Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday called on the media to be responsible and promote traditional marriage and family life.
And he reminded parents, the news media and entertainment industries of their responsibility towards children, “through presenting edifying models of human life and love”.
“The need to uphold and support marriage and family life is of particular importance, precisely because it pertains to the foundation of every culture and society,” the pope said in a message released on the day Catholics celebrate the feast of Saint Francis de Sales, the patron saint of journalists.
Benedict said journalists should not be content with “partial or provisional truths”, but be honest, courageous and determined not to sink under the weight of so much information available in today’s world.
The media should be “responsible,” as well as seeking to be “the protagonist of truth and promoter of peace”, the 78-year-old pontiff said.
Journalists should ensure “accurate reporting of events, full explanation of matters of public concern, and fair representation of diverse points of view …”
Despite being a font of so much information for consumers, the media was often “tainted by ambiguity,” lamented the pontiff, who is far less comfortable in the media spotlight than his predecessor, the late Pope John Paul II.
Where the media became driven by profits, it tended to a “kind of monoculture that dims creative genius, deflates the subtlety of complex thought and undervalues the specificity of cultural practices and the particularity of religious belief.” – AFP