There is absolutely no pattern as to how Americas religious denominations formally make information available to the media. Some faiths their leaders and their PR people are hidden under the proverbial bushel basket, certainly uninterested in public perception or positioned to tell their stories when asked.
Much of it stems from pure distrust of media. Much of it is systemic: There is a low priority for publicity or public perception. Some of it is simply having too much else to do to take time to get the word out to the world of what they are doing. Some denominations have regional media relations personnel, but they tend to be folks who are reactive (ready in crisis) but do little, on a regular basis, to tout what is going on among their congregations.
Of course, weak national and regional media operations filter down to their congregations where a media presence is virtually nonexistent. Few congregations are intentional about designating someone to prepare news releases (paper or electronic) to showcase what is going on and what the greater community might want to know. If they have Web sites, many of the sites grow stale with information and lack freshness or updating.
Getting news out about a congregation is a seemingly chore for many. At best, someone volunteers or the pastors administrative assistants pass on to media what it also running in the monthly newsletter. Some churches and synagogues contract with marketing and public relations firms to promote their ministries and programs and provide their press relations. I have had good and bad experiences with those arrangements.
Stakes and wards of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are surely weak at developing information for public releases. It is spotty and sketchy typically just information produced by volunteers on their own about upcoming events. (Try to call an LDS church building during the week and find someone there. If there is, he or she doesnt answer the phone.)
Catholic parishes and Mormon wards are bleak places to call for information in general. In both instances, staff (if you find someone) is trained to refer all calls to the diocese or the regional spokesman, respectively. It doesnt matter how innocuous and non-controversial the matter may be. People at parish offices typically arent about to talk or find someone in the office who can.
Nope they send you downtown, to the voice that speaks for all. Too often denominational spokesmen have to backtrack to the parish or ward or church office to become the reporter and gather the information that we in the media could have gotten from there in the first place if they werent muzzled.
Of course, it comes down to training and trust: Have staff that can confidently talk about what they already know about and trust from hierarchy that they will tell the story accurately. It may also come down to control ensuring that only the company line be told.
This week, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent me its thick 2008 Church Almanac 672 pages of details on the church, with massive space telling about the church operations in the 50 states and more than 160 countries. It is published by the Deseret Morning News in Salt Lake City, the church-owned daily newspaper. The almanac underscores how assiduous the church is at compiling its information with data on membership in each state and country along with narratives. Lots of leadership history and milestones in the churchs development.
For
Arizona, the Almanac says there are 361,817 members, 658 wards, 83 stakes, 82 branches, four missions and two temples. It notes that before the first temple was built in Mesa in 1927, Mormons had to go to St. George, Utah, for temple ceremonies. The route had been known as The Honeymoon Trail. The almanac also notes that the
Mesa temple was the first of the Mormon temple to undergo a rededication, because it had to be remodeled and expanded in 1975. It notes that the states second temple, one in Snowflake, was dedicated in 2002.
Data shows that in 1930, Arizona had 18,732 Mormons. Fifty years later, in 1980, there were 171,880 members. The population has more than doubled in the past 28 years. One in 17 Arizonans is Mormon, it reports. Only Utah (one in 1.4), Idaho (one in four), Wyoming (one in nine) and Nevada (one in 14) have stronger Mormon ratios.
The almanac was presumably published before the death on Jan. 27 of church President/Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley. Its cover features a photo of him and his two counselors at the time, Thomas S. Monson and Henry B. Eyring.
Being open to the Press implies Accountability and Transparency, important to a healthy vibrant church, but sorely lacking in most Catholic Dioceses. And publishing the TRUTH is viewed as being anti-catholic by hierarchy.