PUBLICITY FOR THE CHURCH
Sta,—As a member of the Church Assembly Publicity Commission, I was glad to read the comment on our report made by Janus and fully agree with his view that so-called religious news often comes rather low in the scale of news value. The Commission recognised that greater effort must be made to present events in the religious world in ways which are understood and readily usable by editors and their executives, and at hours which suit the demands of their work. The Press Bureau of the Church of England, for example, owing to shortage of staff, only opens at present at 930 a.m., closes at 5.30 p.m., and is also closed at week-ends and during holidays. Often news breaks in the evening or on Sundays, and it is a cause for irritation that, the Press Bureau is not available. There is also the wider question of members of the Anglican Communion being more ready to recognise that, as Janus points out, the editor of a daily paper is always on the look-out for news. This means, in the words of the report, a campaign to create a Press consciousness among the rank and file, extending to the highest dignitaries of the Church.—Yours faithfully, B. S. TOWNROE. Maresfield, Yateley, Camberley, Surrey.
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