ccee / european churches" "
“The media cannot be limited to purely commercial considerations”: so say the European bishops with special responsibilities for social communications, meeting in the European Episcopal Committee for the Media (EECM), an organ of the CCEE, the Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe. During their meeting in Rome on 12-13 March but only reported on 17 March the bishops of the EECM hailed the recent adoption by the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe of Recommendation 1641 of 27 January 2004. The same Recommendation stresses the need for the presence, in Europe, of “independent, strong and lively public television channels, at the service of cultural diversity, social cohesion and the public at large”. A public television service, says the document of the Council of Europe, must have as its characteristic that of “being universal in terms of content and access”, thus responding to the needs of the various “social groups”, including religious communities. “The pluralism and diversity of the media are a fundamental element of democracy”, stress the European bishops. They conclude their statement by expressing the hope for “co-existence and complementarity with the commercial media” on condition that “due space” be given to “public channels and associated media”.
