Elise Soukup works as an Assistant Editor for Newsweek Magazine. She recently authored a cover story on the LDS Church and Joseph Smith for the magazine, titled
Mormon Odyssey. You can buy the issue at newstands everywhere. Elise is an active member of the Church, and lives in Manhattan.
First of all, congratulations on such a visible accomplishment in journalism. How did it feel to find out you’d be writing the Newsweek cover, and have things gotten any busier since then?
Thank you very much. I can say that this has been a particularly crazy week; I’m not usually scheduling my day around radio–and Mormon blog–interviews.
Since the article was published, what kinds of reactions have you heard from Mormons in general? Any response from the Church, officially or un-? Any Evangelical backlash?
Oh, I’ve gotten angry letters on both sides, as you might imagine. Some Mormons say that I misrepresented the facts to make Smith look like a scoundrel; some non-Mormons think I was too soft on the church. Moroni told Smith that his name should be had for good and evil–and I’m beginning to understand what that feels like! But I’ve gotten a lot of positive responses as well. The church released this statement:
The depiction of the First Vision on the cover of one of the world’s best-known news magazines is a noteworthy acknowledgment of Joseph Smith as the Prophet of the Restoration at the approach of his 200th birthday. We appreciate Newsweek’s effort to bring this remarkable story and its implications to the attention of their readers. It was said of Joseph Smith that his name would be known for good and evil throughout the world. While people will debate and quibble over some of the details and interpretations in the magazine, the Newsweek articles are another indication of the increasing recognition of the unparalleled contributions of this extraordinary man to our understanding of God’s plan for His children.
I don’t know about the Evangelical reaction because people don’t usually disclose their religion when they write in.
What can you tell us about how this story originated? Rumor has it the story was your idea– how did you pitch it? How hard a sell was it, given Newsweek’s other fairly recent coverage of the Church?
You’re right. I pitched the idea. Being LDS myself, I knew that it was the 200th anniversary of Smith’s birth. I think that Smith is such a fascinating person–and not just to Mormons. Not only did he found a new and growing religion, but he had such an eventful life: he ran for president, had multiple wives and was shot by an angry mob while jailed. The response from my editors about the article was always positive. They were pleased with the 2001 story from the Olympics, so I didn’t meet resistance when I pitched the Smith idea.
Did you find it a challenge to make Joseph Smith appear relevant to your readers?
No, I really didn’t. He was born 200 years ago, but I think his story still resonates with people today. That part of the job was easy.
In your live talk, you mentioned several things that didn’t make the article– such as conversations with Grant Palmer and Jan Shipps– partially because the topics discussed were too “inside baseball”. Any interesting unpublished tidbits from your research that you’d share with a well-read Mormon audience?
Hmmm… good question. I like to think that I put the most exciting and relevant responses in! But you’re right–there were things that I and my editors chose to leave out because of space or because, as I stated above, they were too “inside baseball.” For the first reason, I’m not going to go into all of those here. But I will tell you that my initial, unedited, way-too-long draft included discussion of issues raised in Palmer’s book “An Insiders View of Mormon Origins,” questions about Smith’s translating abilities and the LDS response (the Egyptian papyri, the Kinderhook plates, etc.), a discussion of blacks and the priesthood and more about polygamy. I never even tried to sneak this in, but I did get to see Elvis’ Book of Mormon at the church archives. (Well, they believe it to be Elvis’, but have never really authenticated that claim.) I got a huge kick out of that.
Would you comment on your experience interviewing President Hinckley and other Apostles? You mentioned in the Deseret News that you found it a bit awkward to ask the tough questions of your spiritual leader. Given his P.R. background, I expect he understood your position, but I’d love to know how you and he navigated the conversation.
Oh, he was very understanding. I think the only awkwardness came from me! It’s just a little scary to walk into a room and ask your spiritual leader if, for example, his revelations are “convenient.” But he didn’t shy from any of the questions. Neither did Elder Oaks or Elder Holland and I really hit them with the hardest ones.
I was impressed with your response to one reader who questioned your objectivity based on your membership in the church. You mentioned that writers often write about what they know- including the gay author of a recent issue’s cover story about gay teens. I’d be interested in hearing you flesh out your take on why that has been a criticism. Do you wonder if this focus on your objectivity would be brought up if it were a Catholic or Jewish writer writing about their respective religions?
I don’t want to speculate about that. I will only say that I had several senior editors work with me all along the way and none of them were Mormon. None of us tried to make the article “positive” or “negative.” I’d say that we were respectful and tried to outline the controversial issues in an even-handed way.
You closed your article with a side of Mormonism that is often missed in this kind of piece– the social network, the meals for new mothers, help with moving, and home teaching. Faced with cutting out many paragraphs of more sexy/controversial material, what made you feel like this was important enough to make it into the final cut?
Are you saying that visiting teaching //isn’t// sexy? But your question is a good one. As you mention, the Relief Society organizing meals for new mothers isn’t the kind of thing that is usually mentioned by the mainstream press. But I think that kind of institutional service is genuinely interesting to people not of the faith. But with that said, when I initial wrote the final draft, I left that part out because there was so little space. Right before it went to press, a top editor had the designers re-work the layout to make room for it because he felt it was important to note.
What’s the best new thing you learned about Joseph Smith?
Oh, everything. Before I came to this project, I didn’t know much about him at all. I knew the basics, but I was hardly a church history buff. I’d say that the most interesting insight that I gained is one that Richard Bushman discusses in his new book, “Rough Stone Rolling.” And that is that Smith didn’t have a grand vision of the way his life and faith would go all at once. He worked at it; he struggled with it. Being a prophet was never easy for him. I very much like that more human portrayal of him.
Finally, have you ever spent any time in the Mormon Blog world?
Yes, cruising the bloggernacle is one of my guilty pleasures. I won’t name the ones that I keep my eye on, but I will say this: not many of them linked to my article! (But it’s not too late!) You guys not only linked to it, but you were the first to do so. And yes, I saw that you were trying to track me down, Ryan. I admire your perseverance.
Yes, well, I dare say my perseverance has to be the most impressive thing going on in ‘journalism-by-Mormons’ this week. : ) Thanks so much for your very interesting thoughts, Elise.