Sunday, April 03, 2005
Pope to Media:Report Events Accurately and Truthfully
Source: Broadcasting and Cable According to Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, one of the last official documents issued by the Pope was an Apostolic Letter "to those responsible for communications."
Following are a couple of particularly telling passages from the Pope's letter.
The first is a general statement of principle, and the second a passage on media ownership that could have been drafted by Andrew Schwartzman of Media Access Project:
"The mass media can and must promote justice and solidarity according to an organic and correct vision of human development by reporting events accurately and truthfully, analyzing situations and problems completely, and providing a forum for different opinions. An authentically ethical approach to using the powerful communication media must be situated within the context of a mature exercise of freedom and responsibility, founded upon the supreme criteria of truth and justice."
And this on ownership:
"I would like to recall our attention to the subject of media access, and of co-responsible participation in their administration. If the communications media are a good destined for all humanity, then ever-new means must be found – including recourse to opportune legislative measures – to make possible a true participation in their management by all. The culture of co-responsibility must be nurtured."
CNN, where Foley talked of the appropriateness of the media-friendly Pontiff's letter, also managed to raise the level of its coverage through the commentary of Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete, a New York Times columnist and friend of the Pope.
Monsignor Albacete, asked about the Pope's sense of humor, said that he had one time discussed with the Pontiff CNN's standing invitation to Albacete to talk about the Pope's legacy after he passed away.
The Pontiff had asked how Albacete could be so sure he wouldn't die first. Albacete replied that if he went first, the Pope should go on CNN and talk about him.
Additional: An insider adds this: "What B&C failed to report or didn't know was that Msgr. Albacete, who is religion writer for NYT, and wrote a column in Sunday's NY Daily News Sunday, had signed a contract with CNN awhile ago to be their commentator when the Pope passed away. It's all those pesky "facts" that just keep being ignored even by a great publication like B&C."
# posted by ATN @ 5:12 PM 
