Speaking at the Plenary session of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, of which he is a member, in Rome last week, Cardinal Keith O'Brien claimed that in all its communications work, the Catholic Church "must offer a radically different vision to that which is offered by the contemporary post-Christian culture".

Cardinal O'Brien went on to say that building up good media relations, can "help lower any barriers that the Church may face from a media which can reflect a society with little or no understanding of Catholicism."

After describing a range of technological initiatives being undertaken by the Scottish Catholic Media Office, the Cardinal concluded with a call for the Scottish media to display "not favour but simply fairness" in all its reporting.

The full text of the Cardinal's intervention is shown below.

The meeting of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, included an audience for the participants with Pope Benedict XVI who commenting on the influence of the media said;

"I appeal again to the leaders of the media industry to advise producers to safeguard the common good, to uphold the truth, to protect individual human dignity and promote respect for the needs of the family,'

ENDS

Notes to Editors:



Peter Kearney
Director
Catholic Media Office
5 St. Vincent Place
Glasgow
G1 2DH
0141 221 1168
pk@scmo.org
www.scmo.org


PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

INTERVENTION FROM CARDINAL KEITH PATRICK O’BRIEN
ARCHBISHOP OF ST ANDREWS AND EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND


In April 1963 Pope John XXIII called on the “instruments” of the media to promote a “mutual understanding” based on “fairness and impartiality”. Within the nature and dignity of man freedom and truth are intrinsically entwined. Therefore the media has an obligation to freedom by being at the service of truth.

There is a great wealth of optimism and excitement which is encouraged by the continual advancement of media technology. Never before have we been in such a positive position whereby we can proclaim the Gospel to the whole world, literally at the press of a button. The Church has always sought to unite the human family in Christ. The great missionaries setting out into the unknown is largely replaced with all the media advancements to “go forth and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19).

With the use of the modern telephone system, satellite television and the internet we are faced with the reality that we can communicate with fellow brothers and sisters whom previously we would most likely never have encountered. However, even though it is true we have the technology to communicate the truth on a world scale, at present I feel we, as a society, lack the commitment to truth. Without the desire and dedication for truth all too easily the technology becomes a vehicle for deception and destruction.

Therefore it has been important to return to basics, to deconstruct contemporary social norms, concepts and language assumptions. The Scottish Catholic Media Office attempts to work with and within the secular media. This is extremely important in a country whereby the Catholic population is only around 17% of the total. (Interestingly, this is exactly the percentage of Catholics in the world’s population – in this regard therefore, Scotland is entirely typical!)

Simply put, it is practically necessary to cooperate with the largely non-Catholic population. It is necessary for the SCMO to adopt an educative role. This dynamic must make an intellectual case and must offer a radically different vision to that which is offered by the contemporary post-Christian culture.

Ongoing Developments:

Fundamentally the Scottish Catholic Media Office has a two-fold role: re-active and pro-active.

Reacting to a news agenda set by others remains the largest single aspect of the Media Office work. At present the Catholic Church in Scotland has, in many ways, found herself to be described as the “unofficial opposition” in the Scottish political system. This is due to the nature of the present socio-political culture in which there is a general consensus that does not adhere, or actively opposes, Christianity. Therefore the media very often request comment from the Church because she offers a contrasting view to the present dominant norm. In essence the Catholic Church in Scotland is seen, by friend and foe, as truly “counter-cultural”, offering an alternative to the atheistic secular norms which so often drive our politics.

The Church is represented on a number of media platforms. This varies from television, radio to newspapers and internet sights. Not only does the Media Office co-ordinate responses from the hierarchy they are also empowered to speak on behalf of the Church in response to clear-cut issues. An obvious example of this is the legalization of abortion and the campaign to extend legal protection to unborn children.

As well as acting as spokespersons for the Church and co-coordinating and assisting Bishops’ responses the Media Office also co-ordinate the other Church agencies. This consists of advising agencies, such as Justice & Peace, on the best way to highlight particular causes. Furthermore, wording and media friendly phraseology is offered resulting in the practicality of a Press Release. Additional assistance is offered by the ‘invisible’ work which consists on the Media Office having good relationships with journalists and editors and therefore they are in a prime position to give some form of direction and focus that may help highlight a particular cause or angle of analysis.

