One hundred canonical representatives of the Spanish cathedrals have met in Toledo these days to discuss how to evangelise the mass media. “We do not see ourselves reflected in the image the Church as it is portrayed by mass media”, said Francisco Serrano Oceja, editor-in-chief of the magazine Alfa y Omega, who stated that “today the relation between the Church and mass media is a problem of relation between the Church and mediators. A journalist is what his sources are”. According to Serrano Oceja, professor at San Pablo-Ceu University in Madrid, the Church’s task is to become a “customary source of information”. He thinks that “the complaints of the mass media about the Church concern the lack of transparent information on church topics” and a “poor acceptance of criticism of the institution and its members”. According to Serrano, there is a “lack of knowledge and professionalism in addressing religious topics” and the “tendency to oversimplify and use a political approach to everything and for everything”. But above all a “bent for extolling the trivial, the picturesque, the esoteric and the heterodox” of any news. As to mass media, he complained of the “bossiness” of the media that “hardly ever accept corrections”. According to Serrano, “information must be one of the rules of the Church” while secrets should be “an exception”.” “
