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The United Methodist Reporter, whose publishing corporation closed down May 31, will continue as a digital resource, thanks to the vision and prompt action of a trio of church entrepreneurs in Nashville, TN.
CircuitWriter Media LLC, a fledgling corporation being chartered in Texas, announced June 5 that it has made an agreement with Dallas-based UMR Communications, Inc., to purchase the Reporter's digital rights and assets. These asserts include the website UnitedMethodistReporter.com, the Reporter's Facebook and Twitter accounts, and accompanying digital archives and subsidiary domain names.
The sale does not include UMR's corporate website, umportal.com. That site will be transferred to United Methodist Communications because some annual conferences and local congregations use it as their websites' landing page.
Principals in the new corporation are three Nashville-based United Methodist online media veterans: the Rev. Jay Voorhees, senior pastor of Old Hickory United Methodist Church; Charles W. Harrison, and Gavin Richardson. According to the new firm's press release, Richardson and Voorhees are the co-founders and publishers of The MethoBlog (www.methoblog.com), a site that aggregates content from more 300 Methodist-oriented bloggers. Richardson owns and operates TheYouthworker Circuit (www.youthworkercircuit.com), which provides resources for youth ministry in the Wesleyan tradition, and has been a speaker throughout the country on the intersection between technology and ministry. Harrison is the CEO of CYMX and The Youthworker Movement, both of which have maintained award-winning websites (www.CYMX.org and www.youthworkermovement.org).
In an extended telephone interview June 6 with United Methodist Insight, Rev. Voorhees explained that the lightning effort to save the Reporter as a online resource emerged after its publisher, UMR Communications Inc., announced that 166-year-old publishing ministry would close May 31.
"Gavin Richardson served on the UMR Board, and helped make the decision to shut it down," Rev. Voorhees explained. "He called me when the announcement came out and we talked about how bad everyone felt at losing this vital independent connection. We started talking with Charles, and literally within 24 hours we had sketched out a business plan to offer to the executive committee charged with shutting down the ministry."
The spokesman emphasized that Richardson's participation on the UMR Board didn't give CircuitWriter Media an "insider trading" advantage to buying the digital Reporter.
"Gavin never said anything to us about the possibility of UMR closing until after the announcement was made," Rev.Voorhees said. "It was only when we began talking about what a loss it was, and how many people said they would miss it, that we said, 'What can we do?'"
Rev. Voorhees said that UMR's executive committee presented the trio's offer to the entire board and that the sale of the digital assets was approved June 5. "We wrote a memorandum of understanding and there we were," he said.
In response to UM Insight's question, Rev. Voorhees declined to specify the amount that CircuitWriter Media will pay UMR for the digital Reporter. He acknowledged that the amount would not be sufficient to pay severance to the 26 remaining employees who lost their jobs, which UMR Publisher Alan Heath had said was a major regret at the publishing ministry's demise.
According to the press release, The United Methodist Reporter and The MethoBlog will become divisions of CircuitWriter Media LLC, and will continue to operate with different functions. "The MethoBlog will continue to provide the aggregated sum of blogger-shared commentary, while the United Methodist Reporter will continue as a curated site focused on United Methodist news and commentary,'" the release stated.
Advertising sales and technical management will be centralized across the two platforms. Rev. Voorhees said that former UMR advertising manager Cherrie Graham of Dallas, TX, has been contracted to sell ads for CircuitWriter Media, he added. In addition, the partners also plan to offer a digital news digest by subscription to annual conferences and congregations.
The new digital Reporter won't have a central physical location, but will be operated "from wherever we are with our computers," said Rev. Voorhees.
"One of the reasons we think we can make this work is because we don't have the kind of overhead that UMR Communications had, being anchored in printing," Rev. Voorhees told UM Insight. "It's sad that UMR is one of the casualties of the downfall of the print industry, but that's the fact."
CircuitWriter Media plans to hire a part-time editor to curate the site, Rev. Voorhees said. Editorial content will be gathered from a mix of paid and volunteer writers in both news and commentary. The spokesman said that the Reporter's new owners intend to invite some of the former newspaper columnists to write for the digital publication, but that they also hope to "skew toward a younger audience" with the online publication. He also said that an editorial advisory board is being assembled to help with content.
Rev. Voorhees laughed when asked how CircuitWriter Media intends to continue the Reporter's editorial independence, given its partners' institutional connections to The United Methodist Church.
"Nobody in the church intimidates me," he said. "We intend to proceed with honesty and integrity and hold the church accountable. If we need to confront bishops with tough questions, we will. That's our goal, to maintain the independence and connection that have been the Reporter's value to the church. It's our respect for the Reporter name and brand.
"We think we're asking right questions with the new business model," Rev. Voorhees said. "We just don’t have all answers yet."