Searching for the Truth

Searching for the Truth, in order to share it with others. That is the theme of the 26th Anniversary of Cagayan de Oro Press Freedom Week, "Pagpangita sa kamatuoran, alang sa pagsangyaw sa tanan" which we marked last week.

This year's theme was inspired by Pope Benedict XVI's theme for this year's 42nd World Communications Day: The Media: At the Crossroads between Self-Promotion and Service. Searching for the Truth in order to Share it with Others.

Although the Pope's message was released on the occasion of World Communications Day on May 4, 2008, it was actually previously written by the Pope on January 24, Feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists.

As media has evolved into an extraordinary force for change, issues have been raised regarding the good and evil which can result from that potential. As the Pope's message tells it, there is the risk of being transformed into systems aimed at subjecting humanity to agendas dictated by the "dominant interests of the day" when communications is prostituted for ideological purposes or the aggressive marketing of consumer products.

Even as it claims to represent reality, media tends to legitimize or impose biased models of personal, family or social life. Models of development such as globalization and free markets are presented as desired paradigms for development but rather increase, rather than close the technological and economic divide between rich and poor countries and peoples. At its worst, in the unending struggle for ratings and readership, media degenerates to vulgarity, violence and sensationalism.

Thus, the Pope perceives media today to be at a crossroads: whether to pursue possibilities for good or take up the "appalling possibilities for evil". Should we allow ourselves to be exploited for indiscriminate "self-promotion" and manipulate consciences? Or should we remain steadfast and ensure it remains at the service of the person and of the common good, fostering man's ethical formation for man's inner growth?

The Pontiff is disturbed at how media seems increasingly shifting towards not simply representing reality but to determine it, owing to the power and subliminal force of suggestion it inherently possesses.

When communications loses its ethical underpinning and eludes society's control, it ends up ignoring the centrality and inviolable dignity of the human person. It risks exercising a negative influence on people's consciences and choices and conditioning their freedom and very lives. It is for this reason that media, or communications should assiduously defend the person and fully respect human dignity, hence the urgent need for "info-ethics".

The Pope also expressed alarm at the increasing tendency of media to become spokesmen for economic materialism and ethical relativism, which he calls the "true scourges of our time." Hence, media can and must contribute to making known the truth about humanity, and defending it against those who tend to deny or destroy it. Thus, seeking and presenting the truth about humanity becomes "the highest vocation of social communication." Ergo, the inspiration for our chosen theme for the 26th anniversary of Cagayan de Oro Press Freedom Week: Pagpangita sa kamatuoran, Alang sa Pagsangyaw sa Tanan."

As the late Pope John Paul II put it in his Address to the Conference for those working in Communications and Culture (9 November 2002): "Let us ask the Holy Spirit to raise up courageous communicators and authentic witnesses to the truth, faithful to Christ's mandate and enthusiastic for the message of the faith, communicators who will "interpret modern cultural needs, committing themselves to approaching the communications age not as a time of alienation and confusion, but as a valuable time for the quest for the truth and for developing communion between persons and peoples."

In behalf of the Board of Directors of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club and its president Jerry L. Orcullo, I wish to extend our thanks to everyone who helped us make last week's celebration of Cagayan de Oro Press Freedom Week the best yet, notably our colleagues from the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas, PNP Press Corps X, Diamond Press Corps, Regional Association of Government Communicators, our sponsors and most especially to Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, S.J., D.D. for taking time to celebrate mass for us as well as linking us to communicators the world over during the 42nd World Communications Day last May 4, 2008 and to Sr. Mary Anne of the Pauline's Sisters, coordinator of the Archdiocese Social Communications Ministry.

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