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Olympics were good for LDS, panel says
No-proselytizing decision called a real plus for church
By Jerry Johnston
Deseret News staff writer
Nice guys finish first.
That was the opinion of a panel of members of the local media convened Tuesday for a discussion of "Olympic Media Coverage of Mormonism" at the University of Utah. Scheduled to go an hour, the session ran for almost two as several dozen students, faculty and members of the community peppered the five participants with comments and questions.
Louise Degn of the U. Department of Communications moderated the panel. She was joined by Howard Berkes of National Public Radio, Carrie Moore from the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune's Peggy Fletcher Stack and Michael Otterson, a public-affairs official for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"We were very relieved and very pleased at the way the church was perceived and the way the community was perceived," Otterson began. He said the church went into the Games looking to implement President Gordon B. Hinckley's injunction to "be good hosts" and "create a legacy of good will in the community." And the church did that by trying to anticipate needs and questions.
All agreed that the LDS Church's decision to restrain from overtly proselytizing during the Games was key in creating a positive impression of the LDS Church members during the Games.
Stack said her research showed that the most popular LDS subject during the Games was the Tabernacle Choir. Dozens of stories were written about the group. The scenic combination of the LDS Temple, with the state Capitol in the background, was thought to be the most popular visual image.
During the Games, said Moore, "Utahns liked who they were. They said, 'We can play.' And the media validated that."
Most of the questions were directed at Otterson, since having an official LDS representative at such informal occasions is rare. He said the church did not "sit back and wait for the avalanche to arrive" but took a proactive approach. It created a content-rich Web site and made selected visits to media outlets. The church was "decisive," he said.
Other comments from the audience examined the corporate image of the LDS Church, saying several times that President Hinckley had been described as the CEO of the religion. Another wondered if the "no-proselytizing" stand actually gave a distorted impression of what the LDS Church was really about.
Also, for most reporters, "it was the Mormon Games," said Stack, "with very little mention of other people who lived here."
Despite such concerns, however, the consensus was that the church left a positive impression on the minds of most visitors. And apart from a few misguided stories — Otterson mentioned one that said the Tabernacle Choir would boycott the opening ceremonies because of SLOC's position on condoms and another that said Mormons skewered the pairs figure-skating results in favor of the Canadians because of the Russians' sexy outfits — the panel agreed the coverage had been fair. Berkes said one French journalist kept calling him because he was expected to write a controversial piece about Salt Lake City but couldn't find anything to ridicule.
For a complete picture, "we need to let a year go by," said Otterson. "But there has been a shift in perception, and I think that shift is permanent."
Then he quoted historian Jan Shipps about the Mormons and the Games.
"If stereotypes were glass," she wrote, "we'd have glass shards all over the ground."
E-MAIL: jerjohn@desnews.com
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March 16, 2002
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