APor 09/11 2052 Televangelist Ethics CHICAGO (AP) -- Representatives of religious broadca

APor 09/11 2052 Televangelist Ethics


   CHICAGO  (AP) -- Representatives of religious broadcasters met
Friday to complete a code of ethics designed to head off scandals
like the one that forced Jim Bakker to resign as head of the  PTL
ministry.

   "It's  like writing the Constitution in some ways -- everybody
knew we wanted one and that we needed  one.    The  question  was
exactly  how to go about it," said Elaine Sutherland, spokeswoman
at the New York  headquarters  of  the  National  Association  of
Religious Broadcasters.

   About  50  members  of  the  90-member board of directors were
attending the meeting  here,  including  Executive  Director  Ben
Armstrong and President Robert Cook, spokeswoman Anne Dunlap said
in Chicago.

   The  association  met last month in Oklahoma City and revealed
some provisions  of  an  ethics  draft  adopted  by  the  group's
executive board.

   Among  them  was  a  call for an annual review of fund-raising
programs,  with  the  possibility  of  punitive  action   against
broadcasters who refused to submit to such screening.

   But Ms.    Dunlap  said the draft the board began working with
Friday contained no punitive measures.

   "That's not to say the last draft  won't,"  she  said.  "Right
now, it's just not there."

   The  1,300-member  association  also  called  last  month  for
establishment of a commission to administer its policy on  ethics
and financial responsibility.

   Before the board released the draft ethics code, it met with a
group  that  Cook  characterized  as  an  "ad hoc group of people
concerned about ethics" in the broadcast ministry.   Among  those
attending the Oklahoma City meeting was evangelist Jimmy Swaggart
of  Baton  Rouge,  La.,  who  outlined his own plan for screening
fund-raising activities.

   That plan  targeted  Oklahoma  evangelist  Oral  Roberts,  who
earlier  this  year declared God would take his life if he failed
to raise $8 million by the end of March.  Roberts later said  his
life had been spared because he reached the goal.

   Cook   said   at  the  Oklahoma  City  meeting  that  Roberts'
activities generated interest in the ethics issue.

   But he said the "downfall of our brother  Bakker"  pointed  up
the  urgency  of  adopting  a  formal policy spelling out ethical
conduct and financial responsibility.

   Bakker resigned his PTL ministry in March after admitting to a
1980 sexual encounter with cult secretary Jessica Hahn.

   Cook said the entire broadcast ministry should not be  tainted
because of "some people's failure to be responsible."

   "The  bulk  of our people are not caught up in the problems of
the Bakkers," he said. "The bulk of our people  are  doing  their
jobs without concern of wealth."

   TV evangelists nationwide own 210 television stations, control
five  cable  television  networks  and have 2,200 radio programs,
according  to  Razelle  Frankl,  author  of  "Televangelism:  The
Marketing  of  Popular  Religion"  and  an assistant professor of
sociology at Glassboro State College in New Jersey.

   She  said  rough  estimates  place  their  regular  television
viewing audiences at 20 million households.