Friday, January 13, 2012

Christian News Buries Follow Up on Joel Hochmuth on Page 17,
Decries RC Homosexual on Page One

Joel Hochmuth gave WELS unprecedented visibility in the media,
all over the United States, with print and Net stories posted in many regions.
TMJ is not a dental station, but The Milwaukee Journal.


The January 2, 2012 issue of Christian News featured "U. S. Catholic Homosexuals, Lesbians, and Bisexuals May Be Christian, " on page 1. Another page 1 story involved Our Lady of Guadalupe. I thought I was getting The Wanderer, from conservative Roman Catholics. Christian News is supposed to deal with Lutherans, especially the "conservative" Lutherans of the Olde Synodical Conference.

But a follow-up to the biggest Lutheran scandal of the decade was buried even deeper than first notice. David Becker forwarded the Ichabod post on CN burying the story on page 7. The follow-up was posted on page 17. The next one will be on page 34.

Mrs. Ichabod said, "There is no page 34 in Christian News."

That is what I meant. The officials want this to be a non-story while they cluck their tongues about ELCA and the Church of Rome.

There are two journalistic tools for getting rid of the news. One is to spike the story, giving it no coverage at all. That can lead to pressure to give it space or time in the news. A sublter technique is to bury the story so far back in the periodical that few see it or pay much attention to it. If they do read it, the story seems insignificant because of its placement.


Puerto Rico?