Remembering Bill

The voicemail greeting used to begin with "Hello. You've reached the Bill Smith with the newspaper, not Bill Smith the locksmith..." It went on to give the phone number of the locksmith, just in case the caller had the wrong Bill, before giving his own number, in case the caller had a news item for the paper.

That was our Bill Smith -- somewhat self-deprecating, but always a disseminator of useful information -- the perfect combination for a "newspaperman." Former colleague Georga Bray once paid him the highest compliment one editor can give another: "If Bill were to cut his hand, he would bleed ink."

I got to know Bill when we worked for sister newspapers. I didn't know him well, though, until one joint-office Christmas party, when I found myself sitting next to him talking politics and newspapers at great length. I developed a deep respect for his vast knowledge and integrity.

That's why a few years later, when he had started the Trail Communities Messenger in Elroy, Wis. (after our parent company had closed his Elroy newspaper office), and I had been urged by community leaders to start my own newspaper on the other side of the county, the first thing I did was to talk to him. I thought maybe we could sell ads into each other's newspaper, offering customers one-stop countywide coverage.

But Bill was a little more forward-thinking than that. He thought about it for a month or two, and then came back to me with a different idea.  What if I bought into The Messenger, and we took it countywide? I actually liked his idea better than mine; I had been terrified of trying to start a newspaper from scratch. So another colleague, Betty Waits, and I became his business partners, co-publishers, and co-owners of The Messenger of Juneau County.

Those early days were incredible. We could not believe how the people of Juneau County accepted us with open arms. I remember Bill clapping his hands with delight when I came back to the office with two full-page ads after my first day on the job. I wasn't even selling ads. That was when we knew our beloved county stood behind us. After the required two years of being a newspaper, The Messenger was named the official newspaper of Juneau County (over the existing 100+ year old newspaper).

Over the several years that we worked together at The Messenger, Bill and I had many deep discussions about politics, journalism, and faith. Although he wasn't very vocal about it publicly, he told me that he had accepted the Lord as his Savior. And he showed that faith in his integrity and his willingness to help others.

Bill had always dreamed of being an "editor emeritus," and his last few years he realized that dream. He would make his way down the street from his apartment to the newspaper office less and less to write his column, lay out a page or two, or just visit with people. He entered hospice late in 2013 and went to be with "his Mary" (late wife) the morning of Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014.

There are a lot of things I'll miss about Bill. I'll miss knowing that he was out there, pacing back and forth on the sidewalk outside the newspaper office, formulating articles in his mind and keeping an eye on things. I'll miss his gentle mentorship. But most of all, I'll miss his friendship.

Interview: Andy Call

Even in first grade, Andy Call would get bored with class, open an encyclopedia and start reading. Being a reader as a child eventually led to a career as a sports writer for the Cleveland Indians and then beyond.

"It (journalism) was always in my blood," he said.

So was Christianity. He said his parents were saved about the time he was born, and he was raised in church. He accepted the Lord as his Savior at the age of nine at an evangelistic meeting.

In high school, he began writing sports stories for his school newspaper. Then one of his articles, about the football team going to state, was published in the local newspaper. He had always been a reader, and now writing had become a way to express himself.

After graduating from Pillsbury Baptist Bible College with a BS in English, he began covering the Cleveland Indians minor league team for the newspaper. Before long, he moved up to the major leagues, becoming a beat reporter for The Repository, covering the Cleveland Indians' major league baseball team. In 2008, he joined the Communications Department of Maranatha Baptist Bible College (now Maranatha Baptist University) as a writer/editor. Today Call is a media relations strategist at Wright State University in the Dayton, Ohio area.

While covering the Cleveland Indians, he said that his faith gave him opportunities he would not have had  otherwise. For instance, Call was asked by a Christian magazine, Sport Spectrum, to write about third baseman Travis Fryman. After the interview, Call and Fryman began talking about deeper, spiritual things. That's when Fryman told Call he was retiring. Call got the scoop on the story, because he and Fryman connected on a spiritual level.

When talking about sharing his faith in the newspaper, Call said, "I didn't feel I could shoehorn it into a story, but when I got the opportunity to speak a word for Christ, I took it."

In working for a secular publication, Call didn't concern himself with the political leanings of the newspaper. He said part of the reason the media is considered to be so liberal is that conservative people have abandoned it.

