same time, the position has been flexible, changing and expanding over the years according to the tasks that need to be done and the staff available to do them. This mix of tasks included the following. In 2002, the director for interpretation resources:
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Contributed to the efforts of the staff team that produced the 2002 Poverty March section of the NCC Web site. The work of the entire Communication Department staff produced an extensive resource that offered poverty-related scripture, sermons, statistics, best practices and much more—made usable by being organized in daily capsules for March and then in monthly doses.
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Wrote congressional testimony for the Washington Office that was delivered before a House Ways and Means Subcommittee—opposing legislation said to protect churches’ free speech by allowing them to support political candidates without losing their tax exemption. Such legislation is unwise and unnecessary in the NCC’s view.
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Produced a large display for the 100th anniversary of the Education for Mission Movement for use at the General Assembly. The display illustrated how in each decade the movement produced contemporary resources that educated Christians for mission in a changing world.
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Provided editorial assistance for greetings to various organizations on special occasions; letters to corporations, government leaders and other entities written in support of a variety of concerns of individual communions; and other reports and documents.
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Prepared minutes of the meetings of the NCC Executive Board in October and November.
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Played a role in publicity for a special November 11 event at The Interchurch Center to celebrate the NRSV Bible and especially the extraordinary folio edition produced by the Arion Press.
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Helped to market the revised version of the NCC’s book God is One: The Way of Islam.
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Prepared several “overflow” news stories, as part of the Communication Department team. These included stories on the Eco-Justice Working Group campaign to increase the use of energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs in churches and homes; the advance story on the NCC team to the Habitat “build” in Durban, South Africa, in June; the sending of teachers of English to China in cooperation with our Chinese partner, the Amity Foundation; annual World Communion Sunday in October; and the deaths of ecumenical greats Bishop J. Clinton Hoggard of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and the Rev. Dr. Will Herzfeld of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
And in other work…
The director for interpretation resources carried out a number of diverse tasks that all contributed in some way to further the work of the Council and the wider ecumenical community. In 2002 these included:
- Serving on the Ecumenical Activities Committee of The Interchurch Center.
- Participating in the NCC’s Diversity Strategy Planning Committee, which arranged for a March 27 all-staff diversity training event. Also participated in follow-up activities, including hosting a May “tea” for all staff designed to build on the momentum of the training event by getting staff to know each other better in a relaxed setting.
- Serving on other staff committees, including the CWS/NCC
Joint Communication Staff Team.
Reports to: News Committee
Carol
Fouke, Director
Dee Glover, Administrative Assistant to the Communication
Department (Shared)
Erika McCullough, Summer Intern
Ronald Swain, Work Study (Fall)
The Office of Media Relations in 2002 carried responsibility for:
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Managing NCC and CWS relations with news and other media,
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Developing and maintaining the NCC’s Web Site (www.ncccusa.org)
Top Stories, Prevailing Themes and Major Activities in 2002:
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Churches and the Environment, including NCC joint ad with the Sierra Club, the EPA’s honor to the NCC’s environmental work, and the shared glory of the “What Would Jesus Drive?” campaign.
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2002 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches: Mormons make “top five” churches for the first time.
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NCC public policy witness, especially on welfare policy.
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Launch of Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A.
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First annual “March: On Poverty,” supported with a hefty Web section.
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NCC Habitat for Humanity work team to the Durban, South Africa, build.
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NCC delegation to the Middle East.
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CWS-sponsored Tim Janis performance/recording tour to South Africa; the resulting CD and the Sinikithemba HIV+ Choir’s return tour – all to raise awareness and funds for HIV/AIDS work in Africa.
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CWS delegation visit to West Africa.
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Work against impunity and for truth and reconciliation in Latin America.
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Fostering of better Christian-Muslim relations.
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Meetings of the NCC Executive Board and General Assembly and of the CWS Board of Directors, especially approval of the “Africa Initiative.”
