Editorial: “Will Disciplinary Item #6 Be the Death of Us?”
Item #6: “Unauthorized or improper disclosure of information–unauthorized or improper use or release of personal, confidential, private, or proprietary employer or denominational information by any means.”
Serious wide-ranging, and concerning new communication rules for church clergy and church employees were discussed this week at the General Conference (GC) Autumn Council in Silver Spring, Maryland. This is the Executive Committee that creates the agenda for the 2025 General Conference session and creates the GC Working Policy.
As the new Investigative Editor for Adventist Today, my job is to promote transparency, expose unethical and immoral conduct, and question policy issues. Issues like item #6 added to the GC working policy condemning not just a pastor, but a church employee for even speaking to an independent Adventist journalist. Unauthorized, it’s called and even the GC Communication Department personnel are included. Communicating may cost a job.
As a journalist, investigative reporter, professional writer, and communication professional who has operated following codes of ethics from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), who have tough standards for honesty, openness, and fairness, I am disappointed in my church’s highest level of policy leadership, cowing to worldly low standards to create obfuscation, double speak, and to hide and isolate behind such a troubling policy, which just engenders rumors and misinformation.
As an educator in journalism and communication, I championed the highest ethical standards, even resigning from one job when I was asked by the administration to lie to a regional accrediting association.
Adventist Today exists because the official Adventist News Network (ANN) does not give you all the news. Independent Adventist news can sources provide a fuller view of the truth through news articles and social media discussions you will not find in the official church press. You may not like some of the articles, but it is the responsibility of the independent Adventist press not to be a lapdog, but a watchdog. Sometimes the church needs to be held accountable and its policies discussed and examined.
Truth. The pursuit of truth and publishing of truth is my goal. And as Dr. Phil Mills, a layman and invitee to the Executive Committee this week emphasized in his devotional, “Thou shalt not bear false witness.”
I urge the Society of Adventist Communicators meeting this week in Chicago for their annual conference to adopt a resolution reaffirming Adventist communicators’ commitment to transparency, honesty, openness, and truth. Whether we work in the secular or church media, we are of one voice in pursuit of the truth and just now our Mother Church needs to be reminded. Who are we if we Adventists make policies to hide, say “no comment,” and mislead through silence, firing employees who provide information about the denomination?
I’m already working on stories that must be told. Not to attack the church or its employees or to air dirty laundry, but to be the voice for the voiceless. As my mentor, Dr. Lynn Sauls told student communicators, being a journalist is a calling, just as a missionary doctor, pilot, or pastor is, and being an ethical communicator is important in the eyes of God. It’s a call to truth telling.
Pamela Harris
Investigative Editor, Adventist Today magazine and website
19 October 2024
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