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The Professionalization of the Southern Baptist Press

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The Professionalization of the Southern Baptist Press GOD’S WORDS IN THE LANGUAGE OF MEN: THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PRESS _______________________________________ A Dissertation presented to the FaCulty of the Graduate SChool at the University of Missouri-Columbia _______________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy _____________________________________________________ by VICKI KNASEL BROWN Dr. Earnest Perry, Dissertation Supervisor MAY 2019 © ViCki Knasel Brown, 2019 All Rights Reserved The undersigned, appointed by the dean of the Graduate SChool, have examined the dissertation titled GOD’S WORDS IN THE LANGUAGE OF MEN: THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PRESS Presented by ViCki Knasel Brown A candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy And hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of aCCeptance. ____________________________________________________ Dr. Earnest Perry ____________________________________________________ Dr. Tim Vos ____________________________________________________ Dr. Yong Volz ____________________________________________________ Dr. Brett Johnson ____________________________________________________ Dr. Mark Carroll ____________________________________________________ Dr. Debra Mason DEDICATION To Southern Baptist journalists who worked for and fought for the right to report information church members needed, both the positive and negative, and who faCed CritiCism and job loss with integrity. EspeCially to Dan Martin, my journalism hero and my friend. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Researching and writing my dissertation has been an adventure that would not have happened without the help and support of wonderful people. Praise first to God for the miraCle of just my being in the PhD program. My family’s encouragement was a Constant support. Thanks to Calvin who has been chief cook and prayer warrior. I want to express my gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Earnest Perry, for passing along his love of history and for being an encourager. Thanks to Dr. Yong Volz for her encouragement and for opening her home to doctoral students for study and fellowship. Thanks to Dr. Tim Vos for his honesty, and to Dr. Brett Johnson for showing me ways to direCt passion into research topiCs. I am grateful to Dr. Mark Carroll for sharing his expertise in the history of evangeliCalism. Dr. Debra Mason deserves speCial praise for stiCking with me through both my master’s and doctoral degrees. She has been a role model, an encourager, and an inspiration. Thanks, too, to Kathy Hodges for her adviCe, her patience with student tears and her ability to keep traCk of all the paperwork. SpeCial thanks go to the journalism library staff, espeCially Dorothy for her listening ear and words of wisdom. Fellow PhD students/friends have had a huge impaCt. Those ahead of me, espeCially Frank, Marina, Erika, David, and Tatjana, encouraged me and offered invaluable adviCe. My cohort is the best, and all of you impaCted my life and my approaCh to research. Thanks to Kim for your steadfastness and your friendship; to Keshia and Doug for your challenges to conventional thinking; to Terry for sharing your memories and being a partner in the “best” generation; to Carlos for being such a role model and courageous fighter for social justiCe and for your friendship; to Dani for your ii kindness and Christ-like attitude; and to TJ for your friendship, your warm smile and your concern for all people. I espeCially thank God for Joy and RaChel and the prayer times we shared together. You two lifted me up in diffiCult moments and shared the joy of answers that only God could provide. Thank you, Joy, for your friendship and that speCial bond that ministry wives share. Words truly cannot express the gratitude I have for RaChel. Thank you for your friendship, for your frankness and for your skill as a sounding board. Thank you for allowing me to treat you like a daughter sometimes and always as a friend, a confidant and fellow researcher. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ ii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ v INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1: Journalism as Calling ................................................................................. 34 CHAPTER 2: Unity and Truth ......................................................................................... 64 CHAPTER 3: “Trust the Lord and Tell the People”: Press Freedom & Baptist Journalists ........................................................................................................................................... 94 CHAPTER 4: RaCe: Struggling with Faith and PraCtiCe ................................................ 123 CHAPTER 5: Journalism Full Circle ............................................................................. 150 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 184 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 191 VITA ............................................................................................................................... 202 iv GOD’S WORDS IN THE LANGUAGE OF MEN: THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PRESS ViCki Knasel Brown Dr. Earnest Perry, Dissertation Advisor ABSTRACT Although religion is and has been an integral aspeCt of society, its journalism has been overlooked. Media sCholars have viewed the religious press as less worthy and less professional than its commercial counterparts, despite the faCt that religious media reaChes millions of people. This study illuminates the professional development of the Southern Baptist press as an example of religious media’s effort to provide news and information to their audiences. Journalists in religious media balance their personal faith, the speCifiC faith traditions for whiCh they work, and professionalism. Southern Baptist journalists exhibited the traits, praCtiCes, and beliefs that mark journalistiC professionalism. This dissertation shows how the Civil Rights Movement and the SBC’s further shift to the theologiCal and politiCal right affeCted Southern Baptist journalism. Southern Baptist newsworkers lived their religion through the praCtiCe of journalism in spite of the denomination’s institutional barriers. Freedom of the press and autonomy beCame the professional values most at stake for newsworkers as denominational leaders insisted journalists should concentrate on promotion. Through the Civil Rights Movement, most journalists tried to maintain a centrist position, pushing obedience to federal law and the effeCt on mission efforts overseas. A few courageous journalists pushed for Southern Baptists to reCognize all people as children of God. The Southern v Baptist Convention’s further shift to the theologiCal and politiCal right cost several journalists their jobs and essentially returned SBC journalism to its promotional roots. vi INTRODUCTION Al ShaCkleford and Dan Martin had no idea their years of experience as professional journalists would not proteCt them from losing their jobs with the national religious press serviCe, Baptist Press, in 1990. Both men had pursued their careers under the banner of integrity, truth and objeCtivity. Both men saw their journalism as a means to live out their faith in serviCe to others. Both were esteemed professionals among religious and commercial journalists.1 But ShaCkleford and Martin were among those who lost their positions as Southern Baptist journalists who pushed for independent Baptist media, free to cover negative institutional struggles, as well as positive aspeCts of denominational life. They lost their jobs when a fundamental-Conservative movement within the Southern Baptist Convention pushed the denomination further to the theologiCal and politiCal right. That push, whiCh culminated in new leadership, was the seCond of two movements from 1954 to 1990 — the Civil Rights Movement and the strong conservative movement — that shifted the course of professionalization among Southern Baptist journalists. This study examined the way in whiCh the Civil Rights Movement encouraged the Continued professionalization of Southern Baptist journalism and how some journalists during that movement were at the forefront in changing Southern Baptist attitudes about 1 Several CommerCial and religious publiCations deCried the firings. New York Times writer Ari L. Goldman noted that Shackleford and Martin “helped shape” Baptist Press “into a news service trusted by many journalists as open and objeCtive” (Ari L. Goldman, “2 Southern Baptist News Chiefs Are Dismissed,” New York Times, July 19, 1990, aCCessed November 28, 2018. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/19/us/2- southern-baptist-news-chiefs-are-dismissed). 1 raCe. Although Southern Baptist editors did not reaCt as quiCkly or as aggressively as their mainstream counterparts, the Civil Rights Movement sparked a growing concern for social issues and less emphasis on denominational self-promotion. The formation of a separate organization for Southern Baptist publiC relations speCialists coincided with the movement and helped push for more trained journalists in Baptist state paper newsrooms. This
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