| The Media & the Gospel in the Light of 11th September 2001
Fr Bernard Barrett, parish priest in Milton Keynes, looks at the way the secular media presents the world to us, and encourages us to adopt a critical sense in what we are shown, in the light of the gospel.
The events of September 11th last year I’m sure are still indelibly ingrained in the memories of most of us. Through the power of the media we were able to see the twin towers come crashing down and witness the fear and horror of those caught up in the drama. We became not just recipients of a news story but participants in a visual experience that touched us emotionally, intellectually, morally and spiritually. But there was selection and interpretation as well as a reporting of these events, as with all televised “truth”, which we can sometimes be unaware of because it seems so vivid, immediate and factual. It is thus important for us as Christians not to be too passive in accepting the world that the Media presents to us, but to develop a critical sense about what we see. GROWING FUNDAMENTALISM OF SECULAR MEDIA For a start there is the matter of the choice of stories and the importance that is given to them. The events of September 11th were replayed over and over again for days and days and weeks, and were no doubt influential in getting support for the “War on Terrorism” and the invasion of Afghanistan. Meanwhile the Interfaith gathering at Assisi called by the Pope on 24th January 2002 received practically no coverage at all. It was the largest gathering of religions in history who came to pray for and show their concern for peace. Yet the British media’s attitude towards it was dismissive. The gathering was considered irrelevant to world events, even though the religious leaders who gathered there represented millions of believers and had great moral authority. By giving them so little attention, it encouraged those who watched to think their views and the religious world view they represented, counted for nothing. This is symptomatic of the growing fundamentalism of the secular media. They reduce the world to the purely material and thus dismiss the idea that God can have some kind of input in the world. Theirs is the only way to think if you are an intelligent, rational and caring human being. Their explanation of what is happening and their solution to it becomes the only way of looking at things. Unfortunately because this secular liberalism is the spirit which controls everything that is presented by the media we can become influenced by this world view on a whole variety of issues without even realising it. Just think of what our responses are after we have watched a programme about the terrible suffering of someone who wants “the right to die”. Do we feel the Church is right in its view? Who runs the media, which shapes our thinking about the world, and what are their criteria and value system for choosing what goes on the box? - On the ground floor are the authors, producers, script writers, singers, actors and journalists. - On the first floor we find the media-managers; editors, subeditors, station controllers and schedule planners. - On the second floor we find the owners, boards of management, advertisers, governing boards, statutory and regulatory authorities. NEWS VALUES It is this media hierarchy which provides the control of meaning behind what we see which starts from the top and filters down. Those involved are often people of integrity and some may be good Christians but the worldview that they espouse and pass on to us, is different from the gospel worldview. It is dominated above all today by the need to entertain. Take for instance the news. What are “news values”? If one looks at what is considered news we see that for an event to be reported it must be a disaster, a conflict, a controversy, or something violent, a change or reversal that is dramatic. Or they must be events that threaten stability and order or about famous people, or about strange and bizarre events. What is the underlying spirit behind all this? The desire to entertain. And why is there a need to entertain? Because entertainment makes something watchable and therefore profitable. Thus serious and complex issues are often reduced to what will serve the values of entertainment regardless of the fact that in the process the truth can be distorted. TECHNIQUE OF PRESENTATION To develop a critical sense we need above all to recognise that the media is a technology with a technique of presentation. Television, cinema and videos act like a window on the world. But these windows are filtering a small section of reality to us and bracketing out the rest. We only see what they want us to see. The more time we spend in front of the television, the more our experience of reality is being controlled by them. Most of us in Britain are media children and our whole reality and understanding of the world is generated by the media. Whereas once upon a time we were reliant on the “folkscape” created by wandering storytellers and bards, so later came the “printscape” of the newspapers, the “soundscape” of the radio and now the “screenscape” of the television. It is estimated that 16 million people watch the main evening news bulletins on the television. An early IBA survey revealed that 99% of the population looked to TV, radio and newspapers as the main source of information about the world in which they live. This means, however, that if something is not televised, it is as if it doesn’t exist – whether it be a war or a famine because it no longer is in people’s consciousness. Think of the horrific effects of the trade embargo on Iraq over the last decade since the Gulf War and the human suffering and devastation that has been caused. This has been criticised by all kinds of international bodies (including Pax Christi), yet because it has not been on our TV screens, we don’t know much about it. COMPASSION FATIGUE By appealing moreover to our emotions through visual images in the reporting of tragedies, television presentations often make us emotionally care. But usually it is only for a moment, while the television is on and we can mistake this positive emotion for having actually done something be it prayer, practical help or almsgiving. Eventually as well, the reporting of too many different sad stories, brings about compassion fatigue and people feel that there is just too much suffering which brings about apathy rather than real commitment to help or to change. Television also gives us the appearance of reality but without the price we pay in real life. We can feel a sense of community through becoming involved in the lives of characters in a soap opera, without the responsibility of real relationship for example. Thus while the popularity of soaps increases, so people have less time for their neighbours and loneliness and isolation increases. People begin to expect that their sexual relationships will be as romantic and easy and cost free as they appear in films and are disappointed when they aren’t and their real relationship breaks down. Televised reality becomes more attractive than the real thing. SUBLIMINAL EFFECTS OF ADVERTISING When we are watching television moreover we are often in a passive and relaxed mode. Unlike the experience of reading or listening where we have to do some of our own work to create images, with television the work of attending, imaging, understanding and judging has been done for us. Television and video come to us through our senses and draws from us reactions that are pleasing and satisfying, or unpleasant and dis-satisfying, using light, sounds, shades, colours, texture, images etc. Through this imaging our feelings and imagination are touched at ever deeper levels, especially if we are in a state of passivity, and ideas and emotions can be communicated on a more subliminal manner – particularly in the area of advertising ie “I will become a more socially acceptable, trendy person if I drink Coca Cola” or “ A person who drives an expensive fast car is sexually more attractive than someone who doesn’t”. The gospel gives us a totally different world view and hierarchy of values than the secular liberalism that is presented to us via the media. It shows us that another way is possible and that we can trust God to help us in our world, that meaning can be found in suffering, that personal security comfort is not the ultimate value and that prayer can bring about peace. In the light of the gospel, the meeting of the religious leaders on January 24th will be ultimately of more importance, if we let it, than September 11th despite its destructive power because Christ has told us he will be with us until the end of time and that good will always conquer evil. |