He said that journalists are faced with ethical issues every day. "My professional ethics reflect my faith," he said. "If readers can't trust me, that reflects poorly on my faith."

His biggest ethical issue, though, was his family life. After 18 years covering a major league team, at home and away, he saw how much time he was spending away from his family. So he gave up the road to work at Maranatha, where his family could be together.

"There's give and take in this business," he said. "You have to give up some things, but
when it affects your family..."

Having worked for both Christian and secular organizations, Call said there are positives and negatives to both types of journalism. Writing in the Christian realm, he said a person can feel good about the cause he or she is supporting. In the secular realm, he said a person can speak for Christ where it wouldn't happen otherwise.

"Every career move I've made, God has led in it," Call said. "It's however God leads."

The Power of THR3E

ABC...Three Blind Mice...Snap, Crackle, Pop...

Ever since childhood, we have been bombarded with the subliminal message of the power of the number 3. For some reason, the brain seems to grasp things easily in groups of three. Why? As one of my former editors put it, "Because four is too many, and two is not enough."

We don't have any clear reason why we like things in three's, but the mathemetician may say it's because the three-sided triangle is the most stable shape. The psychologist may say it's because the  human brain wants choices, but not so many choices as to confuse it. The Christian can speculate on it's connection with God -- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit -- or that Jesus was in the tomb for three days before rising from the dead.

Instead of spending time trying to figure out why people like the number three, we as journalists just need to use it in our communications. For instance, if we are going to list examples, list three. If there are several aspects of an issue, try to group them under three subheads.

The order of the three items makes a difference, as well -- especially the last item. Think of it as the punchline to a joke. While the first two go one direction in indicating what the list is, the third one needs to do something different. Perhaps it could be the most important item in the list:

1. Places in the news
2. Issues in the news
3. People in the news

Perhaps it could be the most recent event in the list:

1. The Civil War
2. World War I
3. World War II

Or it could go a completely different direction than the other items in the list:

1. He hates it when people question his integrity.
2. He hates it when people question his faith.
3. He hates it when people don't rinse out the coffee pot.

So whenever you find yourself needing to use examples in a story or list aspects of an issue, try to pare it down to three items or groups, and pay attention to the order in which you place them. While it won't make or break your story, it will give the story an added touch of professionalism.

Speaking Up: When and how it is appropriate

Sometimes in the course of covering the news, you as a Christian journalist will encounter a situation that is so wrong, you can't help but speak up. You most likely will be able to do this in a news story. But sometimes a local controversial issue will get so out of hand, that you find yourself needing to use your column to either calm the waters or remind parties of the "rules" of fair play.

I found myself in this situation once when I was the editor of a local newspaper. The local wildlife refuge had been contacting area property owners, letting them know that they could receive a tax break on any land they put into a government conservation program. The property owners saw this as a veiled threat to their property, and thus began a heated argument in the editorial section of my newspaper. I provided fair coverage, explaining each side of the issue, and then let them "duke it out" in letters to the editor.

The wildlife refuge director wrote one letter to the editor to explain that this was a voluntary program. The property owners formed an organization, and its members sent one letter to the editor after another lambasting the refuge and the federal government. The letters from the property owners got so heated, that I had to edit many of them for vulgarity and libel.

Finally, I'd had enough. I wrote a column one week to put a stop to it. I started by indicating that I had no opinion in the matter. My husband's family were property owners in a different part of the county, so I could truly say in the column that I understood the property owner group's point of view. I could also understand the refuge's point of view and that this was a completely voluntary program.

After planting myself firmly on neutral ground, I went on to say that there had been a lot of mud-slinging in the editorial pages of our paper recently, but the mud seemed to be flying in one direction. I put it right out there to the public that the letters to the editor from the property owners had to be edited for vulgarity and libel; while the refuge, other than the first letter, had remained silent no matter what the property owners had thrown at them in print.

I ended by saying that we will always welcome letters to the editor, but we need to "keep it above the belt."

I sent the paper to press, and then sat back and waited for the phone calls. The refuge director was the first to call.

"The column made my wife cry," he said. "You can't imagine the stress we've been under. Thank you so much."

The next call I received was from the director of the property owners' group. I expected yelling; what I got was a calm, controlled voice saying, "Could you please tell me which letters you are talking about that were a problem?"

