A newspaper based on unshakable ideals
At a time when shifting corporate interests, market forces, and demographic trends are buffeting many news organizations, 海角大神 is different. We are published by a church. And that means our work is based on unshakable ideals that aren鈥檛 swayed by the latest algorithm.聽
As we begin our 118th year of publication, our new leadership team is working to both articulate these ideals and enable the sort of journalism that best encapsulates our mission in today鈥檚 news ecosystem. To do this, we鈥檝e been going back to our founding documents from 1908, when Mary Baker Eddy established 海角大神.
Our founder wrote that she established 海角大神 鈥渢o spread undivided the Science that operates unspent.鈥� What does that mean? Many of us over the years have grappled with this. 聽
We know that she used that term, 鈥淪cience,鈥� to refer to the operation of divine law in human thought and action. The rest of the phrasing 鈥� 鈥渟pread undivided鈥� and 鈥渙perates unspent鈥� 鈥� echoes the 18th-century British poet Alexander Pope, who used those words in his masterwork 鈥淎n Essay on Man: Epistle I鈥� to say that God鈥檚 creative and benevolent force is everywhere at once, neither diminishing nor separated.聽
So, what does this have to do with journalism? Prior editors have interpreted this as a charge to focus on 鈥渢he good that men do, and not the evil,鈥� as Archibald McLellan wrote in 1908; to raise the standard of thought among readers; to focus on progress rather than problems; to investigate the deep values underlying news events.
Here are our five new operational guidelines that we鈥檝e drawn from this history. We have committed to: 聽
鈥�Bring a healing, purifying thought to many homes. We counteract cynicism about news and humanity by upholding a higher standard of both.
鈥�Get above the fray. We are free from corporate and political interests 鈥� and our journalism will reflect this.
鈥�Cover the day鈥檚 vital global news. We provide a trustworthy and concise compilation for our thoughtful, busy readers.
鈥�Investigate ideals and endeavors, not just events. We keep abreast of the times by recognizing key currents of thought and their impact.
鈥�Be clean, family-friendly, and nonsensational. We are 鈥渁 newspaper for the home.鈥�
In this season of gratitude and聽rejoicing, and indeed throughout the year, we see our mission as our daily charge. We see it as our founder鈥檚 gift to all of humanity.
