Two ingredients mixed together to create a mostly accurate and fair portrayal of the LDS Church during the Olympics?a media expecting to find a quirky and stodgy society and church officials curtailing proselytizing practices downtown.
This is the conclusion of a panel discussion held Tuesday on the effect of worldwide media attention during the Games.
Four panelists, three reporters and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ communication office, all agreed that, for the most part, the international press treated the church fairly and accurately in the thousands of stories written during the Olympics.
“Members of that church were not seen as being pushy, they were seen as being helpful,” said Carrie Moore, religion editor for the Deseret News. “Frankly, they had a very good public relations effort.”
The LDS Church took considerable effort to craft a strong public relations campaign, according to Michael Otterson, a member of the church’s public affairs office.
“We were not about to sit back and wait for the avalanche to arrive,” he said.
The campaign centered around three directives from church President Gordon B. Hinckley?be a good host, create a proselytizing-free zone and create a legacy of good will in the community.
“The church was best remembered for what it didn’t do than for what it did do,” said Peggy Fletcher-Stack, religion editor for The Salt Lake Tribune. “During the Games reporters mentioned that ‘oh my heck, they are not trying to sell us anything. What do we write now?'”
Stack believes the misconceptions and outlandish expectations of some reporters helped Utah and the LDS Church garner positive stories.
“I think having low expectations, even critical expectations, helped the coverage,” she said. “It was a media bonanza for the church.”
Howard Berkes, a reporter for National Public Radio, was surprised to find so many reporters with wild misconceptions who, once they started investigating their stories, kept open minds.
Otterson responded to a criticism from the audience that curtailing proselytizing presents the world with a false view of the LDS Church by saying that the church already keeps a small missionary contingent in Utah.
“It was a very minor adjustment,” he said.
Berkes said stopping proselytizing was an act of proselytizing itself.
“The fact that reporters came away with what they did provides the same result,” Berkes said.
Stack finds it valid to refer to the Games as the Mormon Olympics because “there was very little mention of the other people who live here.”
In Germany alone, reporters filed more than 6,600 stories that referred to the LDS Church and the church’s media center received 1,324 visitors and well more than 2,000 phone calls from reporters, most of which resulted in accurate reports.
“By and large we are looking back at the Games very relieved,” Otterson said.