ZAMBIA: Communication Should Not Forment Acrimony

Mwenya Mukuka.

Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) say communication should not foment acrimony that frustrates, creates rage and leads to clashes.

Speaking on behalf of the Conference in a message to mark the 57^th Communications Sunday, the ZCCB Bishop Director for Communication Rt. Rev. Valentine Kalumba OMI has said that communication should, instead, help people to peacefully reflect and interpret with a critical yet respectful spirit, the reality in which they are living live.

Commenting on the Communication Sunday theme ‘Speaking with the Heart: the Truth in Love’ (Eph. 4:15), Bishop Kalumba encourages the media to cultivate the spirit of speaking from the ‘heart’, with love and conviction.

Bishop Kalumba who is the Ordinary of the Diocese explained that speaking with the heart spurrs people to go, see and listen, adding it is the heart that moves individuals towards an open and welcoming way of communicating.

He said it is in the heart beat that God reveals the truth of our being and that, for this reason, the heart should be listened to.

The ZCCB Bishop Director for Communication said the practice will enable media workers to provide solid, balanced, and complete information which he said calls for a genuine change of mind, assumptions and perceptions of reality before publishing anything.

Rt. Rev. Kalumba added that communicators have a rare privilege and well equipped to comment, rebuke, interrogate and question public officers on matters of governance, corruption, morals, health etc.

“As you play your role, you are encouraged to speak with love. Your role is not to start a fight but to foster a culture of peace “in places where there is war; to open paths that allow for dialogue and reconciliation in places where hatred and enmity rage,” he said.

He further said that for Christians especially those in civic life, genuine dialogue and good communication demand seeking and speaking the truth with charity adding that christians in particular are continually urged to keep the tongue from evil.

“In a historical period marked by polarizations and contrasts, to which unfortunately not even the Church is immune, the commitment to communicating with open heart and arms does not pertain exclusively to those in the field of communications. It is everyone’s responsibility. We are all called to seek and to speak the truth and to do so with charity,” bishop Kalumba said.

The Catholic church celebrates Communication Sunday every year, which falls on the solemnity of the ascension.

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