MEDIA CALLED TO SERVE TRUTH

THE EDITOR: A mysterious hand appears writing on his wall. “Then the king’s colour changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.” He is scared to death. Who will interpret the writing on the wall? I found myself, this past week, thinking about this passage from the book of Daniel (Chapter 5). We are horrified so often at what we read on the front pages of our daily newspapers or see nightly on television — justifiably so: child 6, kidnapped...teenager gunned down... condoms distributed outside National Library, and so on. Sometimes the stories may even make us quite angry at the media or angry with ourselves. What do those horrible stories tell us? What have we become? We need to interpret the writing on the wall. On June 1, the Catholic Church, joined by members of other Christian communities will celebrate World Communication Day. Some 37 years have passed since the first world day of social communications. The yearly message of the Holy Father which marks this day always underscores the ability of the media to affect profoundly the way we think and act and the special responsibilities they therefore have. The messages are always written out of the conviction that all participating in the social exchange and dialogue need to take seriously the Christian idea.

This year the Pope chose to look back to the encyclical letter of Pope John XXIII, “Pacem in Terris” Peace on Earth, calling all those involved in social communications to be servants of truth, justice, freedom and love. The annual World Day of Communications was ordered by the Fathers of Vatican II in the Decree on Social Communications. Then, 1n 1963 they said on this special day each one should be encouraged to reflect on his own duties regarding the communications media and the faithful should pray that the Church’s work in the field of communications might be more effective. With the increasing pervasiveness of the means of social communications comes an even greater need for the members of the public to read and interpret what they see, read and hear. The media do not simply supply distilled information to thirsty souls. “The power of the media to shape human relatinships and influence political and social life, both for good and for ill, has enormously increased,” the Pope says in his message.

People will do their own sifting of the messages they receive from the media. And, I guess, in today’s world they are getting better at it. The Church has an important role to continue to educate its faithful in this. The newly-established Archdiocesan Commission on Communication has agreed that one of its more important objectives is media education. It will work to help people analyse, discriminate and discuss the messages imparted to them. The media’s responsibility for fairness and impartiality, nevertheless, remains. The Church has always understood the indispensable role of the media. The Pope, in his 2003 message speaks of the “privileged status” of the media. It is a position, he says, which obliges them to “serve society’s true needs and interests” and not “narrow interests, national, ethnic, racial and religious prejudices, material greed and false ideologies of various kinds.” The Church honours those who work courageously at the service of these four “pillars of peaceful society” — truth, justice, freedom and love. At the same time, it urges those who employ the means of social communications to an even greater responsibility and the highest standard of commitment to the common good.

FR CUTHBERT
ALEXANDER
Vicar for Communications