How to make ourselves heard?” “

“The television initiatives of Catholics in the European countries: situations and prospects” is the theme of the seminar organized by the Commission of the European Episcopates for the media (CEEM) of the Council of Episcopal Conferences of Europe (CCEE), due to be held in Rome on 18 September. Promoted in collaboration with the Communication and Culture Foundation and media Commission of the Italian Episcopal Conference, the seminar is aimed, as Msgr. Peter Henrici , CEEM chairman, explains “at providing a forum for the executives of television channels promoted by the European Episcopal Conferences or by individual bishops, to review the experiences of each broadcaster and to discuss the possible realization of international productions to gain access to EU funding”. The seminar, which will be attended by the producers of religious programmes in some 20 countries, will be introduced by Msgr. Ceriotti, president of the Communication and Culture Commission. Reports will be presented by (among others) Jim McDonnel, member of the Mass Media Group of COMECE (Commission of the episcopates of the European Community) and Msgr. Cladio Giuliodoro, director of the Social Communications Office of the Italian Episcopal Conference. On the relations between media and Church we present a brief reflection by Father Gabriel Nissim , representative of the World Catholic Association of Communication (Signis) to the Council of Europe, and a preview of the address to the seminar by Francesco Casetti , professor of social communication at the Catholic University of Milan. “Making ourselves heard”. “The media have become a decisive factor for social life thanks to the image they present of social protagonists and groups. I appear on television, therefore I am”. According to Father Nissim, we are now witnessing “a media representation that tends to privilege ‘the stars’ to the detriment of the real life of persons and communities”. In response to this situation, “no institution can do without ‘communicators’ who have the gift of drawing public attention on television. The Church too has an urgent need for such communicators”. The Churches, adds Nissim, “must, as a priority task, take on board the concerns of those who risk not existing at all in social life, the concerns of the ‘voiceless’ and the ‘imageless’ who are not shown on TV because they are unable to make themselves understood. Journalists are a kind of servant of the event of which they must give not an objective but an honest and faithful account”. It is therefore the Church’s responsibility, on the one hand, to “support the efforts of professionals to inform public opinion in an honest way” and, on the other, to “find words and images capable of re-awakening the attention of contemporaries. It is not enough to have something to say: we must also know how to make ourselves heard”. Possible scope for action. “We should ask ourselves whether the ecclesiastical institutions, dioceses, and national conferences should have a direct presence in the media, and in particular, on television, or whether they should limit themselves to a role of coordination and promotion, aimed especially at professionals of communication of Christian inspiration”. That is the question posed by Francesco Casetti, professor of social communication at the Catholic University of Milan, in his report on “The future television system of the media”, some brief excerpts of which we preview here. “We should also ask ourselves – adds Casetti – whether a direct presence should be expressed through the establishment of ‘agencies’ for the supply of contents, or should also be expressed through the activation of dedicated television (or media) channels”. Casetti particularly stresses “the need for programmes of Christian inspiration to circulate in Europe. This circulation is needed not only due to the necessary economic and cultural synergies, but also to emphasise the role of Christians in the construction and roots of Europe”. It is inevitable to think that “a clearly recognisable Christian identity constitutes a communication asset and not a point of weakness”.