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Religious mobilization against war on Iraq, including the NCC-led delegation visit to Iraq (over New Year) and Launch of All Our Children.
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National Council of Churches’ financial recovery.
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NCC Interfaith Openhouse Project and response to Falwell’s anti-Islam comments.
The Office of Media Relations/NCC Web Site offered support in the form of the NCC/CWS News Service (2002 news release log follows), intensive Web work (most notably, the March: On Poverty section), use of the North America Precis Syndicate (NAPS) media placement service and media placement work.
Several projects in 2002 were carried out with the support of Fenton Communications (environment, Iraq), Jan Dragin and Associates (Tim Janis, Sinikithemba, West Africa delegation and Africa Initiative) and Jim Wetekam of Churches for Middle East Peace (Middle East delegation). These collaborations demonstrated the enormous value of added person power of the agencies and led to increased media visibility for both NCC and CWS and a substantially broader media contacts list.
We subscribed to MediaMap (media contacts database) and had access to Lexis-Nexis, which was of great help in monitoring pickup of NCC/CWS stories.
Media Placements/Pick-Up in 2002
Click here for a list of the results of our media placement efforts. The list was compiled from disparate sources, including Lexis-Nexis, reports from the North American Precis Syndicate, reports from Fenton Communication staff, from Jan Dragin and Jim Wetekam, and from our own perusal of denominational and ecumenical pick-up. Even this extensive listing is partial but certainly representative of the extensive coverage for both NCC and CWS.
The NCC/CWS Media Liaison’s year also included:
- Ongoing response to calls from reporters seeking comment from NCC spokespersons and/or referral to other appropriate sources.
- Participation in the NCC/CWS Joint Communication Staff Team (with responsibility for calling meetings and developing agenda) and the NCC Program Staff Council, two key groups for information sharing and communication strategy.
- Participation in the NCC Communication Commission meetings in September 2002, Washington, D.C.
- On September 28, service on a three-member public
relations panel at New York Women in Communications Career Day.
Web work at the Council is a collaborative venture of several Communication
Department personnel, and for financial reasons is conducted without the benefit
of technical staff or a dedicated Webmaster. During 2002, both Carol Fouke and
Pat Pattillo performed daily maintenance and updating of the site and produced
many special web projects.
Traffic Reports and Analysis
Web traffic reports, which we began maintaining in March 2002, showed a dramatic
rise in page views during weeks surrounding the first anniversary of the 9/11
terrorist events; during this time the Web site promoted special stories and
worship resources.
Line represents traveling average of page views over time.
Source: WebTrends Live tracking of NCC website.
Top pages visited on the NCC Web site in 2002, in number of times viewed:
| NCC Website Home Page | 122,804 | Education Resources at the NCC | 5,434 | |
| The NCC at a Glance: How It Works | 17,578 | Bible Translation Unit | 5,258 | |
| A September 11 Litany | 14,309 | TANF Reauthorization Guide | 4,478 | |
| NCC/CWS Staff Directory | 12,845 | Employment Opportunities | 4,384 | |
| Website Search and Index | 12,106 | Justice Resources at the NCC | 4,132 | |
| NCC Member Communions | 9,402 | Challenging the Rush to War | 3,845 | |
| NCC News Service | 8,375 | World Communion Sunday | 3,814 | |
| About the NRSV Bible Translation | 7,510 | Interfaith Open House Guide | 3,747 |
Major Web Features in 2002
- First annual “March: On Poverty,” a special Web resource undergirding the NCC’s 10-year mobilization against poverty in the United States. This rich collection of poverty-related Bible passages, statistics, sermons, “good works that ‘work’” and events – at least one of each for every day of the month – remains perusable by day of the month or by topic. The entire Communication department staff worked for more than a month compiling the data.
- A major section on the Middle East trip, with posting of daily stories and photos.
