|
Mass media and information technology
9. «The first Areopagus of the modern age is the world of communications,
which is unifying humanity and turning it into what is known as a "global
village". The means of social communication have become so important as to
be for many the chief means of information and education, of guidance and
inspiration in their behaviour as individuals, families and within society at
large ... The very evangelization of modern culture depends to a great extent
on the influence of the media ... It is also necessary to integrate that
message into the «new culture» created by modern communications. This is a
complex issue, since the «new culture» originates not just from whatever
content is eventually expressed, but from the very fact that there exist new
ways of communicating, with new languages, new techniques and a new psychology»
(Redemptoris Missio, 37). The advent of the information society is a
real cultural revolution: television, for instance, transforms language and
presents new icons. This «involves a fundamental reshaping of the elements by
which people comprehend the world around them and verify and express what they
comprehend... The media can be used to proclaim the Gospel or to reduce it to
silence in human hearts».(12) The «live» information provided by the
mass media lessens the impact of distance and time but, more importantly, it
affects the way things are perceived: what people come to know is not reality
as such, but what they are shown. So the constant repetition of selected items
of information involves a decline in critical awareness and this is a crucial factor
in forming what is considered as public opinion.
The influence of the media which has no frontiers, especially as regards
advertising,(13) «calls upon Christians to be creative and innovative,
so as to reach hundreds of thousands of people who spend a significant amount
of time every day watching television or listening to radio programmes.
Television and radio can be a means of cultural formation and development, and
also of evangelization, a way of reaching out to those who have no point of contact
with the Gospel or the Church in secularised societies. The pastoral approach
to culture must provide a positive answer to John Paul II's crucial question:
AIs there still a place for Christ in the traditional media?».(14)
The most startling innovation in communications technology is, without
doubt, the Internet. Like any other new technology, the Internet involves risks
which have become tragically clear in cases where it has been used for evil
purposes, and this calls for constant vigilance and reliable information. It is
not simply a question of moral use of the Internet, but also of the radically
new consequences it brings: a loss of the intrinsic value of items of
information, an undifferentiated uniformity in messages which are reduced to
pure information, a lack of responsible feedback, and a certain discouragement
of interpersonal relationships. But, without doubt, the Internet's immense
potential can be enormously helpful in spreading the Good News. «This has
already been proved by various promising initiatives the Church has taken,
calling for a responsible creative development on this Anew frontier of the
Church's mission» (cf. Christifideles Laici, 44).
A great deal is at stake. How can we not be present and use information networks,
whose screens are at the heart of people's homes, to implant the values of the
Gospel there?
|