Episcopal Life launches monthly video ’multicast’

’Episcopal Life Focus’ set to debut September 13

"Episcopal Life Focus" a new monthly half-hour video "multicast" featuring church mission, ministries and news, is scheduled to debut on Thursday, September 13, at 8 p.m. EDT on Episcopal Life Online.

The program will remain available online for on-demand viewing, and for placement on local community access cable stations that make air time available free of charge, said Canon Robert Williams, director of the Episcopal Church’s Communication Office, which is providing the new resource.

"Many clergy and laypersons have commented over time that they would like to see more of the Episcopal Church and its mission, ministries, liturgies and music on television" Williams said. "Episcopal Life Focus is an efficient and low-cost way to begin to create that niche"

Williams said the program is part of the new integrated "Episcopal Life Media" initiative that complements the churchwide monthly newspaper with its "Episcopal Life Online" website, weekday email releases, regular streaming video reports, and weekly inserts for Sunday parish bulletins. Top stories are featured from the Episcopal News Service.

This systematic approach has emerged in consultation with members of Episcopal Life’s advisory board of governors, other media professionals and diocesan communicators, and with imput from a recent readership survey, members of Executive Council, and the Episcopal Church Center senior Management Team, Williams said.

The new multicast joins this effort to strengthen print and electronic communication resources serving Episcopalians and seekers, Williams said, noting that all new programming is provided economically within existing Episcopal Life and communication budgetary resources.

Mike Collins, director of video and multicast communication for the Episcopal Church, is the producer of Episcopal Life Focus. The Rev. Jan Nunley, deputy for communication, will anchor the show and serve as its executive editor. Both have extensive broadcast experience, Collins in production, and Nunley as a former television news reporter and radio producer and commentator.

"The idea for Episcopal Life Focus came out of our nightly closed-circuit and webcast news programs at General Convention in Columbus last summer" Nunley said. "But of course General Convention is a specific event, and we wanted to present more of the day-to-day life and mission of the Episcopal Church. Through this new program, we’ll bring in more voices and visions of the church and the Anglican Communion than we’ve ever been able to do before"

Collins agreed. "With the launch of Episcopal Life Online and the incorporation of regular video coverage, the development of Episcopal Life Focus was the next logical step. We have been working towards a monthly program for the past few years and now have the capability"

Episcopal Life Focus will incorporate news items and human interest features that are about, and are affected by, the Episcopal Church.

No two shows will be alike in content. "The programming is going to vary" Collins explained. "Episcopal Life Focus gives us a chance to explore topics in more detail"

Ongoing programs will continue to be topical, informative and newsworthy, while striking the balance with the human side of the issues, Collins said.

"Our first report is largely focused on the continued plight of New Orleans after the hurricanes" Collins said. "While we will be covering the House of Bishops meeting on Episcopal Life Online, we wanted to use the first edition of Episcopal Life Focus to really show people that things haven’t improved in New Orleans all that much. With a 30-minute program we can do that"

The first program will also preview the upcoming meeting of the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops, set for September 20-25 in New Orleans.

Each monthly program includes a sponsorship opportunity, with the September edition featuring Episcopal Books and Resources.

Inquiries about programming, and requests regarding community access cable placement, should be directed to Collins via email, mcollins@episcopalchurch.org, or by phoning 800-334-7626, ext. 6018.

While Episcopal Life Focus will be based and edited at the Episcopal Chuch Center in New York City, its segments will be taped at varied locations churchwide. The program will not be "New York-centered" the production team assured.

"The Episcopal Church is much broader than that and the content of Episcopal Life Focus will reflect it" Collins said. "We all hope to tell stories that resonate with the wider church"