Current Standard subscribers to get new magazine

Common Call

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DALLAS—Although Baptist Standard Publishing will change its news and information delivery system in January, subscribers' service will not be interrupted.

The 124-year-old news organization will convert its news journal, the Baptist Standard, to an electronically delivered digital publication. Simultaneously, it will launch an inspirational monthly magazine, CommonCall.

"Current subscribers to the printed edition of the Baptist Standard will begin receiving CommonCall in January," Editor Marv Knox explained. "They won't have to do a thing. Standard subscriptions automatically will roll over to CommonCall subscriptions."

To further maintain continuity, the subscription rate will not change from 2012 to 2013, he said. Individual subscription rates will remain at $24, and church-purchased subscriptions still will be $16.

"But our subscribers will get a bonus, because each subscriber to CommonCall magazine will be entitled to two free subscriptions to the digital edition of the Baptist Standard," Knox reported.

"Our two-for-one subscription offer—two free digital Standard subscriptions for each paid CommonCall—reflects our desire to be fair and helpful to our readers," he said.

"Many of our subscribers are married couples, and most of them don't read their email (the delivery mechanism for the digital Standard) on the same device. So, each wife and husband will receive an individual subscription to the Standard delivered wherever they receive email."

The news organization will leave assignment of those digital subscriptions up to the individual subscriber, he added. For example, a single subscriber may choose to keep one digital subscription and provide the email address of a friend or family member for the second subscription. Or a reader who does not receive email may assign both subscriptions to others.

"Who receives the digital Standard subscriptions is the CommonCall reader's decision," he said. "Our desire is to provide our readers with a great value and continuity of service, as well as to spread the news of God's work among Baptists as far and wide as possible."


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Knox acknowledged he has received some expressions of subscriber concern since readers learned about CommonCall and the digital Standard in the Sept. 17 edition of the newspaper.

"One reader wrote and said she doesn't like to read articles on her computer, so she doesn't plan to read the digital Standard," he said.

"We appreciate her concern, but we hope every current subscriber will give us an email address and try the new digital Standard. We're going to use the latest technology, and the reading experience will be like nothing you have seen so far. We're intentionally making the reading experience as easy and helpful as possible.

"We even plan to tighten up and write shorter articles, so 'reader fatigue' won't set in."

And some current readers do not receive email and will not be able to receive the digital Standard, he admitted.

"That's one reason we're launching CommonCall—so every subscriber will continue to receive information about and for Texas Baptists," Knox explained.

"If it weren't confusing, we could have called the new magazine 'Baptist Standard's Greatest Hits.' Every month, it will include the material our readers and pastors tell us they like best. We're talking about heart-warming human-interest stories, articles about missions and ministries, and information about 'what works' in churches."

Plus, CommonCall magazine will include several popular features carried over from the current newspaper—information about pastoral moves, a column by theologian Jim Denison, obituaries and classified ads. And it will publish a one-page digest of recent news.

Knox also pointed out "the elephant in the room" that has impacted Baptist Standard readership for several decades.

"We know many pastors and laypeople have been squeamish about the Standard's coverage of conflict and other unpleasantness within our denomination," he said. "Many churches and individuals have cancelled their subscriptions because they don't want to read about it.

"So, while we make no apology for fulfilling our sacred duty to 'tell the truth and trust the people,' we're designing CommonCall to be a feature-oriented, uplifting publication. Readers who don't want to read about denominational conflict and political infighting won't have to worry about seeing that in CommonCall."

The news company will extend its legacy for thorough news coverage of Baptist life in the digital Baptist Standard, he said. But since the "Baptist battles" abated years ago, such coverage has not been and will not be a prominent feature of the digital edition.


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