Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. The extraordinary growth of the communications
media and their increased availability has brought exceptional
opportunities for enriching the lives not only of individuals,
but also of families. At the same time, families today face new
challenges arising from the varied and often contradictory messages
presented by the mass media. The theme chosen for the 2004 World
Communications Day – "The Media and the Family: A Risk
and a Richness" - is a timely one, for it invites sober reflection
on the use which families make of the media and, in turn, on the
way that families and family concerns are treated by the media.
This year’s theme is also a reminder to everyone,
both communicators and those whom they address, that all communication
has a moral dimension. As the Lord himself has said, it is from
the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks (cf. Mt 12:34-35).
People grow or diminish in moral stature by the words which they
speak and the messages which they choose to hear. Consequently,
wisdom and discernment in the use of the media are particularly
called for on the part of communications professionals, parents
and educators, for their decisions greatly affect children and
young people for whom they are responsible, and who are ultimately
the future of society.
2. Thanks to the unprecedented expansion of the
communications market in recent decades, many families throughout
the world, even those of quite modest means, now have access in
their own homes to immense and varied media resources. As a result,
they enjoy virtually unlimited opportunities for information,
education, cultural expansion, and even spiritual growth - opportunities
that far exceed those available to most families in earlier times.
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.
3. These considerations apply in particular to the
treatment of the family in the media. 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. This
is true also of media presentations which recognize the failures
and disappointments inevitably experienced by married couples
and families - tensions, conflicts, setbacks, evil choices and
hurtful deeds - yet at the same time make an effort to separate
right from wrong, to distinguish true love from its counterfeits,
and to show the irreplaceable importance of the family as the
fundamental unit of society.
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. Such portrayals, by promoting causes
inimical to marriage and the family, are detrimental to the common
good of society.
4. Conscientious reflection on the ethical dimension
of communications should issue in practical initiatives aimed
at eliminating the risks to the well-being of the family posed
by the media and ensuring that these powerful instruments of communication
will remain genuine sources of enrichment. A special responsibility
in this regard lies with communicators themselves, with public
authorities, and with parents.
Pope Paul VI pointed out that professional communicators
should "know and respect the needs of the family, and this
sometimes presupposes in them true courage, and always a high
sense of responsibility" (Message for the 1969 World Communications
Day ). It is not so easy to resist commercial pressures or the
demands of conformity to secular ideologies, but that is what
responsible communicators must do. The stakes are high, since
every attack on the fundamental value of the family is an attack
on the true good of humanity.
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. Family representatives should be part
of this policy-making.
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 globalization, with the secularized values of consumer society.
5. Parents, as the primary and most important educators
of their children, are also the first to teach them about the
media. They are called to train their offspring in the "moderate,
critical, watchful and prudent use of the media" in the home
(Familiaris Consortio, 76). When parents do that consistently
and well, family life is greatly enriched. Even very young children
can be taught important lessons about the media: that they are
produced by people anxious to communicate messages; that these
are often messages to do something - to buy a product, to engage
in dubious behaviour - that is not in the child’s best interests
or in accord with moral truth; that children should not uncritically
accept or imitate what they find in the media.
Parents also need to regulate the use of media in
the home. This would include planning and scheduling media use,
strictly limiting the time children devote to media, making entertainment
a family experience, putting some media entirely off limits and
periodically excluding all of them for the sake of other family
activities. Above all, parents should give good example to children
by their own thoughtful and selective use of media. Often they
will find it helpful to join with other families to study and
discuss the problems and opportunities presented by the use of
the media. Families should be outspoken in telling producers,
advertisers, and public authorities what they like and dislike.
6. The media of social communications have an enormous
positive potential for promoting sound human and family values
and thus contributing to the renewal of society. In view of their
great power to shape ideas and influence behaviour, professional
communicators should recognize that they have a moral responsibility
not only to give families all possible encouragement, assistance,
and support to that end, but also to exercise wisdom, good judgement
and fairness in their presentation of issues involving sexuality,
marriage and family life.
The media are welcomed daily as a familiar guest
in many homes and families. On this World Communications Day I
encourage professional communicators and families alike to acknowledge
this unique privilege and the accountability which it entails.
May all engaged in the field of communications recognize that
they are truly "stewards and administrators of an immense
spiritual power that belongs to the patrimony of mankind and is
meant to enrich the whole of the human community" (Address
to Communications Specialists, Los Angeles, 15 September 1987,
8). And may families always be able to find in the media a source
of support, encouragement and inspiration as they strive to live
as a community of life and love, to train young people in sound
moral values, and to advance a culture of solidarity, freedom
and peace.
From the Vatican, 24 January 2004, the Feast of
Saint Francis de Sales
IOANNES PAULUS II
[00108-02.02] [Original text: English]
