“Catholic information in Switzerland is at risk: in recent years it has lost various channels of diffusion, both Catholic press and missionary and congregational bulletins”, says JACQUES BERSET , editor in chief of the International Catholic press agency APIC in Fribourg. “Some people in the Church – he adds – think these losses in the written information sector can be compensated by a greater presence on the Internet, which is too often perceived as the only means of communication for the future”. “To communicate with the public, is it enough to put on line official and institutional press releases without any journalistic work?”, asks Berset. “Some think yes – he continues – without reflecting on the consequences” because “Christians, in today’s pluralist society, are not satisfied with a ‘top down’ system of information. In this context, the Catholic photographic agency Ciric (www.ciric.ch) has just gone into liquidation after over forty years of history, in spite of its efforts to modernize itself and respond to users’ wishes, such as the creation of a new website with immediate downloading and excellent collaboration with the APIC Catholic press agency”. “It failed to convince its main financial backer, the roman catholic central Conference of Switzerland (CCCRS/RKZ) in Zurich – explains Berset -, to continue to provide financial aid. But the decision of the funding agent was also based on a statement of leading Catholic Pastors, in particular on the advice of the Conference of ordinaries of suisse romande which does not consider the services of a photographic agency indispensable. As for the APIC agency itself, Berset continues, “it too is subject to financial ‘audit’ aimed at finding synergies with other organs active in parallel sectors to make savings (available financial resources being restricted), and achieve maximum rationalization”. Other neighbouring Countries, such as Germany, points out Berset, “are also familiar with restrictions at this level, but the Church must be aware that she is increasingly addressed ‘ad extra’ and not just ‘ad intra’. The Christian presence in the countries of this increasingly secularised Europe can often only express itself from the perspective of the mass media”. It seems ever more clear, concludes Berset, “that sacrificing the Catholic mass media would be a grave strategic error”.
