Letters | Sunday, 21 March 2010

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Occurrences’ perspective and media bias

More than one letter correspondent has voiced concern at various aspects of media reporting, be it prepondence for reporting bad news, or showing photos of grieving relations. Be that as it may be, recently an article in the Vatican’s ‘L’Osservatore Romano’ (16 December 2009) dealt precisely with this problem on a wider level.
The commentator latched onto Pope Benedict’s remarks, in front of the image of Mary Immaculate on its feast day in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna amongst others, criticising the media for dwelling on bad news with little or no scruples… Therefore, continued this journalist, even in reporting about evil, in the media’s ruthless abuse of people – who are body and soul, realities which Christ assumed and then saved. If God is removed from the horizon – from the public scene as well as from our hearts – the human being too, made in the image of God, is deprived of sacredness, a dehumanisation of our contemporary society.
The Pope in his remarks yet again, with simplicity went to the root of the matter, drawing inspiration from the Marian images set around Rome to remind men of the presence of God among them. To remind them that evil was in fact conquered by a human being, a woman, who was preserved from original sin. To remind every human creature that hope is possible. A presence – God’s – that can change things, “or rather (it) changes people, and hence improves society” in Benedict’s own words. What really matters is that evil was conquered. This is the “good news” to keep in mind when faced with evil that can little make man increasingly insensitive. For from there it progressively hardens the heart, darkens thoughts and faces, reducing human beings to soulless bodies. This is a reality that is often the result of certain choices made by those who control the media and seek to reduce it to the equivalent of a show, thus taking responsibility away from those considered to be no more than spectators.
Beyond this broadly shared analysis, with realism the Pope recalled that – whether or not the person realises it – every human being is a protagonist of right or wrong, because even small daily choices always have consequences.

Joseph G. Bonett
Ghajnsielem

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