The Washington times., 1922-07-01
NEW
CONCEPTION
Of PUBLICITY

~ Su~u
Believes that Newspapers Can
Accomplish Much in
Spreading Gospel.
By C. T. JEWELL,
secretary OF the Commission on Pub.
hcity Of the Diocese OF
Washington.
Publicity has grown to have q
meaning closely akin to advertising.
AoVertisins as We generally know
Is called by the newspapers paid
puDHcity news notices are called
Iree publicity" We cannot change
the meaning OF words, but We can,
l hope. establish for church pub.
licity q new conception.
The purpose of church publicity
i' to spread the Gospel of Christ:
to speed the coming Of the Xii 4.
dom. We aim to set forth our he.
iief In such a way as to irdIce
others to believe also. And we
strive to tell the readers Of the
newspapers Of the things that men
are doing for God, and Of the things
70 De done, so that they may ne en-.
couraged also to follow the essed
footsteps Of His most holy life"
Those are the reasons, funda.
mental and consistent and enduring,
Tor church publicity. Publicity with
any less lofty purpose Is not worthy
OF the church. Since religion IN Its
truest sense invades all fields OF ru.
man activity. and touches it's de-
voices on all sides Of their being. 80
publicity In the name Of religion
ramifies In several directions and
becomes mixed with many forms nf
worldly enterprise. But at its heart
1t remains always an agent Of pure
intention, a missionary OF the Cross
OF Christ. an evangelist OF self.
sacrifice.
Church publicity II therefore rot
conosrned with the filling Of cnr-ch
pews as an end in itself. II does
not conspire to give fame or popu.
lartty to one preacher or nncther
except In 80 far as the message of
that preached is worthy OF &C nsid.
GRAFTON. Certainly. It has not for an
object the securing of funds In any
other way than by awakening the
public conscience to the need OF the
hour.
+ Mercantile publicity, hotel pub.
licity. theatrical publicity, are recog.
nized commercial propositions II
your automobile or typewriter has
selling points superior to those OF
other makes. you seek publicity for
their good points In the hopes Of
persuading purchasers to buy your
goods rather than those OF a ,ival.
II the public Is not interested In
your oiling system, to bring its ad.
vantages before prospective pUr.
chasers, you willingly buy publicity
from those who make a business Of
selling II. This is good, clean, com.
mendable business and has a r-cog,
nized place in modern economy
But commercial publicity II based
absolutely on barter. Those who
sell space are not interested In the
outcome Of the venture Itself but
only In so increasing the revenues
Of the advertiser that he will nave
the "where.with.alI'' to pnrchas"
more space.
Christian publicity would exist on
exactly the same plane in q land of
rival religions. The priest who could
command the most space would
lead the most followers to the affairs
OF his gods. We do not. however
admit that Christianity has any RI.
val in this fair land Of ours, or that
the newspapers with which we deal
are themselves lacking in mission.
ary zeal. We assume at the ou set
that the newspapers and their read.
ers are all Of one mind concerning
the Righteousness Of our task. The
newspaper that willingly places
~ n faNN - all L. ~
as automobiles and the movies"
and considers church publicity solely
from tn aspect Of dollars and cents,
ton.
In this, then. does church pub.
licity differ from commercial pub
licity: a newspaper in giving free
space to church news does not de.
prive itself Of possible income. bur
gains by gaining the srespect s2d
good will Of tie community.
But even II we considerable mat
ter fro mthe point Of view OF dollars
and cents, we claim that the papers
lose nothing by publishing church
news. Church news OF the right kind
Is good news. A newspapers object
in printing news IL obviouly to make
the paper sell. Cosumenrs OF news.
papers have a world Of different
interests. Some are interested In
stocks and bonds. some in baseball.
some In knitting and cooking. The
successful paper Is the one which
skillfully combines news Of various
kinds 90 that the paper as a whole
appeals to more types Of readers
than the rival papers. II II cannot
secure readers among all types, the
types to be ignored are those which
are the less likely to buy. That. I
take It, is good newspaper business.
II Is said that half the peop'e in
the United States are affiliated with
some church or religious body. and
that half we may easily SUPPOSE.
contains more newspaper reade q
than the unreligious half. In the
District Of Columbia. II is SAT, to
say that the proportion OF church
people is larger yet. The Protestant
Episcopal Church in the diocese Of
/ Washington claims "a, 900 adhersnts,
6f whom $4,000 reside in the Dis.
trict. May eve assume that $500 Of
the homes reached by the leading
Warrington papers sre directly in.