Quakers and the press move a little closer
Meeting for Sufferings considers if and how journalists should be allowed into Yearly Meeting sessions
Journalists may be allowed to report on future Yearly Meetings (YM), while texting and blogging in Yearly Meeting business sessions are set to be banned. Meeting for Sufferings gave a cautious thumbs-up to the proposal that outside media be invited to Yearly Meeting, recommending that open sessions should become the norm. However, explained Sufferings’ clerk Susan Seymour, YM Agenda Committee has discerned that live electronic communication during Business Meetings is not appropriate and should not happen.
Opinion among Friends was mixed, with some Quakers concerned that journalists may focus on divisive quotes during discernment and fail to understand the way Quaker Business Method works. ‘You can’t observe a Quaker Business Meeting’, said one Friend, explaining that all those attending are part of the process. Another noted that ‘for some Friends to speak at YM is very difficult, particularly if what they say is going against the trend’ and worried that the presence of reporters may discourage them further.
However, other Friends urged more openness. One cited a recent conversation in which he had been told: ‘Oh, that’s typical of Quakers – they’re always doing things secretly and behind people’s backs’. Such myths needed dispelling, he said; other Friends agreed, reassuring Sufferings that ‘you’re not throwing yourself to the wolves when you speak to a journalist’.
Proposals to restrict entry to religious correspondents or to offer introductions to Quaker Business Method to reporters were dismissed as unrealistic by one journalist Friend. ‘They won’t have time to come to an introductory session’, she said, adding that the media relations office in Friends House could provide briefings and press releases if required.
Things are different in the age of the internet, Friends argued, and decisions will be covered anyway online. ‘Most of the blogs [about this summer’s same sex marriage decision] were by very sincere and committed Friends’, said one member of Sufferings. ‘Don’t think for a moment that you won’t be reported on just because the print media aren’t there.’
Sufferings’ recommendation will be forwarded to YM in session, which will make a final decision.
For more news from Meeting for Sufferings, see Equality Bill raises hopes of a religious character for civil partnership ceremonies and New ways to tackle Quaker giving.
