"There is another pollution, less perceptible to the senses, but just as dangerous. It is the pollution of the spirit; it is that which renders our faces less smiling, more gloomy, which leads us not to greet one another, to not look at one another in the face. [...] Persons become bodies, and these bodies lose the soul, become things, objects without a face, to be exchanged and consumed."- - - -
In today's media, "evil is recounted, repeated, amplified, accustoming us to the most horrible things, making us become insensitive and, in some way, intoxicating us, because the negative is not fully disposed of and accumulates day after day."
Pope Benedict XVI speaking on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception at the Spanish Steps - a beautiful address, relevant as always to our times.
His comments cannot but resonate with anyone working in the media. It's steady focus on bad news is more harmful than perhaps many people realise, but I can't see editors changing. "If it bleeds, it leads" is generally their rule of thumb and they take their lead, of course, from media consumers. The Pope's real focus, however, was on life in cities, and the Holy Father does go on to point out how the media draws attention to the poor, marginalised and exploited, even if it is "without pity or with false pity."
For a full reading of the address, see Asia News.
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