Tuesday, July 9, 2013

525. How is one to use the means of social communication? (part 2 continuation)



525. How is one to use the means of social communication?  (part 2 continuation)       

(Comp 525 repetition)  The information provided by the media must be at the service of the common good. Its content must be true and – within the limits of justice and charity – also complete. Furthermore, information must be communicated honestly and properly with scrupulous respect for moral laws and the legitimate rights and dignity of the person.
“In brief”
(CCC 2512) Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, and justice. One should practice moderation and discipline in the use of the social communications media.
To deepen and explain
(CCC 2497) By the very nature of their profession, journalists have an obligation to serve the truth and not offend against charity in disseminating information. They should strive to respect, with equal care, the nature of the facts and the limits of critical judgment concerning individuals. They should not stoop to defamation. (CCC 2498) "Civil authorities have particular responsibilities in this field because of the common good.... It is for the civil authority... to defend and safeguard a true and just freedom of information" (IM 12). By promulgating laws and overseeing their application, public authorities should ensure that "public morality and social progress are not gravely endangered" through misuse of the media (IM 12 § 2). Civil authorities should punish any violation of the rights of individuals to their reputation and privacy. They should give timely and reliable reports concerning the general good or respond to the well-founded concerns of the people. Nothing can justify recourse to disinformation for manipulating public opinion through the media. Interventions by public authority should avoid injuring the freedom of individuals or groups.
Reflection
(CCC 2499) Moral judgment must condemn the plague of totalitarian states which systematically falsify the truth, exercise political control of opinion through the media, manipulate defendants and witnesses at public trials, and imagine that they secure their tyranny by strangling and repressing everything they consider "thought crimes."  (CCC 1903) Authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good of the group concerned and if it employs morally licit means to attain it. If rulers were to enact unjust laws or take measures contrary to the moral order, such arrangements would not be binding in conscience. In such a case, "authority breaks down completely and results in shameful abuse" (John XXIII PT 51). [END]  

(Next question: What relationship exists between truth, beauty and sacred art?) 

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