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	Onaiyekan Decries International Media's Reportage of Religion Daily Triumphy July 22, 2008 http://www.triumphnewspapers.com/onn2272008.html Archbishop John Onaiyekan, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in Abuja decried the way the international media report religious events. Onaiyekan told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview that their reports most times were dictated by their own agenda. " The areas they are interested in are not the ones we are interested in and any intelligent person, who tunes to CNN and BBC, should put that at the back of his head that what we are seeing is the world as seen by BBC or CNN," he said. Onaiyekan cited the issue of sexual abuse among some priests as related to the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Sydney, as an example. "Though it is bad if any priest engages in such but that was not the focus of the Pope's visit to Sydney. "Since the Pope left the Vatican, BBC, CNN and others have been interested in the sexual abuse issue and they were busy digging up extracts of what took place years ago. "They brought the issues up and they just want to talk about sexual abuse. For them, it is the only thing that they feel could be news out of the visit. "That there are millions of young people from all over the world who gathered in faraway Sydney to demostrate their faith is not news," he said. The CAN president urged the Nigerian press to critically note this attitude by the Western press, especially as regards reporting the Catholic Church. "I am not saying that nothing is wrong but their perception is completely biased and unbalanced. "There are thousands and thousands of Rev. Fathers working hard and doing good things and they should also be encouraged," he said. He said the media were a powerful instrument, which should be used wisely for disseminating proper information to people.
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