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	Vatican Editor Says Media Coverage of Abuse Promoted Purification By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service August 1, 2011 http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1103030.htm VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Media coverage of the clerical sex abuse scandal helped Catholics come to terms with the need to purify and renew the church, although the coverage was not always fair, said the editor of the Vatican newspaper. Giovanni Maria Vian, editor of L'Osservatore Romano, said the paper's 150th anniversary and, especially, the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to its offices July 5 were occasions to reflect on the role of the media in the modern age. Writing in the paper's July 31 edition, he said the need for reflection is prompted not only by competition for readers' attention from television and the Internet, but also by episodes such as the charges of telephone and computer hacking by employees of Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper, News of the World. Unethical actions and questionable reporting styles "can explain, in part, the disaffection of an increasingly large number of readers, who are disgusted or disillusioned," he said. Media reporting about the Catholic Church has increased significantly since the Second Vatican Council, Vian wrote, although there does not always seem to be a desire to understand the church or find ways to accurately convey the meaning of any religion. "Along with the misunderstandings, there have been the waves of information -- for example, about the abuse of minors committed by priest -- that, while not benevolent and which sometimes degenerated into unjust or summary press campaigns, in fact have aided the always necessary process of purification and renewal of the church, as Benedict XVI has recalled with exemplary courage," Vian wrote. The responsibility of the media is enormous, he said. The Vatican newspaper, the Catholic press and all media not only must intensify and expand their efforts to inform, but they especially must help people understand what is truly important, he wrote.
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