Cutting corners

But here’s what happens. In the rush to be the first, some news writer will publish the rumor after finding someone willing to say he heard it was true. This happened when Ken Hemphill left Southwestern. In another case, a prospective president of a Baptist college was named before the process was nearly complete. He withdrew his name after the embarrassing revelation. It happened again recently when Mac Brunson (of First Baptist Church of Dallas) announced he is going in view of a call to FBC Jacksonville, Fla. After that first guy trots out his gossip, other news agencies get calls from their editors to play catch up. Everyone piles on the story after that, even though it’s not ready.

In the SBC, a dissident news service called Associated Baptist Press and a few papers like to play “gotcha” with the convention. Sometimes they get the story first because they’re trying harder. Sometimes they only aggravate a sensitive time at the affected institutions. Being first sometimes is not worth being mischievous on other occasions. It’s just not that important.

I could hear the disappointment in Mac Brunson’s voice Feb. 12 when he spoke of being robbed of the opportunity to share the news with his church. The Dallas paper ran a speculative story based on the dissident news agency. The Fort Worth paper countered by saying the transition was a done deal. Maybe Dr. Brunson was naive to think that everyone in Jacksonville and Dallas would allow him that prerogative, but a desire for connection with even a mega-church congregation is one thing that makes him one of the good ones. He should have been allowed to announce things in his own time.

We could have published the rumor months ago. It’s been said that two people can keep a secret, so long as one of them is dead. With the search committee, church staffs, families, trusted friends involved in two large churches, word got out somehow that Mac Brunson was being considered to follow Jerry Vines. Hundreds of people had heard the rumor by Christmas. The TEXAN could have been first and maybe we could have even messed things up, but we don’t print rumors.

Standards should be higher in the press generally. Pressure to compete should not trump fairness to even public figures. Among Christians, the standard should be higher still. We learn things that need not be told. We hear things that we should not wish to be true just so we can make a splash or win a prize. The competition that keeps us sharp also tempts us to cut corners.

Let me be plain. The Associated Baptist Press story about Mac Brunson was based on hearsay from a church member who was not a church spokesman. The reason it was central to the story is that no church official?in Dallas or Jacksonville?would confirm the rumor. The people whose business it is to make that announcement wouldn’t, so someone else had to suffice. And ABP just had to use it so they could beat Baptist Press and maybe get quoted in some big city dailies. Mission accomplished.

There is no pressing need for jumping the gun on stories like this. There are some good and godly reasons to not do that. There are some even better reasons to avoid printing rumors.