The media office does not just respond to stories and circumstances but also seeks to set agendas. It attempts to be pro-active. Initially it must be said that this holds its own inherent difficulties due to the fact that roughly 83% of Scotland’s population are not Catholic. Further difficulty may be result from Scotland being a country that, after the protestant reformation, adopted into its culture a strongly anti-Catholic form of Christianity. However the building up of good relationships, as previously referred to, and the use of clear spoken persons of intellect help lower any barriers that the Church may face from a media which can reflect a society with little or no understanding of Catholicism.

On a daily basis the newspapers are monitored. This has a number of roles. Firstly it keeps the Media Office up to date with the latest news stories therefore their awareness of what is relevant is at the cutting edge. To have a staff of dedicated Catholics who are absolutely up-to-date regarding social trends and news is vital to counter any misplaced perception that the Church has little or no relationship with contemporary modern society. Secondly, it allows the Church to be specifically aware of trends within the different newspapers and the particular levels of coverage and treatment. This relates to whether or not a story is covered, how well a paper covers a story, what language is used in the article and what assumptions lie behind the article. Even the prominence of the article, size, page number and accompanying photographs are taken into consideration and recorded. This also applies to television and radio productions. Media output relating to the Church is analysed and archived on a daily basis.

Continual monitoring of the 24-hour news takes place round-the-clock. This requires continual dedication from the SCMO team as it, of course, involves time external to office hours. Television and radio naturally play the dominant part of the round-the-clock monitoring. This is especially the case regarding the British Broadcasting Corporation. While not the official state broadcaster it does have a special and unique status within the United Kingdom media context. Certainly the BBC News Web-pages are a new media advancement, which also require continual monitoring. The SCMO does take a policy, when practically possible, of “rapid-response” if they feel a broadcaster has misrepresented the Church. This is especially so with the BBC with whom the SCMO attempts to act as a helpful guide and co-operator rather than a censor.

Enquiries are many and varied the mainstay being a constant flow of press and media calls. Those involved in this work require to be informed and committed to the mission of the Church. Within the pro-active dynamic the SCMO members do extend their commitment to assisting with public talks and events. The constant theme is always to maximize the possibility for Catholic teaching to be presented.



Pope John Paul II proposed “alongside the internet, other new means of communication, as well as traditional ones, should be used.” The Catholic Church in Scotland strives in its media outreach to use new technology as much as possible. For the last three years a text messaging service has been used to distribute short alert messages to subscribers via mobile phones. This has supplemented the existing e-mail alerts service. The text alert service has been welcomed by users and provides free instant news updates as well as encouraging subscribers to participate in online polls and radio phone-in programmes. This later example is an especially powerful use of the technology that capitalizes on its immediacy and promotes participation in the media by the lay faithful.

Furthermore, the Scottish Catholic Media Office recognizes the importance of professionalism in the use of technology. Through the use of the established an ISDN based broadcast studio the SCMO contributes quality broadcasts to radio stations around the country and the world. With their assistance I too have installed a remote broadcasting terminal in my home. This technology is immensely valuable allowing interviews to be conducted at studio quality without the need to travel to a broadcaster’s premises and opening up the possibility of radio interviews with outlets in other countries. I have been called on a number of occasions by Vatican radio’s English language service and interviewed by them from my home.

An Audio Release service has this very year commenced with great effect. During an ‘Anti-Sectarian’ summit in December the SCMO were inundated with requests for an interview with myself. Of course time is crucial and therefore I recorded one single interview from which the SCMO office could send via internet to any radio station which requested. The audio is originated and edited under the control of the Scottish Catholic Media Office, thus allowing comments to be refined and corrected before release and preventing quotations from being taken out of context by broadcasters. This service is aimed at meeting the needs of smaller stations, which do not have extensive newsgathering facilities. Further benefit arises from the independent radio stations being willing to work with the SCMO and the Church due to the professionalism they encounter on such occasions.


Conclusion:

In conclusion, to return to the theme of Pope John XXIII, we attempt to base our media interaction on the principle and the practice of “fairness and impartiality”. Regarding the media, the Church does not ask for privileges for she does not need privileges. All that is looked for is a level playing field, an arena dedicated towards attaining and promoting the truth. Church teaching being based on the Word of God and the Magisterium of the Church can only express the truth which ultimately can never be suppressed. In expressing this truth we ask our media not for favour but simply fairness.