|
Read their thoughts here, then comment to news@calnevumc.org
Review's imminent replacement 'faulty move' says Chico reader
Dear Editor:
The August 18, 2000 edition of UM Review states in an article by Review Staff, that "One of the more significant recommendations the national church¹s Communications Resourcing Team madefrom your inputwas for the Conference to publish its own newspaper, locally." I find this move faulty for a number of reasons:
1.Does this mean the publication of United Methodist news becomes a once a-month process, rather than the bimonthly UM Review publication? (i.e. Coordinated Mail replaces UMR)
2. Does the proposed "locally" published news piece eliminate such articles and news as . . . "Stop atrocities in Indonesia" (also Aug. 18, 2000 issue) which gives insight to a global concern about which United Methodists should be aware? Eliminating global news about The United Methodist Church would be a sad mistake. Not to mention national UM news.
3. The District pages in UMR were a valuable tool in highlighting news from each District. They provided a District, Annual Conference, national and global perspective, and an incentive for local churches to submit articles to UMR.
4. Perhaps a majority of persons participating in the Conference Communications Audit do sit hunched over their computers and can pull off ³electronic news distribution.² However, I find news in printed form (i.e. UMR) much easier to stuff in a beach bag or bring to a church committee meeting.
As one who participated in one of the audit groups (Redding, CA) I do not agree with the conclusions drawn from that process‹namely the phasing out of United Methodist Review, Accepting change is not the issue: United Methodists need the broad perspective of news from throughout the denomination.
June E. Rothe-Barneson
Chico
At this point, the conference plans to distribute a mix of Global, Conference and select district news via electronic means and print twice a month.
Because of low penetration (circulation) within the districts, three out of seven discontinued using "District Pages" as a communication medium in the last 12 months. They have replaced the pages with District news inserts which are printed by local churches for placement in Sunday bulletins or church newsletters.
The print publication (which will be mailed at no cost to Review readers who do not have e-mail or internet access) will continue to provide a mix of Global, Conference and other important information. Look for more details in our Sept. 29 issue, which will be the last edition of the California-Nevada Conference edition of the Review.
The first edition of the interim "Newscope" style print publication is expected to be out in the first half of October, As a new Conference Coordinator of Communications comes aboard, look for the Coordinator and the Communications Committee to re-examine what¹s needed to best communicate with Cal-Nevada United Methodist. As mentioned last issue, that include a traditional newspaper.
You
may still subscribe to the national pages of the print Review for $13
a year. The address is listed on the first page of the national section, which
is edited and printed by UMR Communications in Dallas, Texas. News from the
national publication's website can be accessed at http://www.umr.org
–Editor
Loved Jubilee wrapup
Dear Editor, Chuck Myer and Bill Sanford did a masterful job of capturing the
spirit and delight of the Jubilee 2000 week. (I attempted to write such an article
for my own church newsletter, and it was a huge challenge !) Please
thank them for highlighting the special moments of the week, and for reporting
some of the feedback from my fellow Jubilee people.
I sincerely hope that the archives (and maybe the Review) will note that there were three courageous soloists who volunteered themselves for the Jubilee 2000 Chorus. Not only did we have Rev. Scott Wylie and Ray Jellison, but we also had the pure and lovely voice of Doreen Hart. (You might want to verify that name with the Chorus conductor, Doug Albertson of 1st UMC, Santa Rosa. That was the name I noted on the edge of my music, anyway.)
Still jubilant,
Bonnie
Home
Almaden Hills UMC, San Jose