Dead Christians Society

Susan Wharton Gates, in a 1998 public-policy oriented dissertation on Sheldon’s In His Steps, describes Sheldon’s famous “Jesus Newspaper” like this:

“Second to Tennesseetown, Sheldon’s other well-known (but less enduring) experiment was to run a Christian daily newspaper successfully for one week. Journalistic integrity was close to his heart and he had complained enough about ‘yellow journalism’ to cause one newspaper owner to take him on. As part of a well-pitched public relations campaign, the Topeka Daily Capital agreed to give him full reins of the paper for one week. He could do as he pleased—and the world would see once and for all if Christian principles could be applied to the pagan world of journalism and still turn a profit. The effort has been cited as the ‘best-publicized experiment of the entire social gospel era.’

“In January 1900, the new owner of the Capital announced the unprecedented venture: for the week of March 13 later that year, the author of In His Steps, by then published in the millions, would edit the eight-page paper for one week. During the next three months, a blitz of new subscriptions poured in; brilliantly, Sheldon-adoring youth, members of the national ecumenical Christian Endeavor Society, were enlisted to sell subscriptions, keeping a fraction of the proceeds for their local chapters. As anticipated circulation mounted, extra presses in Chicago, New York and England were engaged. Compared to the Capital’s average circulation of around 11,000 in 1899, circulation during Sheldon week exceeded 360,000.

“While low on content, Sheldon having forbidden sensational reporting, distasteful ads (or those whose claims could not be validated), prize-fight coverage and partisan news, the Christian daily showcased a tight code of journalistic ethics. Bylines were used and the masthead displayed every employee’s name down to the janitor. Reporters were instructed to not press for an interview beyond a first refusal. Furthermore, they were obliged to obtain written permission to use an interview and show the subject the final article before going to press. Slang was out—as was reporting on theater. Crime was downplayed, the extra space devoted to moralizing about how the crime might have been prevented. Even the society page took a beating when a reporter was sent out to investigate how society matrons frittered away money in trivial afternoon pursuits.

“While successful by some measures, the experiment—not surprisingly—was derided in the secular press. His greatest support came from fellow-gospeler, Washington Gladden, who praised Sheldon for downplaying ‘gossip and rumor and scandal and the disgusting details of vice and crime…there are thousands of bright and beautiful things which would be the best kind of news if the reporters were trained to look for them.’”