459 ETHICAL MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS

YOUCAT Lesson 459

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

459  What ethical responsibilities are connected with the communications media?

Media producers have a responsibility toward media consumers.  Above all they must truthfully inform.  In both the gathering and the publication of real news, the rights and dignity of individuals must be observed.  [2493-2499]

A program director (left) sets the task for TV reporter and cameraman journalists. ….. 459

The means of social communication should contribute to the establishment of justice, freedom, and solidarity in the world.  In actual fact, the media are not uncommonly used as weapons in ideological conflict, or else, in a quest for higher ratings, all ethical regulation of the content is abandoned and the media are turned into instruments for seducing people and making them dependent.

 [2493-2499]

V. THE USE OF THE SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA

2493 Within modern society the communications media play a major role in information, cultural promotion, and formation. This role is increasing, as a result of technological progress, the extent and diversity of the news transmitted, and the influence exercised on public opinion. --Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2494 The information provided by the media is at the service of the common good.( Compare Inter Mirifica 11 .)²⁸⁵ Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, justice, and solidarity: --CCC

The proper exercise of this right demands that the content of the communication be true and - within the limits set by justice and charity - complete. Further, it should be communicated honestly and properly. This means that in the gathering and in the publication of news, the moral law and the legitimate rights and dignity of man should be upheld.(Inter Mirifica 5 § 2.)²⁸⁶ --CCC

2495 "It is necessary that all members of society meet the demands of justice and charity in this domain. They should help, through the means of social communication, in the formation and diffusion of sound public opinion."(Inter Mirifica 8.)²⁸⁷Solidarity is a consequence of genuine and right communication and the free circulation of ideas that further knowledge and respect for others. --CCC

2496 The means of social communication (especially the mass media) can give rise to a certain passivity among users, making them less than vigilant consumers of what is said or shown. Users should practice moderation and discipline in their approach to the mass media. They will want to form enlightened and correct consciences the more easily to resist unwholesome influences. --CCC

2497 By the very nature of their profession, journalists have an obligation to serve the truth and not offend against charity in disseminating information. They should strive to respect, with equal care, the nature of the facts and the limits of critical judgment concerning individuals. They should not stoop to defamation. --CCC

2498 "Civil authorities have particular responsibilities in this field because of the common good. . . . It is for the civil authority . . . to defend and safeguard a true and just freedom of information."(Inter Mirifica 12.)²⁸⁸ By promulgating laws and overseeing their application, public authorities should ensure that "public morality and social progress are not gravely endangered" through misuse of the media.(Inter Mirifica 12 § 2.)²⁸⁹ Civil authorities should punish any violation of the rights of individuals to their reputation and privacy. They should give timely and reliable reports concerning the general good or respond to the well-founded concerns of the people. Nothing can justify recourse to disinformation for manipulating public opinion through the media. Interventions by public authority should avoid injuring the freedom of individuals or groups. --CCC

2499 Moral judgment must condemn the plague of totalitarian states which systematically falsify the truth, exercise political control of opinion through the media, manipulate defendants and witnesses at public trials, and imagine that they secure their tyranny by strangling and repressing everything they consider "thought crimes." --CCC