Mormon Media Symposium

The I’m a Mormon Campaign: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going

Brandon Burton, Parry Merkley, Ron Wilson

In a fascinating presentation on the recent popularity of the ‘I’m a Mormon’ campaign, members of Bonneville Communications and the LDS Church’s Missionary Department explained the origin of the groundbreaking idea and the ultimate goal of the new digital movement. 

            With the re-launch of the Mormon.org website in July of 2010, the site now reaches 18 different countries, over 28 million views, 120 English profile videos with 80 more in production, and now translated into 20 different language.   Pioneering the concept of showing instead of telling what we believe, the new campaign has been immensely successful.  In previous Church websites, the basic doctrine of the Church was explained in a simple format with not much variance. 

With the re-launch of Mormon.org, they took a huge risk in completely changing up the format the Church had previously operated, basing this new strategy off of the fact that when someone knows a Mormon personally, they are much more likely to have a warmer perception of the Church.

            The Church has always been very progressive in using different media platforms (such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter so forth) and has been since the beginnings of the Church.  Profiling its everyday members was a very new concept, and was immensely popular not only among non-Mormons, but Mormons themselves. 

Adding to the “one-on-one” relationship with the Church’s members, Mormon.org also added the  “profile” element to the site.  Any member of the Church can create a profile, answering some simple questions about the Church and some basic background information, and then sharing it to whomever visits the site.  With over 110,000 public profiles, and 100,000 more not yet published, the public profiles section of the site has become a huge tool. 

The Church tries to keep the integrity of each profile by only having 2 screening processes: one that takes out any excessive personal information for safety, and also checks if doctrine is correct- trying to dispel myths not create more.  Thus, with spelling errors and all, each profile is deeply personal and unique to those who created it, enabling viewers to connect to the Church at a different level.  

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Its a scary thing when you all you hear in the news is how the news is going down.  Not a very good sign.  And when such a factor like Watchdog Journalism begins to slip, you know it's trouble from there. Throughout the history of journalism, many reporters have taken the role of "protector" to it's citizens, a very admirable and well appreciated job.  But when people like Victor Neufeld say things like,  “Our obligation is not to deliver the news. Our obligation is to do good programming,” you begin to wonder where the future really is taking us.  

I believe that the "watchdog" role of journalism is one of it's most redeeming qualities.  Take examples like Watergate, 60 Minutes, and reporters such as Nelly Blye and Upton Sinclair.  They all had one goal in mind: protect the people and reveal the true information.  

In the digital age, yes- information is widely avaialable to every type of person, unlike 50 years ago, and some may say the need for this "watchdog" role is lessened.  But I believe it is the exact opposite.  With so many people capable of posting whatever they want online for everyone to see, with no kind of fact checking or screening, the need for these "watchdogs" is at an all time high.  (Click here for a great relating article.) Already websites have stepped into that role (such as Medill Watchdog) but there is a need for many more. 

It was just yesterday that me and my friends heard a rumor from the recent election we wanted to fact check. We turned to the internet, and though we found countless number of acrticles in support of it, it wasn't on our preferred "trusttworthy" newsource, so it automatically lost credibility.  It's these kind of establishments that will keep the integrity of the industry, and without them, I'm afraid of what that future may become.