This is a disturbing and yet not entirely surprising trend. Whenver “popularity” and “PR” (ie. “Business and Marketing practices”) hold sway, then tendencies like this are bound to become issues. Many institutions fall victim to this kind of pitfall, and it raises fullscale the kinds of issues that are raised in The Cluetrain Manifesto. It seems to me that perhaps churches should begin to consider the similar implications for them; do we want real conversation and truthful confrontation, or do we want to “sell” the church as a consumer product?

untiedmethodist.com: Do we want news or PR?

In a column in the July/August Zion’s Herald, Cynthia Astle, who had written for and edited the Reporter for 17 years, says the Reporter’s (the UMReporter) new management wants to remove reader response items and letters to the editor from the newspaper. While not mentioning her by name, Astle implies that the Reporter’s new CEO and president Sarah Wilke, the daughter of retired Bishop Sarahwilke_3 Richard Wilke, wants to downplay disagreements and controversies within United Methodism in order to “build up” the church.