- A major section on churches’ mobilization for peaceful solutions to the Iraq crisis, including a collaboration with True Majority that offered people a way to write the White House and members of Congress about Iraq.
- New Faith and Order bibliographies, “Violence, Moral Darkness and Peacemaking” and “Toward the Common Confession of the Apostolic Faith Today.”
- A 2002 Events Calendar that included key events for the NCC, CWS and many of the member communions.
- Regular updating of the NCC News Service, Ecumenical Resources for Welfare
Reform and program ministry sections.
Office of Electronic Programming
Reports to: Electronic
Programming Committee
Dave Pomeroy (January-June 2002), and
Shirley W. Struchen (September-December 2002), Coordinators
Personnel Change
A significant change in personnel marked the 2002 calendar year in the Communication Office, with the retirement of Dave Pomeroy after 30 years of service with NCC in the field of TV and radio programming.
Following his retirement from our staff, Pomeroy was named vice president of the digital division of Faith and Values Media, where he had served as NCC’s designated trustee since that group was founded as the National Interfaith Cable Coalition in the 1980’s to manage the VISN cable TV network. (VISN later became Odyssey and then was sold to Crown Media to become the base for the Hallmark Channel.)
In mid-year, Pomeroy was succeeded by Shirley Whipple Struchen, former director of the national teleconferencing program of United Methodists and a veteran television producer who had been active on the NCC Communication Commission representing United Methodist Communications. She divides her time between her coordinator’s position in electronic programming at NCC and another part-time position as Executive Director of the Religion Communicators Council, a national interfaith association of approximately 500 faith-based communicators.Interfaith Broadcasting Commission (IBC) Pomeroy served (and now Struchen serves) as the Council’s production liaison to the IBC, helping to shape the four-way partnership that provides religious programming to the three major broadcast networks. Other partners are the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Broadcast Group of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
Productions Aired on the National Networks in 2002
The 2002 network documentary programs offered through the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission by the NCC Communication Commission’s member denominations were:
- Journey Toward Forgiveness (Mennonite Media) carried by 135 ABC-TV stations.
In addition to documentaries, the networks provide time for seasonal worship services for the four IBC partner groups. In 2002, the NCC presented two liturgical programs:
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Easter service on ABC-TV from Westminster Presbyterian Church in Des Moines, Iowa.
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Christmas/Epiphany service on NBC-TV from St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Tarpon Springs, Florida.
Commission Activities for 2002
The Communication Commission held two meetings during the year:
- April 2002, New York City: The
Commission met in conjunction with the annual Religion Communicators Council
convention, to take advantage of the opportunities for networking with other
colleagues in faith groups not related to the Commission. Highlighting the
Commission meeting itself was a special conference on
full and fair media coverage of Israeli-Palestinian issues jointly
sponsored by NCC and the World Association of Christian Communication. The
Wilbur Awards ceremony, held at the historic Yale Club, concluded the week.
- September 2002, Washington, DC: The Commission scheduled its meeting to coincide with the annual Everett C. Parker Lecture on Ethics in Telecommunications, presented this year by FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps. The United Church of Christ sponsored the lecture at a luncheon attended by the Commission members and about 200 Washington-area guests. The Commission members also attended a UCC legislative breakfast with Sen. Joseph Lieberman earlier in the day.
NCC seminars on evolving program formats in radio and television were also part of the meetings, featuring
- Sister Maureen Fiedler of the public radio program Interfaith Voices;
- Joop Koopman of Rainbow Media, discussing cable-based video-on-demand services;
- Bill Wolfe of United Methodist Communications, showcasing a radio spot series called Passages (a joint UMCom-PCUSA project); and
- Kristi Bangert and Eric Shafer of ELCA, who presented their new initiative to return the Davey and Goliath children’s TV series to the air.
This concludes the Department's 2002 Report to the Commission.
Eric C. Shafer, Chair, NCC
Communication Commission
Wesley M. Pattillo, Associate General Secretary for Communication