| Its all a matter of trust When I first read about the Jayson Blair story at the New York Times, I was amazed that such a thing could happen. Like millions of other readers, I turn to the Times almost every day for factual reporting, insightful commentaries and a very difficult crossword puzzle. I was also amazed that a reporter at any newspaper would try to get away with such a scheme. Blair, as youve heard by now, was fired by the Times for fabricating and plagiarizing literally dozens of stories in the last nine or 10 months. He faked interviews, fabricated quotes and generally violated almost every golden rule of good journalism. The fact that Blair is African American has fed fuel to the public debate. The purpose of this column, before you read any further, is not to wade into the water of why Blair was promoted so far so fast. I dont care if Blair is purple; he was promoted because he wrote good stories. That those stories, it now turns out, were sometimes copied almost word for word from other peoples reporting, has nothing to do with the color of his skin and everything to do with the very heart of journalism and this column: trust. As a religious journalist for the past nine years, I have learned that my stock and trade in this ministry is trust. If readers do not trust me to report accurately the news of the day good or bad then my work is for nothing. If readers do not trust the publication they read, they stop reading. We work hard at the UMConnection to keep your trust. That doesnt mean we dont make mistakes; we do. Were not perfect and we seek to correct errors as soon as possible. But because we are a small outfit, its much harder to slip something past us than it is at the Times. I am concerned that the Blair story will cast all journalists in the same light. More to the point, I am very concerned that religious journalists will be looked at in the same manner as Blair and those like him. Religious journalism is an increasingly rare commodity in The United Methodist Church. We do great faith stories and tell wonderful warm fuzzies, but when was the last time you read a hard-hitting expose on church treasurers who embezzle? Embezzlement happens, but its a bad news story. Some people dont like to read those kinds of stories. Some church leaders are just as happy to keep you ignorant about them. Thats why Im more than delighted to work with Bishop Felton Edwin May on the publication youre reading now. His philosophy, one I wish were shared by every bishop in our denomination, is that if we have bad news out there, its better for people to read it in OUR publication than someplace else. I worry, that as the Blair story begins to seep into the collective conscience of the American people, there will be some who look at this incident as one more reason to sound the death-knell on factual religious reporting in The United Methodist Church. Weve fairly well done that to editorialists and their columns. I can count on less than two hands the number of publications that run editorials like this one. Is it because we have nothing to say to or for the church? Balderdash. The issues of the church today havent changed in intensity or passion from those of yesteryear. Whats happened is that slowly and surely, editorialists and journalists stopped stirring the pot via their columns some just faded away, others were outright reassigned and a collective sigh of relief went up: There goes one less headache. It scares me that anyone would view religious journalism as headache-inducing. The voice of religious journalism is dimming in our denomination precisely at a time when more, not less, is needed. One beacon of hope is a proposal coming to General Conference from communicators across the church, seeking to place language in the Discipline about church communications. In short, the resolution strongly suggests that every annual conference have a communications officer and that she/he sit on the cabinet with the bishop and the district superintendents. If that model sounds very familiar to readers in the Baltimore-Washington Conference, it should. In fact, thats what we have now. We you and I - are very lucky to have this newspaper, very fortunate to have an outstanding staff to put this baby to bed twice a month. And before you think Im patting myself on the back, Im not; Im thanking you for making this possible. This type of communications at the conference level doesnt happen by luck, accident or chance. It happens because people in the conference say communications is important, vital even, to the success of making new disciples for Jesus Christ by telling the stories of the people called United Methodists. You trust us to do this. We work hard, day after day, to guard and uphold that trust. I, for one, wouldnt have it any other way. | 
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