Vatican Report. Cindy Wooden: About 200 Catholic communicators are at the Vatican this week to look at the challenges faced by the Catholic media in the age of electronic communications. We’ll look at …More
Vatican Report.
Cindy Wooden: About 200 Catholic communicators are at the Vatican this week to look at the challenges faced by the Catholic media in the age of electronic communications. We’ll look at what they had to say on this week’s Vatican Report. I’m Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service correspondent.
JT: And I’m John Thavis, CNS Rome bureau chief. The meeting at the Pontifical Council for Social Communications was a bit unusual by Vatican standards. For one thing, the main participants were lay Catholic journalists and communicators, and the main organizer, Archbishop Claudio Celli, made clear that the pontifical council wanted to listen and not just hand out advice or guidelines. The topics included practical issues that Catholic journalists deal with every day: budget cutbacks, the availability of free information on the Internet and suspicion about the Catholic Church in the wake of the clerical sex abuse crisis.
CW: The conference heard from media experts about the general decline in newspaper subscriptions and plummeting advertising revenues. Catholic communicators have also embraced digital media, but there are some serious questions: For one thing, the Internet is designed for interactivity, and at some levels the Church still seems afraid of that. And for a Church that wants to speak with authority, the Internet is a frightening place, where anyone with a Web site can deliver information about Catholic news and issues. A more practical concern is that very few media, inside or outside the Church, have figured out how to make online news economically viable.
JT: The blogosphere is a big part of the Catholic communications picture these days. This conference heard from experts who are worried about the sometimes angry and argumentative tone of so-called Catholic blogs. Many fear that they promote polarization in the Church. But one British blogger said blogs fill a need; people turn to blogs because their concerns aren’t being met by the more “official” Church media. And if a blogger’s criticism of a bishop is uncharitable, she said, it may be a symptom of real problems of unity in the local diocese, problems that are not being addressed.
CW: Another key issue at the meeting was the need for clear Catholic identity and a sense of mission among communicators. The Church’s mission is to spread the Gospel; Catholic journalists contribute to that by reporting fully and fairly on events that impact the life of the faithful. Many participants underlined that quality journalism should not conflict with the way the Church operates: both sides share an interest in revealing the truth. One of the more interesting sessions at the meeting looked at how Catholic media deal with controversy inside the Church. John, you were part of that panel discussion.
JT: Right, and one of the discussion points was the clerical sex abuse scandal. I think that overall, Catholic media were slow to report on this when cases began coming to light 20 years ago. But that has changed, and today I would say Catholic journalists provide some of the most informed and balanced coverage of this very painful issue. The conference heard from the Vatican’s spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, who said that to help restore the Church’s credibility, the Vatican is now committed to providing as much information as possible on how it handles cases of priestly sex abuse.
CW: He supported that statement with examples from recent months, including the publication of documents that in the past were considered top secret. Not surprisingly, his pledge of transparency got a big round of applause in the conference hall. I’m Cindy Wooden.
JT: And I’m John Thavis, Catholic News Service.
Cindy Wooden: About 200 Catholic communicators are at the Vatican this week to look at the challenges faced by the Catholic media in the age of electronic communications. We’ll look at what they had to say on this week’s Vatican Report. I’m Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service correspondent.
JT: And I’m John Thavis, CNS Rome bureau chief. The meeting at the Pontifical Council for Social Communications was a bit unusual by Vatican standards. For one thing, the main participants were lay Catholic journalists and communicators, and the main organizer, Archbishop Claudio Celli, made clear that the pontifical council wanted to listen and not just hand out advice or guidelines. The topics included practical issues that Catholic journalists deal with every day: budget cutbacks, the availability of free information on the Internet and suspicion about the Catholic Church in the wake of the clerical sex abuse crisis.
CW: The conference heard from media experts about the general decline in newspaper subscriptions and plummeting advertising revenues. Catholic communicators have also embraced digital media, but there are some serious questions: For one thing, the Internet is designed for interactivity, and at some levels the Church still seems afraid of that. And for a Church that wants to speak with authority, the Internet is a frightening place, where anyone with a Web site can deliver information about Catholic news and issues. A more practical concern is that very few media, inside or outside the Church, have figured out how to make online news economically viable.
JT: The blogosphere is a big part of the Catholic communications picture these days. This conference heard from experts who are worried about the sometimes angry and argumentative tone of so-called Catholic blogs. Many fear that they promote polarization in the Church. But one British blogger said blogs fill a need; people turn to blogs because their concerns aren’t being met by the more “official” Church media. And if a blogger’s criticism of a bishop is uncharitable, she said, it may be a symptom of real problems of unity in the local diocese, problems that are not being addressed.
CW: Another key issue at the meeting was the need for clear Catholic identity and a sense of mission among communicators. The Church’s mission is to spread the Gospel; Catholic journalists contribute to that by reporting fully and fairly on events that impact the life of the faithful. Many participants underlined that quality journalism should not conflict with the way the Church operates: both sides share an interest in revealing the truth. One of the more interesting sessions at the meeting looked at how Catholic media deal with controversy inside the Church. John, you were part of that panel discussion.
JT: Right, and one of the discussion points was the clerical sex abuse scandal. I think that overall, Catholic media were slow to report on this when cases began coming to light 20 years ago. But that has changed, and today I would say Catholic journalists provide some of the most informed and balanced coverage of this very painful issue. The conference heard from the Vatican’s spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, who said that to help restore the Church’s credibility, the Vatican is now committed to providing as much information as possible on how it handles cases of priestly sex abuse.
CW: He supported that statement with examples from recent months, including the publication of documents that in the past were considered top secret. Not surprisingly, his pledge of transparency got a big round of applause in the conference hall. I’m Cindy Wooden.
JT: And I’m John Thavis, Catholic News Service.