AMECEA: Reach Out to All When Disseminating News, Catholic Journalists Told
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
At a recent virtual workshop for news correspondents from the region of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA), Catholic journalists were reminded to consider various groups in society while disseminating news so that no section is left behind.
While addressing a dozen participants drawn from the conferences within the region, Ms. Sheila Pires the communications officer for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) pointed out the tendency of Catholic journalists reaching out to the technology-savvy persons and forgetting those in the periphery and far-flung areas where there is no internet.
“I am aware that we are in the digital era, but in Africa and some parts of the world, radio and television continue to be the main sources of information to the people,” Ms. Pires disclosed and posed some concerns, “Are we reaching out to every Catholic when reporting? Are we communicating with those in rural areas, for instance? And how do we reach those in the peripheries?
Ms. Pires who is currently the Secretary of the ongoing Synod on Synodality Commission for Information, emphasized that Catholic communicators have the role of proclaiming good news to the people, and gave example of situations when there can be a scandal in the Catholic Church and all secular journalists get interested in publishing the information to all groups in society by using all platforms the people can access.
“As Catholic Journalists, we cannot limit ourselves to social media only we must make use of other platforms too. Remember the elderly spend more time watching the television and listening to the radio than following news on social media, we must reach them by all means,” she stressed facilitating the online session on Tuesday, April 30.
According to Ms. Pires, the leadership of the Catholic Church has embraced communication and the internet as well as “A process by which humankind “advances further and further in the discovery of the resources and values contained in the whole of creation,” and thus “marvelous technical inventions.”
she highlighted “Communio et Progressio” on the means of social communication that was written after the Second Vatican Council and pointed out that, “modern media offer new ways of confronting people with the message of the Gospel.” Additionally, the document narrated, “the Church would feel guilty before the Lord if she failed to use the media for evangelization.”
In this case, Ms. Pires expounded that Catholic journalists, “must reach out to the people and are obliged to speak the truth and set the records straight.” Therefore “You are to be the primary source of information.”
