CHURCH-PRESS RELATIONS

Press, Volume C, Issue 29518, 20 May 1961, Page 9

CHURCH-PRESS RELATIONS

Workshop In City On May 25

To help members of church congregations and organisations in the city write reports of church news and opinions for newsoapers and journals, the Christchurch branch of the National Council of Churches will hold a press relations workshop on May 25. This will be the first such workshop organised by the branch, although the Seventh Day Adventist Church organised one for its own members previously. Members of all organisations affiliated to the National Council of Churches have already received invitations and it is expected that more than 30 clergymen, laymen and church members will attend.

Lectures on journalism will be given by Mr George Burns, editor of the “Christchurch Star,” and by Mr P. M. Smith, editor of the Presbyterian Church journal, “Outlook.”

Those present will write reports which will be checked and criticised by Messrs Burns and Smith. The workshop was suggested by the executive secretary of the branch (the Rev. C. R. Sprackett), who organised the programme. Mr Sprackett said yesterday he believed the venture would provide a unique opportunity for those present to examine more closely the relations between the press and the church in the city.