Few Canadian Anglicans hold extreme positions in same-sex debate
By Ana Watts
Vociferous minorities fuel the same-sex issue and few Canadian Anglicans actually hold these extreme positions, said General Synod Chancellor Ron Stevenson speaking to members of the Anglican Editors Association meeting in Fredericton this week.
“Bad news sells and good news does not, so anyone who knows
something about anything writes stories on the litigation around ownership of buildings and how commissions and studies are received,” he said. “If the media are going to do that, they should at lease include a URL to these full research papers –– but despite all this controversy, most Anglicans still don’t care.”
Editors of diocesan papers and the editor of the Anglican Journal, the national newspaper, constitute the membership of the Anglican Editors Association. It meets annually for professional development and to discuss issues affecting their newspapers to engage in professional development. The diocesan newspapers are actually a section of the Anglican Journal and mailed out with the national paper in their own dioceses. This relationship, with its economies of scale (nearly all the newspapers are printed by the same company), also contributes to the viability of the print media in the Anglican Church in Canada.
The newspapers have adapted to new communication technology over the years and most employ the Internet to deliver more immediate news coverage as well as supplement the printed paper with access to supplementary information. Mr. Stevenson doesn’t believe the Internet will ever really replace newspapers, however.
The print media adapted to the advent of radio, they both adapted to the advent of television and now they all adapt to new media. “They just make room for it,” he said. “Newspapers will never die.”
The Anglican Editors Association is meeting at the Holiday Inn, Mactaquac, on the St. John River. Mr. Stevenson’s address included historical information on the river valley and some interesting comments on unique place names, including tributary streams called Skoodawabskooksis and Skoodawabskook. They were made famous in the poem Sweet Maiden of Quoddy by James De Mille, which Mr. Stevenson ably recited.
The editors conference ends Wednesday evening with a final banquet at Trinity Church in Saint John.
