Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) – The theme chosen 2004 World Communications Day - " The Media And The Family: A Risk And A Richness " – is an invitation to reflect on how families use the media and how the media presents the family. “This year’s theme is also a reminder to everyone, both communicators and those whom they address, that all communication has a moral dimension,” Pope John Paul II writes in his Message for 2004 World Communications Day, issued on 24 January, feast of St Francis de Sales, Patron of media workers.
The Pope writes that today numerous families all over the world have access from their homes to the immense resources of the means of social communications and unlimited opportunities for information, educaiton, cultural enrichment and spiritual growth. “Yet these same media also have the capacity to do grave harm to families by presenting an inadequate or even deformed outlook on life, on the family, on religion and on morality. This power either to reinforce or override traditional values like religion, culture, and family was clearly seen by the Second Vatican Council, which taught that "if the media are to be correctly employed, it is essential that all who use them know the principles of the moral order and apply them faithfully" (Inter Mirifica, 4). Communication in any form must always be inspired by the ethical criterion of respect for the truth and for the dignity of the human person” the Pope writes.
The Pope reflects on how the family is presented: “On the one hand, marriage and family life are frequently depicted in a sensitive manner, realistic but also sympathetic, that celebrates virtues like love, fidelity, forgiveness, and generous self-giving for others”…“On the other hand, the family and family life are all too often inadequately portrayed in the media. Infidelity, sexual activity outside of marriage, and the absence of a moral and spiritual vision of the marriage covenant are depicted uncritically, while positive support is at times given to divorce, contraception, abortion and homosexuality.”
In the second part of his message the Pope highlights the responsibility of media operators, publicauthorities and parents with regard to the moral dimension of social communications: “Public authorities themselves have a serious duty to uphold marriage and the family for the sake of society itself. Instead, many now accept and act upon the unsound libertarian arguments of groups which advocate practices which contribute to the grave phenomenon of family crisis and the weakening of the very concept of the family. Without resorting to censorship, it is imperative that public authorities set in place regulatory policies and procedures to ensure that the media do not act against the good of the family.” “Policy-makers in the media and in the public sector also must work for an equitable distribution of media resources on the national and international levels, while respecting the integrity of traditional cultures. The media should not appear to have an agenda hostile to the sound family values of traditional cultures or the goal of replacing those values, as part of a process of globalisation, with the secularised values of consumer society.”
Addressing parents, John Paul II recalls that they are the first to be responsible for education and they must be the first to teach them about the media helping them to learn how to develop a " moderate, critical, watchful and prudent use of the media" (Familiaris consortio, n. 76). Parents must also regulate media use and limit the time children spend in front of the media to make time for other family activities. “Above all, the Pope writes, parents should give good example to children by their own thoughtful and selective use of media.”
Lastly the Pope underlines the enormous positive potential of the means of communications “media of social communications have an enormous positive potential for promoting sound human and family values ” and he encourages all concerned to “ acknowledge this unique privilege and the accountability which it entails”. (S.L.) (Fides Service 24/1/2004; lines 43 – Parole 599)
