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	Media Realities the Church in Malta Must Face Times of Malta September 19, 2011 http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110919/editorial/Media-realities-the-Church-in-Malta-must-face.385326 There has been a good deal of public anger and sorrow expressed lately in the wake of the grave misdeeds of sexual abuse of minors committed by religious members of the Church. People have used all forms of communication, especially blogs, letters pages and phone-ins, to vent and share their concern and sadness, particularly for the victims so seriously hurt. Not everybody, however, appeared to be inspired by genuine positive aims and constructive aspirations. Negative attitudes were there too. The freewheeling manner in which some issues were handled or commented upon by certain people, for instance, were bound to raise the suspicion, if not the feeling, of being the bitter product of the attitudes of individuals who are no friends of the Church if not anticlerical. It is very difficult to paint a precise picture of such behaviour. What is sure is that Malta is undergoing a revolution in its religious culture, even if many have yet to understand or acknowledge the full extent of the change taking place. Also, people hold the Church to a higher standard of frankness and truthfulness than they perhaps do with regard to the government or private business. Thus, failures within the Church can correspondingly get more limelight and potentially be more damaging to its own image. It is true that public opinion also feeds on sensationalism and one cannot deny that certain sections of the media tend to sensationalise things. Of course, it is the duty of the media to report on issues such as sexual abuse of children by priests but they should also highlight the sterling work the Church does on so many fronts. Having said that, the sexual abuse of children by priests is a true scandal and not a media invention. There are faithful of all backgrounds and ages whare genuinely offended by the horrific abuse of children and/or adolescents as well as by the slow pace at which the matter appeared to be addressed for a long time, mostly by the Church itself. Whatever may have been true in the past in countries like Malta, where the Church was able to, generally speaking, get what may be defined as “favoured treatment”, today’s professional secular communicators feel no such “obligation”. These communicators, especially news people, consider themselves independent and immune to what one may define as “outside” influence. As professionals, they feel that their personal attitudes, towards the Church or anything else, must not influence their reporting. What would be inadmissible and wrong is selective, biased or manipulative reporting. Objective reporting and respect for truth constitute a fundamental requisite for professional communicators who are conscious enough of the dignity of their task and the importance of their role of service to society that must, of course, be sustained by that truth which builds the common good. There is also another factor. Like a mirror, the media reflect back to society its realities: from bright or ugly human actions or experiences to what society thinks about, cares for and understands. Additionally, a pluralistic society such as ours is a competitive society. It is a society in which a wide variety of opinions, attitudes and values struggle to find wider acceptance. Here, the Church is in competition with all those seeking to communicate and promote their values, beliefs and vision of the kind of life they seek to encourage also through and in the media. The Church has to rise to the occasion.
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