Please join me in extending a warm and enthusiastic welcome to EpiScope, the first of what I am told will be several Episcopal Church-sponsored blogs.
The mission of EpiScope is to track references to the Episcopal Church in the mainstream media online, correct inaccuracies and misrepresentations in news stories, opinion pieces, and other blogs–a.k.a. rumor control,
provide links to full documentation and source material for those corrections, provide a monitored forum for public discussion of substantive issues raised by stories and opinion pieces and provide a monitored forum for designated Episcopal News Service and Episcopal Life writers (and church program officers) to interact more directly with the wider Church and public.
We’ve needed something like this for a long time, and I am delighted that the Church has realized the importance of attempting to stem the tide of misinformation unleashed against it on a daily basis.
For an example of which, check out this lopsided Washington Times story. It could have been written by Martyn Minns press agent. Why do you figure that the self-proclaimed orthodox Christians rely so heavily on a paper owned by a man who claims to be the Messiah? I guess the lesson here is that if you get a call from Natasha Altamirano, who seems to be filling in while Julia Duin is on leave, you shouldn’t be in any hurry to call back.