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 “The
means of social communication at the crossroad between self-promotion
and service; seeking the truth to the end of sharing it” is the theme of
the 42nd World Day of Social Communication. The “message”
of commentary, proposed by Benedict XVI and published as usual on 24th
January, Feast of St. Francis of Sales, patron of journalists, has
aroused a vast echo not only in the means of ecclesial communication.
This brings to evidence how important the role of these instrument sis
in the life of persons and in society. The World Day of Social
Communication, the unique World Day established by
Vatican II
(Inter Mirifica, 1963), is celebrated in many countries, by
recommendation of the Bishops in the world, on the Sunday before
Pentecost (this year 4th May). The Pope underlines in the
document that the mass media, today, are at “the crossroad between
self-promotion and service” and exhorts those who transmit
communications to seek always the truth, avoiding economic materialism
and ethical relativism. We have asked Sr. Cristina Beffa, Daughter of
St.
Paul, professional journalist, graduated in philosophy, directress of
Novaradio and vice-directress of the
Centre of communication and Pauline Culture, member of the
Organizing Commission of the Communication Week, to answer some
questions on matters linked to the world of communication, starting from
some hints offered by the Papal Message
The theme of the 2008 message points straightaway at the knot of the
question: the mass media are at the crossroad between self-promotion and
service. Do you foresee signals of change in the means of communication?
“It
is not only today that the media are at the crossroad; the opportunity
of placing this topic on the table of debates is welcome. To me, the
crossroad is the best image, which induces us to opt for a choice:
either you aspire to models that refer to criteria of economy, of the
share and your self-promotion, or you let yourself be guided by criteria
placing the dignity of your person at the centre of your work. thus
exposing yourself to its service with proposals whose contents are
imbued with truth, freedom, justice and solidarity. The message of this
year is amply relevant and is “to be read all over again”, in order to
catch the shades that easily may escape from a fast reading. Here I
mention only some of these shades, namely, those that look at the media
positively. In fact, for the Pope, the media are a constitutive part of
civil, social and religious life; they have acquired educative
potentialities and give a universal breath to dialogue on peace; they
are indispensable for the free circulation of thought ordained to
solidarity and justice; they are instruments at the service of common
good, though with the risk of subjecting man to ideological ends and
proposing models at the service of individual self-promotion. Moreover,
Benedict XVI holds that the media have the high vocation of handing over
man to himself daily, as an instrument capable of disclosing the truth
on man. In the light of these reflections, if by media we intend to
refer only to the TV, I do not foresee many changes, and I do not
consider it capable of answering the vocation, which the Pope refers to.
However, I highlight with satisfaction the winning-post which the media
should aspire to, including the catholic ones. I wish to add also that
the changes verified in the media are generally provoked by the social
context in which the users live and from their capacity to filter, to
choose and to manage intelligently the choices that the good common
sense suggests to them”.
In his document, the Pope coins a new word: “info-ethic”. What des it
mean?
“To
me it is the matter of a very good proposal, though I do not believe
that it is the first time in which this word is used; in fact it exists
already in bioethics, in the field of scientific researches on life.
Anyhow, as far as information is concerned, since bioethics exists,
similarly the info-ethics should exist, also if I have to say that he
who makes information already possesses a deontological Code. Here,
however, I think that we must make a further step, because the
info-ethics suggests certain characteristics that go against distortions
and excessive simplifications, to the end of respecting the common
ethics. The news must respect the dignity of the human person and the
conscience of the other, as well as individual choices. To me, to be
ethically evaluated, the information should not make recourse to
moralisation; it should never arouse excessive fears, because fears do
not help the person to choose free and mature behaviours (therefore
responsible, as ethics would like it) and do not guarantee the right to
freedom, because history teaches that induced fears aim above all at the
social control of people. The great talking of “security” and personal
safety lately made by the media, in reality conceal considerable
interests (let us think of the so called auto Suv, whose sales have
increased enormously, being they perceived to be securer than all the
other autos). At times I think that, having the credibility of great
ideas gone lost, the fear of an enemy to defend ourselves from, may be a
message used by the powerful to keep their power. With this I do not
want to say that we must not use prudence or that we must diminish our
supervision. I intend to point out a possible deceit hidden behind the
apparent correctness of information. During these months I have
reflected a lot on the richness and power that concentrate in some
Countries and I have had to conclude that all this conditions not only
economy, but especially ethics, seen that one ends to justify even war.
