Media-savvy Welby’s troubled relationship with the press
Vice-Chair of Christians In Media, Bex Chapman, writes reflections on Justin, the current mess and the media.
Never before have there been so many articles, so many broadcasts, so many social media posts and podcasts, in such a short time period about an archbishop. The sort of cut through that in so many other circumstances a church leader might dream of. But the whole of the six days from Makin’s publication to the point of the Archbishop’s resignation, must instead have felt like a waking nightmare. Enough to set fear into the heart of many a church leader, looking afresh at their own heart, and their own history. The Makin report describes appalling abuse, leaving many asking ‘have I any sins of omission’, or if there is mistakenly anything left undone. We are all human, flawed and failing.
A letter in The Times described what has now happened to the Archbishop who admitted his own failings as ‘a media frenzy over historical and horrific abuses by a former colleague’. Over in the Church Times, Andrew Brown suggested readers ‘might remember that a media mob for Jesus is still a media mob’ and felt that much of the reporting had been poorly done; ‘the facts were just bundled away when they held up the narrative’. If the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom – how can we ensure that fear of the media doesn’t become the beginning of the end for the church having a voice in public life?
Was the media to blame for Justin’s resignation? Was it the headlines, the news reels, the blog posts, the TikToks… maybe it was the online petition which ended up at around 15,000 signatures. Did Cathy Newman ultimately bring down the Archbishop with her original Channel 4 story in 2017 that brought attention to Smyth’s abuses and was imperative in the review being commissioned? Perhaps with her interview done days before Makin was even expected to be published, sending planned printing schedules for so many in the Christian world out of the window. She was a journalist, doing her job brilliantly, bringing the truth to light by asking challenging, informed questions on camera. But coverage soon snowballed. From new interviewees on the subject daily on Radio Four, building to eventual blanket coverage on the day prior to Welby’s resignation.
At the heart of this story was the issue of Church of England safeguarding. What safeguarding there had been (and devastatingly, had not been), where safeguarding is now, and where it now needs to get to. An independent, separate, safeguarding organisation for the church has been mooted on and off now for several years. But you cannot pop a photo of a safeguarding report or policy change easily onto your front page. Concepts do not make for good coverage. What you need is a name. A person. Cathy Newman has said that as she initially investigated the Smyth abuse, she knew she needed to persuade a victim ‘to go on camera to give our film more impact’. Later, she and her impressively nimble cameraman lay in wait for Smyth to enable them to capture ‘a surprisingly protracted interview on the hoof’. The pitch to an editor, the final piece, will need a public face. The Archbishop understands that ‘good stories hang around people. Last week, that person, that face was his own.
Welby has been intentionally brave in his approach to the media throughout his archiepiscopy. He enjoys interviews, although he says they make him nervous. At the Religion and Media Centre’s conference last June, he spoke about the modern media landscape, and how he understood that in an age of ‘misinformation, distraction, and the competition of noise with truth, it is ever more difficult for journalists to do their job’. He was looking forward to not having to deal with the media one day, he said, looking forward to a retirement where he could ‘read the paper without worrying about whether I'll see my own name in any context at all’.
He also reflected on what it felt like to be at the centre of a media pile-on. ‘Very uncontrolled, there’s nothing you can do about it, except stick your head down, and wait and see what happened’. He wondered if in such situations there was ‘an absence of forgiveness, and absence of redemption’. As someone who has written about him a lot over the past week, I pray that none of my pieces have made him feel that way. What do you do when there is a media frenzy around someone – when is it your job to pray and then pitch, and when to pray and stay silent? Are you adding a new view, a different take – or simply fuelling the frenzy? Where is the line between a moment in the spotlight and a media mob?
For many of us working in the media the Makin review has made for difficult, harrowing reading. But our job is to shine a light into everywhere that truths need to be revealed, and evil exposed. Even in the church. Perhaps especially in the church. One priest told the Makin reviewers ‘I thought it would do the work of God immense damage if this were public.’ Lord, have mercy. God doesn’t need our cover-ups to protect him from damage. He is the way, the truth and the light. He is the ultimate good news story.
Jesus confounds the adage in PR that when you become the story, it is time to quit. Justin Welby did not. Without the media, it seems unlikely that the Archbishop’s resignation would have happened. It is unprecedented to resign in this way. Welby is the first Archbishop who has used email as his primary form of communication. It is only since he has been in post that Lambeth Palace has been using social media. The reach this has given him has been incredible. The places he has been able to go, virtually, and share the gospel. But this reward has come with huge risks. His every statement has been recorded and analysed. Some of Makin’s report, when compared with Cathy Newman’s multiple interviews, or conversations with LBC, just don’t match up terribly well. What of this is about having a poor memory, and what is about moral leadership? And whose job is it to judge, and execute that?
In the Spectator, Charles Moore worried that the consequence of Welby’s resignation ‘will not be mass repentance, but a Church which everyone is too scared to lead’. Or at least, too scared to do media interviews. What a loss that would be. (Not just for those of us trying to make a living from it!). Why did Welby engage with the media so much? He explained it last year by saying ‘the greatest single reason is that Christian faith claims truth. For Christians, truth is not a concept. It is a person. Jesus, not an idea’. We will struggle to put his face on the front pages. Instead, how can we find a way to show the world that although the church – the body of Christ – is full of flawed people, they are people who live in a God-created community, with a hope in him. We ought not to fear headlines, however hard that feels. God has given us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. Whether we work for a faith-based organisation, or in and with the media. Or both.
Previously published in the Church of England Newspaper Media-savvy Welby’s troubled relationship with the press - The Church of England Newspaper
