Editorials - 07/11/02

Covering what's important to our community

With regard to coverage of local government, the answer is easy. We consider ourselves the community's eyes and ears when we attend and report on meetings of county commissioners, school officials and town boards. We know local citizens rely on us for information about the many decisions that are made that impact the daily lives of all those who call Jackson County home, and we do our best to provide it.

We are proud to announce community events. After all, if we don't share the details, how can our readers feed their bodies and spirits at family reunions, church suppers, homecomings, Vacation Bible Schools, organizations' meetings, gospel singings, community development club get-togethers, benefit hot dog suppers and cakewalks?

When it comes to the rest - feature stories and other news stories - we base our decision about a story on its local interest and impact on our readers.

Which brings us to the point. Our intent to write about a significant event in the history of the Tuckaseigee Baptist Association was questioned this week. We were even told by one pastor that to do so would be "unethical."

Newspaper representatives, along with a number of Baptists - including a former TBA director of missions - were asked to leave an Executive Committee meeting after members voted to hold a closed session. We got the story anyway, because many of those present were willing to share what happened behind those particular closed doors.

We didn't go to the meeting because we had nothing better to do or because we wanted to push our way in where we weren't wanted. We went because so many of our readers belong to churches that are members of the association that we felt decisions made Monday would be of interest to them. And we were there because many readers called to make sure we planned to attend.

We wrote the story because we believe that Monday's meeting may well have been a historic session for the TBA. It dealt with a topic of local and even national interest, bringing the Baptist struggle over women as pastors we've seen playing on our television screens to a hometown theater.

The TBA's actions Monday may set the stage for future decisions that could change the shape of Baptist life in Jackson County and elsewhere. Those actions, which impact some 6,000 local Baptists, deserve coverage in the community newspaper.

We've heard Baptists call their right to chart their own course the autonomy of local churches; we call ours freedom of the press.

Back to Archive: 07/11/02.