Thanks so much to the 140 senior ministers and 1000-plus readers who have responded to our recent surveys.

I have been personally heartened by the overwhelming support for retaining Southern Cross. Given the options, I actually didn’t expect that level of positive feedback. Details of the survey results will be released in upcoming editions of Southern Cross.

Myself and Allan Dowthwaite, Anglican Media’s CEO, have been trawling through the very many helpful comments and pieces of advice.

We still need to talk in more depth with key stakeholders – including some of our most supportive parishes – to clarify a way forward.

But here is an initial response to five common suggestions made by readers:

1. Why not merge with The Briefing?

I am not sure what my friends Paul Grimmond and Tony Payne at Matthias Media would say about that!
If it’s not obvious, we are separate organisations with different aims.
The Briefing (I believe) is aimed at a particular niche reader across a very wide geography: equipping church leaders across the English-speaking world.
Southern Cross aims to resource a mass audience but serve a local ministry area: equipping the majority of ordinary Sydney Anglican church members for the task of fulfilling the Diocese’s Mission goals.
Its hard to see how you could square those different objectives.
Indeed do senior ministers really want to see Southern Cross move (to put it crassly) into The Briefing’s niche?
Grimmo you can relax! They don’t.
Clearly there are existing publications – such as The Briefing – doing a great job of meeting this need,
We did ask clergy which style of publication would be most effective for resourcing their ministry. The largest number of clergy not only said they preferred the current ‘mass media’ Southern Cross format, and that it was the most effective of all existing communication tools for that purpose.
Only five per cent of senior ministers said they want the Diocese to produce a publication aimed at congregational leaders.
But in saying all this, we are very serious about exploring opportunities to partner with like-minded organisations.

2. Why not just have individual subscriptions?

We already have many individual subscribers. Together with bulk subscriptions outside Sydney Diocese, they represent about seven percent of our readership.
The reason we are reluctant to move to a full subscription basis is that our aim, as mentioned above, is to provide the Diocese with a mass communication tool. Why? Because a ‘mass’ communication strategy – as our research proves – is the best way we can help equip the bulk of lay people for the Mission.
A full subscription service would be a niche publication. Unlike the US, Australian media culture is not one that accepts mass subscription publications.
However these readers are right to suggest that we will need a strategy to grow our subscription base.

3. Why not print in black and white?

Modern printing techniques mean there is no longer a significant cost difference between colour printing and black and white. The drop in advertising revenue that would follow would be far greater than any savings in print cost.

4. Can you save costs by reducing the size?

This is definitely an option. That said, the current tabloid format is actually quite cheap when compared to other options. In fact we have recently discovered the A4 size is more expensive than our existing format because of the set up of large-run printing presses. In the overall mix of costs associated with producing SC, printing is actually the smallest component and getting cheaper due to fierce competition in the industry.

5. Aren’t you printing too many copies?

Getting the right number of copies to each parish has proved tricky. But we don’t want wastage, so let’s see if we can get the parish orders right. Ultimately we rely on senior ministers to order the right number of copies.
Yes, some parishes have leftover copies that get thrown away. But we also have direct evidence that some parishioners are unable to get a copy because their church has not ordered enough and the copies there get snapped up quickly.
That said, reducing waste, while a good thing, will not provide the savings required. Our print run is 23,000 copies and at this volume, our per unit cost is very low.
So in order to ensure you keep receiving Southern Cross, we would prefer parishes order one copy for every household and commit volunteers to handing them out.
In the current environment it might be a case of use it or lose it.