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?