Mercy and COMMUNICATION
A new column to explore some world issues in light of the Jubilee, declining the word “mercy”
State Police officers check at the metal detector my intentions: I am only a pilgrim. Then, standing in line, I pass through the Holy Door of St. John Lateran, Rome’s cathedral basilica, in a group.
I feel like a new Dante, a pilgrim to Rome – romeo, as the Supreme Poet said – for what was the first Jubilee of Christianity. It was the 1300s. And a novice Petrarch, also present at the following one, in 1350. In common with them, however, I possess only a passion for words.
The occasion is the Jubilee of the world of communication, which begins at the Lateran with a penitential celebration.
The day was not chosen at random; it is Jan. 24 and we remember St. Francis de Sales, a French bishop, patron of journalists and, more generally, of communicators.
As is the custom, at noon, Pope Francis’ Message for the upcoming World Communications Day, the LIX, was made public.
In the text, the Pontiff warns about the current situation: “in this our time marked by disinformation and polarization, where a few centers of power control an unprecedented mass of data and information.”
Opening his eyes to the power of conditioning wielded, rather than threatened, by a few multibillion-dollar technocrat oligarchs, he invites a difficult and costly step: to be a stumbling block, an example that casts doubt on the whole construction; in fact, “too often today communication does not generate hope, but fear and despair, prejudice and resentment, fatalism and even hatred… I have already reiterated several times the need to ‘disarm’ communication, to purify it of aggression.”
Warning!
It is not a matter of taking the do-gooder route and proposing exclusively good news — what English speakers call “good news” — would be a very bad solution indeed. One must certainly leave room for good news, but one cannot limit oneself to it.
Instead, it is a matter of practicing one’s profession in a serious way,
away from the two contemporary temptations: fake news (fake news) and biased news.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House brought back to my mind that wave of interference, internal and external (read Russia), to direct the U.S. tycoon’s election, first, the course of his presidential term, then.
At the time, the term post-truth was emphasized, a bad word for “Argumentation, characterized by a strong appeal to emotion, which, being based on widespread beliefs and not on verified facts, tends to be accepted as true, influencing public opinion” (cit. Treccani).
Can a governmental commitment be based on outright lies artfully spread?
While this first point concerns all of us as communicators, more or less consciously, since the social world has invaded the human world, the second is more aimed at those who communicate by trade, in short, from journalists on down.
It is history of our near past. In the months of the war that broke out between Israel and Hamas, following the atrocious slaughter and mass abductions on Oct. 7, 2023, the world was divided into partisan supporters. When the news pushed the infamous attack, flags of Israel flourished in the windows of homes. When, on the other hand, Netanyahu ordered infamous reprisals on Hamas-dominated territory, flags of Palestine popped up.
Complex situations are never followed by simple explanations.
That is what communicators are for, to patiently and competently explain reality.
Woe betide that the job of being able to say things clearly to readers/telviewers/users is a debasement, a rendering of stories trivial.
Also for the Jubilee of the world of communication, a morning of in-depth discussion was organized in the Paul VI Hall on Saturday, January 25. I was struck by the words of Maria Ressa, a Filipino journalist and former Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2021, along with Dmitry Muratov, editor of the Russian independent periodical Novaja Gazeta, “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a prerequisite for democracy and lasting peace,” the motivation reads.
“In pursuit of power and money, technology has enabled an insidious manipulation of democracy,” it said. Moreover, “Big Tech has transformed social media from a tool of connection into a weapon of mass behavioral engineering. They monetize hate; they amplify our divisions; and they systematically erode our capacity for nuanced thinking and empathy.”
Finally, the journalist who was persecuted in her country scanned, “Big Tech’s business model – surveillance capitalism – is built on a fundamental betrayal of human dignity where data privacy has become a myth and AI and algorithms have cloned and manipulated us.”
The founding theme of Ressa’s talk was the relationship between communication and democracy. A frontier that requires immediate engagement.
Francesco Di Sibio
Head of Social Communications Office
Archdiocese of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi-Conza-Nusco-Bisaccia
Next topic: Mercy and peace
Read previous articles
Source
Image
- Image digitally created by spazio + spadoni