In my elder’s quorum there was some discussion about the Big Love press release that hinted at the type of effect I think is the whole point of the newsroom to begin with. One brother mentioned how his wife had become worked up over the issue when she received the viral email to boycott HBO. Then, after reading the newsroom announcement, it was “perfect”, “inspired”, and helped them to calm down. But the interesting thing is that this effect was not achieved by inspiring tolerance, understanding, or forgiveness towards those who offend us… it had a calming effect by putting the offense into a persecution context. i.e. The influence of Satan is rampant in the world, and so this sort of thing should be expected (subtext: and folks who don’t “get” us are influenced by Satan).

Now, I’m not saying that is the goal of the Church itself (what is “the Church” anyway?). But I really get the sense from some recent releases that there is a personal voice coming through, and I don’t think of it as someone being a jerk, or that there is necessarily an institutionalized jerkiness. It seems to me that its more like unfiltered zeal, like Peter cutting off the Roman soldier’s ear. Driven by a passionate love, an emotional reaction to the perceived attack on beloved things, but very reactive. This sarcastic article linked in the first NRblog post seems like more of that. The question is, if this is the kind of thing that will make it through the filters and approval of whomever is in charge over there, could it perhaps contribute to an actual perpetuation of nonconstructive reaction because it is being modeled by an official appendage of the church?

“Fast and loose.” I kinda doubt that this will happen–the church is, after all, still my grand-pappy’s church.

If that’s not feasible due to time or bureaucratic constraints, the sidebar suggestion is a good one.

I think it’s a minor miracle that the bloggernacle has retained as much cohesion as it has for five+ years, and, obviously, I’ve invested a lot in it over that span of time.

I have a lot of respect for your opinion, and I do agree that the Newsroom blog has little to gain by pitching itself to such a narrow audience as this. However, I am proud of something about the bloggernacle. With all the quibbling and nit-picking, and even with the occasional contentiousness, I think the the bloggernacle is, hands down, several cuts above the average discourse in blogland. It is jarring to see the kind of name-calling and sarcasm that is so typical of the majority of other sites, and by acknowledging that the ‘nacle isn’t the primary audience, we also seem to be acknowledging that we are preparing to meet the online world on its own terms, using its own methods. I’m wary of anything that looks like a step in that direction, and while I may be a little too hasty to judge using only one post, that is all we have to work with so far, and the beginning is, to say no more, inauspicious.

I’ll be interested to see how things develop going forward.

Linkage (context for linkage)

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Mark B.:

I don’t dispute your analysis, but what exactly does the Newsroom gain by targeting an audience that is know to parse and quibble over every single little thing.

In addition, I would imagine that part of the reason for the blog is to have something to push out in to realms where it can really take off and be read and repeated by members, such as Facebook and Twitter.

It remains to be seen what the editorial strategy and tone of the blog is going to be over time. And I’m certainly not saying that it’s the ideal way to go about accomplishing whatever goals LDS Church Public Affairs has. Or that those goals align with those of most/some of us in the Bloggernacle.

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Sheri Dew:

AMV is open to offers, depending on the dollars involved and the terms of the no-compete clause. Call me.

dumb and inflammatory comments on online Deseret News articles.

Dribble?

SAY WHAT! Stop the presses! Who in tarnation is the target audience?

Wm and Steve, I have no problem with the bloggernacle not being the target of the Newroom blog. My problem is that the first effort looks like it was aimed at people who leave dumb and inflammatory comments on online Deseret News articles.