October 23, 2000

Georgia newspaper's board prohibits ads, coverage of CBF
___ATLANTA--Trustees of the Christian Index have instructed the Georgia Baptist newspaper's editor not to accept advertisements from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship or publish news items about CBF that could be construed as promotional in nature.
___To publish anything about the national moderate Baptist organization--which is based in Atlanta--the editor must get permission from either the Index board chairman or the executive director of the Georgia Baptist Convention. Such an exception may be granted only "when it is deemed necessary and helpful for Georgia Baptists to have certain information," the policy states.
___The new policy was adopted unanimously by the Index board, according to a column in the Index's Oct. 12 issue written by Robert White, executive director of the state convention. White sits on the newspaper's board by virtue of office.
___White compared the restriction on news and advertising content to the corporate world.
___"Delta Air Lines does not publish company news for United Air Lines, because, though they are in the same business, they are vying for the same dollars," he explained. "They know that the travel consumer dollar for a ticket to Denver will be spent only one time. Since Delta wants that traveler to choose Delta, the company will not spend one dime to promote United's flights to Denver."
___White links support for the Georgia Baptist Convention to support for the Southern Baptist Convention.
___Since CBF is perceived to be in competition with the SBC, it also is in competition with the Georgia convention, he explains.
___His column does not address the matter of churches that have remained loyal to the Georgia Baptist Convention while choosing to support CBF instead of or in addition to supporting the SBC.

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