Meeting with outsiders” “

From Belarus to Holland, from Poland to Lithuania, from France to Italy, from Russia to the Czech Republic: in almost all European countries there is a television channel of Catholic inspiration that transmits for several hours per day. Some of them directly produce religious programmes transmitted by the national channels. They represent one of the Church’s responses to the challenges of communication that require continuous technological innovation, programme diversification, the renewal of languages and deeper pastoral attention. To illustrate the point we present the Dutch and French experiences. HOLLAND: A SMALL REVOLUTION. New schedules and new programmes have been introduced by RKK, the Dutch Catholic media group that annually transmits over 86 hours of television, 234 hours of radio programmes and also runs the internet site www.katholieknederland.nl. “The main objective of the new ‘style’ of the group – says a RKK spokesman – is to go in search of those outside the ecclesial community. We wish, in this way, to bring “those who are searching” in contact with the values and the message of the Gospel, values that are sought, found and celebrated within the community of Catholic faithful. That’s why new space needs to be found for developing new programmes; the first decision was that of terminating the transmissions of Studio RKK, the television programme that was especially aimed at parishes and that broadcast its last programme on 26 January 2005″. The church association that manages it formulated in recent months new objectives and criteria for all the media activities of the Catholic Church whether they be on television, radio or the internet. RKK has the ambition of translating these goals into a direct, attention-grabbing programme, without the Catholic identity of the broadcaster being lost. One of the innovative features is the daily news bulletin launched on the website katholieknederland.nl. “Since mid-January – adds the RKK spokesman – it has been possible to receive the latest news on the Catholic Church, free of charge in the form of a digital newsletter: the service is addressed at readers who want to be updated on the latest news. All those interested can receive by e-mail a panorama of the latest news published daily on the site. According to JOST VAN DER NET, editor in chief of the Dutch Catholic website: “the editorial team began to receive requests for a newsletter with news updates, and this is the right moment to put into practice our good intention for this year: that of making subscription to the service directly available on-line. All you need to do is send us your e–mail address and compile an on-line form publicized by a window on the homepage; the sending of the internet newsletter will then follow every day, around 6.00 pm from Monday to Saturday”. FRANCE: KTO AND TERRESTRIAL DIGITAL. The French Catholic television channel KTO has announced that it has presented its application to accede to a free channel of terrestrial digital television. The Higher Council for Audiovisuals (CSA) had asked in December 2004 for applications to be presented by 18 February 2005 for the six networks of the future terrestrial digital television in France, after the Council of State’s rejection of the six authorizations already given. In a communiqué released in recent days, the KTO explained that it had presented its application precisely because of the television service offered by the network. The channel – says the press release – “offers a great variety of programmes, documentaries, debates, films, concerts and reportages, produced all over France. The channel as a whole is a television for everyone, whose catholicity is by now proved. It is “a television that everyone can watch, young and old, especially thanks to the total absence of violent or pornographic programmes and the transmission of Christian values such as hospitality and tolerance, of which the modern world has a need”. Created by wish of the archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, the satellite channel KTO (pronounced “Katéo”) has right from the start presented itself as “The Catholic television channel”, i.e. as a TV realized for Catholics but – as a web presentation of the television channel insists – “also open to all those who are seeking for the meaning of life, whether believers or not. It wishes to present a modern image, without censorship or proselytism, and to become a meeting place for all generations and all social classes”. Its programmes – the channel now has a daily schedule of 19 hours – made their debut on 13 December 1999 for the opening of the Holy Year and ever since the channel has covered the life of the Church, both in France and in the world.