MESSAGE
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE 28th WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE 28th WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY
Theme: Television and family: guidelines for good viewing
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In recent decades, television has spearheaded a communications revolution which has profoundly affected family life. Today television is a primary source of news, information and entertainment for countless families, shaping their attitudes and opinions, their values and patterns of behaviour.
Television can enrich family life. It can draw family members closer together and foster their solidarity with other families and with the community at large. It can increase not only their general knowledge but also their religious knowledge, making it possible for them to hear God's word, to strengthen their religious identity, and to nurture their moral and spiritual life.
Television can also harm family life: by propagating degrading values and models of behaviour, by broadcasting pornography and graphic depictions of brutal violence; by inculcating moral relativism and religious scepticism; by spreading distorted, manipulative accounts of news events and current issues; by carrying exploitative advertising that appeals to base instincts, and by glorifying false visions of life that obstruct the realization of mutual respect, of justice and of peace.
Even when television programmes themselves are not morally objectionable, television can still have negative effects on the family. It can isolate family members in their private worlds, cutting them off from authentic interpersonal relations; it can also divide the family by alienating parents from children and children from parents.
