2. THE RIGHT TO BE INFORMED AND TO INFORM

33. If public opinion is to be formed in a proper manner, it is necessary that, right from the start, the public be given free access both to the sources and channels of information and be allowed freely to express its own views. Freedom of opinion and the right to be informed go hand in hand. Pope John XXIII, ³⁶ Pope Paul VI ³⁷ and the Second Vatican Council ³⁸ have all stressed this right to information which today is essential for the individual and for society in general.

a) Access to the Sources and Channels of News

34. Modern man cannot do without information that is full, consistent, accurate and true. Without it, he cannot understand the perpetually changing world in which he lives nor be able to adapt himself to the real situation. This adaptation calls for frequent decisions that should be made with a full knowledge of events. Only in this way can he assume a responsible and active role in his community and be a part of its economic, political, cultural and religious life.

With the right to be informed goes the duty to seek information. Information does not simply occur; it has to be sought. On the other hand, in order to get it, the man who wants information must have access to the varied means of social communication. In this way he can freely choose whatever means best suit his needs both personal and social. It is futile to talk about the right to information if a variety of the sources for it are not made available.

35. Society, at all levels, requires information if it is to choose the right course. The community requires well-informed citizens. The right to information is not merely the prerogative of the individual, it is essential to the public interest.

36. Those whose job it is to give news have a most difficult and responsible role to play. They face formidable obstacles and these obstacles will sometimes include persons interested in concealing the truth. This is especially the case for reporters who give close-up impressions of the news and who, in order to do this, often travel to the four corners of the earth in order to witness events as they actually happen. ³⁹ At times they risk their lives and indeed a number of them have been killed in this line of duty. ⁴⁰ The safety of such correspondents should be ensured in every possible way because of the service they render to man's right to know about what is happening. This is particularly true in the case of wars which involve and concern the whole human race. So the Church utterly condemns the use of violence against newsmen or against anyone in any way involved in the passing on of news. For these persons vindicate and practice the right of finding out what is happening and of passing on this information to others.

37. It is hard for anyone to learn the whole truth and to pass this on to others, but newsmen face an additional problem. Of its nature, news is about what is new. So journalists deal with what has just happened and with what is of present interest. More than that, out of a mass of material, they must select what they judge to be the significant facts that will concern their audience. So it can happen that the news reported is only a part of the whole and does not convey what is of real importance.

38. Communicators must give news that is quick, complete and comprehensible. So more and more they have to seek out competent men for comments, background briefing and discussion. Often these comments are required immediately, sometimes even before the expected event has happened. Men of trust, especially when they are in a position of responsibility or authority, are rightly reluctant to make hasty or unprepared comments before they have had a chance to study a situation and its context. And so because the media are impelled to demand quick comment, the initiative often passes to men who are less responsible and less well-informed but who are more willing to oblige. Those acquainted with a given situation should try to prevent this happening. As far as they can, they should keep themselves up to date so that they themselves can reply and ensure that the public is properly informed.

39. Then there is another problem. Those who have to keep the public informed must give the news quickly if it is to appear fresh and interesting. Competition also obliges them to do this and speed is often won at the price of accuracy. The communicator has also to know the tastes and cultural level of his public and to take into account its known preferences. And when he comes to present the news, it is in the face of such hazards that a communicator must remain faithful to the truth.

40. But as well as these problems which are inherent in the nature of the news and communications media, there is another. Communicators must hold the wandering attention of a harried and hurried public by vivid reporting. And yet they must not give way to the temptation of making the news sensational in such a way that they risk distorting it by taking it out of context or by exaggerating it out of all proportion.

41.The recipients who piece together the news that comes to them in fragments may well end up with an unbalanced or distorted idea of the whole picture. To a certain extent, accuracy can be restored by the continuity of the flow from different sources, which must always be carefully assessed. The recipients of information should have a clear conception of the predicament of those that purvey information. They should not look for a superhuman perfection in the communicators. What they do have a right and duty to expect, however, is that a rapid and clear correction should follow any mistake or misrepresentation that has found its way into a report. They are to protest whenever omissions or distortions occur. They are to protest whenever events have been reported out of context or in a biased manner. They are to protest whenever the significance of events has been wildly exaggerated or underplayed. This right should be guaranteed for recipients by agreement among the communicators themselves and, if this cannot be got, then by national law or international convention.

42. But the right to information is not limitless. It has to be reconciled with other existing rights. There is the right of privacy, which protects the private life of families and individuals. ⁴¹ There is the right of secrecy, which obtains if necessity or professional duty or the common good itself requires it. Indeed, whenever public good is at stake, discretion and discrimination and careful judgement should be used in the preparation of news.

43. The reporting of violence and brutality demands a special care and tact. There is no denying that human life is debased by violence and savagery and that such things happen in our own time and perhaps more now than ever before. It is possible to delineate all this violence and savagery so that men will recoil from it. But if these bloody events are too realistically described or too frequently dwelt upon, there is a danger of perverting the image of human life. It is also possible that such descriptions generate an attitude of mind and, according to many experts, a psychosis which escapes the control of the very forces that unleashed it. All this may leave violence and savagery as the accepted way of resolving conflict.

b) Freedom of communication

44. This right to information is inseparable from freedom of communication. Social life depends on a continual interchange, both individual and collective, between people. This is necessary for mutual understanding and for cooperative creativity. When social intercourse makes use of the mass media, a new dimension is added. Then vast numbers of people get the chance to share in the life and progress of the community.

45. Because man is social by nature, he feels the need to express himself freely and to compare his views with those of other people. This applies today more than ever before now that man's intellect and genius are often enough served more by teamwork than by individual effort. So the result is that when people follow their natural inclination to exchange ideas and declare their opinions, they are not merely making use of a right. They are also performing a social duty.

46. Those societies which tolerate diverse component groups and are called "pluralist", can well understand the importance of the free flow of information and opinion that enables the citizens to play an active part in the community. Laws have been passed in such countries to guard this freedom. Moreover, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has proclaimed this freedom to be fundamental and thereby implies that the same freedom is essential in the use of the means of social communication.

47. This freedom of communication also implies that individuals and groups must be free to seek out and spread information. It also means that they should have free access to the media. On the other hand, freedom of communication would be more to the benefit of those who communicate news rather than for the good of those who receive it, if this freedom existed without proper limits and without thought of those real and public needs upon which the right to information is based.

Cf . Pacem in Terris, A.A.S., LV (1963), p. 260

Cf. Allocution given on April 17, 1964 to "Seminaire des Nations Unies sur la liberté de l'information", A.A.S., LVI (1964), pp. 387ff.

Cf . Inter Mirifica, 5.

Pius XII in an address given to American journalists on July 21, 1945. L'Osservatore Romano, July 22, 1945.

An address to a similar group on April 27, 1946. L'Osservatore Romano, April 28, 1946.

"The manner of the [communication] should be honorable and appropriate, namely, one which keeps sacred the laws of morality and the legitimate rights and dignity of man in reporting the news". Inter Mirifica, 5.