Summing up, I think that the info-ethics is an ample field to be
cultivated and taken care of, without falling into the temptation of the
least censorship”.
Many reiterate the urgency of deepening the formation of the
journalists. What do you think about it?
“I
think that it is a useful and very beautiful thing. For instance, for
many years the Community of Capodarco has been organising congresses on
social information, helping the journalists of this sector to find
places and occasions for formation. When Karl Popper insisted on the
urgency of giving a licence to the TV operator, for a better production,
it did not say anything far from professional formation. We must think
that the media are changing the communication itself, in order to
understand once more the urgency of preparing oneself for the high task
of communicating messages and contents”.
In these latest years many fictions have been produced on saints and
priests. Is there
any risk of causing the TV spectators to get accustomed to it and bored?
What is the image of holiness that these productions give?
“I do not see the risk of getting accustomed to it because the
remote-control is always there to act. In his message, the Pope
acknowledges that quality TV programmes, in which the truth, beauty and
religiosity of the person are well interpreted, have stimulated a
certain attention. However, all this is not sufficient to give an
adequate image of holiness, because no production, refined and well
conducted as it may be, has ever succeeded in saying anything deep on
the holiness of the protagonist. The whole thing is constantly filled in
with common ideas, stereotyped and popular sentimentalisms, but far from
the depth of an “offered” life. On the other hand, it is difficult to
translate into words and images the existence of a priest who lives his
priestly vocation up to “martyrdom”, the motives inducing a woman to be
a sister, forsaking richness and career; the spiritual charge lived by a
person who remains in the battlefield despite his awareness of announced
dangers. Interiority and its strength can hardly be touched by mediating
languages and the best stage directors succeed in giving only some
short-lived brushings. What gravitates around the sphere of spirituality
can be caught and communicated by the media with difficulty. How could
the essential reality of holiness be described by languages that, by
their nature need abundant elements, such as that of transforming into
spectacle even the most intimate aspects of a human experience? On the
other hand, we know that the TV production, for instance, follows the
emotive waves of the spectator as well as the courses and re-courses of
history. It suffices to remember certain categories, like that of the
judges, the policemen, the priests, and so forth. Let us add the figure
and the Christian stature to this list, and we see how the game is made
Which characteristics should the the means of Catholic communication
have? Which reality should they mirror?
“They
should mirror the Gospel values and become instruments of real communion
among all the components of the people of God, according to Vatican II.
However, I go back to the initial content of this conversation, where I
spoke of shades present in the message of the Pope. Considering these
shades, I reiterate the high vocation of the media, to which the
catholic media should always be faithful, and in part I acknowledge that
we are. (save some exceptions, for instance, certain Catholic attitudes
that do not go beyond the worst devotional practices). Sure, when the
Pope invites us “to look for the truth in order to share it” I cannot
help thinking of the journey which the Catholic media still have to
fulfil, to know well that for us the truth has the capital V letter. We
know also what it means “to give the charity of the truth”, as Rosmini
and Alderione would say. Every time we spread messages that are not open
to the truth of man, human identity itself will be in crisis. Thus, the
Catholic media should excel in representing reality, by challenging the
commercial media on their field. This is not just a dream, since I know
transmitters managed by dioceses or by truly well prepared Catholics.
However, our talk cannot stop here. I think of the new generations and
of how they put themselves before the new technologies. Their approach
is very different from that of the adults. The new technologies have
become “inhabited places” for the new generations, places of social life
and of deepening, therefore of new agencies of education”.
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