When many of us think about the media, we think of our favourite television programme, the best cable channels for entertainment, a place where we can get the local, regional and international news quickly and information on various things such as where we can find items to purchase and services available.  However, beyond this simple interpretation of what the media can be used for, is a much deeper role and function. 

Increasingly, It has been recognised that the media have a vital role in democracy and governance.  By media, I am referring to all forms of mass media (newspapers, television, radio, broadcasting and internet) which are designed to reach a very large audience such as an entire country’s population. 

The media are important for educating the public on important matters and providing them with the necessary information to keep them abreast of what is happening and to enable the public to come to reasonable conclusions on issues.  They have a role in advocacy for social, economic, political and business concerns. 

The whole notion of access to information is critical.  The social doctrine of the Church tells us that “information is among the principal instruments of democratic participation.

Participation without an understanding of the situation of the political community, the facts and the proposed solutions to problems is unthinkable. It is necessary to guarantee a real pluralism in this delicate area of social life, ensuring that there are many forms and instruments of information and communications”.

Access to information is vital for strengthening accountability, transparency, participation and rule of law.  Accessible and understandable information and the means and ability to communicate are important for enabling people to participate in policy making processes and the decisions that affect their lives. 

The implementation of the right to freedom of expression and the right to information are prerequisites for ensuring the voice and participation necessary for an open democratic society.

This means that the promotion and protection of both access to information itself and flows of information that exist between various groupings such as government, parliament, community groups, civil society organizations and the private sector are of equal importance.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, guarantees “the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”.

In light of this it is necessary to facilitate conditions of equality in the possession and use of these instruments by means of appropriate laws. 

The Social Doctrine of the Church reminds us that “among the obstacles that hinder the full exercise of the right to objectivity in information, special attention must be given to the phenomenon of the news media being controlled by just a few people or groups.

This has dangerous effects for the entire democratic system when this phenomenon is accompanied by ever closer ties between governmental activity and the financial and information establishments. 

The media must be used to build up and sustain the human community in its different sectors: economic, political, cultural, educational and religious.  “The information provided by the media is at the service of the common good.  Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, justice and solidarity”.

Because of this important role it is vital that governments, development agencies, private sector and civil society support the development of the media through robust legal protections, relevant and adequate professional training and in the promotion of open access to official information for all citizens.  

“The essential question is whether the current information system is contributing to the betterment of the human person; that is, does it make people more spiritually mature, more aware of the dignity of their humanity, more responsible or more open to others, in particular to the neediest and the weakest.  A further aspect of great importance is the requisite that new technologies respect legitimate cultural differences.

“In the world of the media the intrinsic difficulties of communications are often exacerbated by ideology, the desire for profit and political control, rivalry and conflicts between groups, and other social evils.” 

One of the complaints launched against media worldwide is that there is often conflict of interests when large business interests own media houses; they try to control what information is spread to the public.

Another complaint is the manipulation of persons through media houses for the benefit of particular political parties or groups of people. Moral values and principles apply also to the media.

“The ethical dimension relates not just to the content of communication (the message) and the process of communication (how the communicating is done) but to fundamental structural and systemic issues, often involving large questions of policy bearing upon the distribution of sophisticated technology and product (who shall be information rich and who shall be information poor?).

“In all three areas — the message, the process and structural issues — one fundamental moral principle always applies: the human person and the human community are the end and measure of the use of the media.

A second principle is complementary to the first: the good of human beings cannot be attained independently of the common good of the community to which they belong. 

It is necessary that citizens participate in the decision-making process concerning media policies.  This participation, which is to be public, has to be genuinely representative and not skewed in favour of special interest groups when the media are a money-making venture.”

Next week we begin the discussion on “The Political Community at the Service of Civil Society.

For persons interested in purchasing the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, please contact the Justice Desk, Archbishop’s House at 622-6680.  Also on sale at the Justice Desk is Responses to 101 Questions on Catholic Social Teaching.