I read some of the original versions to him over the phone, and we came to an agreement. He would talk to the group members and tell them to clean up their communication, and I would add to any letter not specifically from him a disclaimer that the letter does not represent the opinions of the group.

I wouldn't suggest doing something like this except as a last resort (I've only done it once in my career). But if you do elect to do a public reprimand, be sure to

1. Put yourself on neutral ground first,
2. Address only the part of the issue that is a problem, and
3. Let people know that you still welcome their opinions.

Tragedy: When it strikes close to home

What do you do when a local tragedy affects those you know? How do you respond? Who do you interview? How do you write about it objectively? Unless you know them well, don't go straight to a victim's immediate family for an interview. Always start at the outskirts of a victim's acquaintances, and work your way inward toward the "inner circle."

Remember when you are dealing with a local tragedy, that the people you are interviewing are most likely grieving. Be respectful of their privacy, but let them know that you would like to let your readers know what kind of a person their loved one was. One way to share your faith is to let them know you will be praying for them. This could open up a conversation about God, or at the very least, it will be a comfort to the person.

I was the editor of a rural, weekly newspaper when a horrible tragedy shook our county. A 10-year-old girl  was killed by six Rottweilers while playing at a friend's house. This girl had come to the children's club my husband and I ran at our church, and was a friend of my two daughters. I remember that morning when I sat on the couch with my two girls and had to tell them their friend had died.

In addition to the front-page story about the incident, I did a side story of interviews with her school teacher and the leader of her group at our church's children's club.

And I knew my readership well enough to know that sharing my faith would be well-accepted at this point. In my column, I told about how, "with the simple faith of a child," she accepted the Lord as her Savior, and because of that, she went straight into the loving arms of Jesus. It was the hardest column I had ever written.

The responses I received were overwhelming. One burly school board member, whom I didn't even know was a Christian, came to me so choked up he could hardly speak, and said, "It made all the difference in the world knowing she was saved."

When tragedy strikes, people try to make sense of it in their own minds. They often turn to God, or at least begin to think about eternal things. This is the time when a Christian journalist can make a huge impact on the community by sharing his or her faith with love and compassion.

Columns: Your soapbox

We've already established that every journalist should strive for objectivity, to keep his or her own thoughts out of the story. But there is someplace where your opinion is not only allowed, but encouraged -- the column, if you are lucky enough to get one.

While you can use this medium to share your faith, I would advise you not to turn it into the "sermon of the week." Almost no one will read it. You need to create a following by writing a column that people will actually look for when they open the newspaper or log on.

Here's where the old adage "write what you know" comes in handy -- fashion, politics, humor, whatever. Then write interesting things about your topic each week, not necessarily spiritual things, just interesting things. People will begin to follow your column, and when the opportunity is right, you can bring up your faith.

In my case, I wrote a humor column. I worked for a rural weekly, and my editor told me I needed to write a column each week. I asked what it should be about, and she said, "Anything you want."

Since I had been raised in the Chicago area and then married a local dairy farmer, I started writing a humor column about the adventures of a city girl learning how to be a farmer's wife. In the rural community where I lived and worked, the column caught on.

After about six months, I started to insert my faith wherever I could -- a Father's Day column about my father passing his faith to me, a Christmas column about the real meaning of Christmas, etc. Soon everyone knew that I was a born again Christian. They seemed to be O.K. with it, probably because they felt like they knew me, and I wasn't a "stuffed shirt" Christian.

Then one day a horrible tragedy involving a local 10-year-old girl shook the entire county, and I was able to share my faith, and hers, in a huge way. I'll share the details in my next post.

Controversy: Media in the Middle

As a Christian journalist, how do you cover highly controversial issues, such as abortion, war or gay rights, and still maintain a sense of balance in the story? As our last interview indicated, you have to get as many voices as possible into the story.

Start with the official voice -- the leader or spokesperson from each side of the issue. Then move on to the unusual protester, the poignant demonstration, or just the loner with something to say on the subject. After that, listen to the masses. If the demonstration is noisy, listen for shouts that rise above the din. If the protest is silent, quietly move among the crowd asking questions.

Then, when you have collected as many voices as possible, begin to create a well-balanced report that tells the stories of those on both sides of the issue. Keep your own voice for your column or commentary.

You'll know you've done well, if both sides call to complain.