CONGRESS ON TECHNOLOGICAL, ETHICAL FUTURE OF THE MEDIA

VATICAN CITY, MAR 30, 2000 (VIS) - Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, spoke this morning in Rome at a congress organized by the Centre Saint-Louis de France, on the theme "The Media: What Technological and Ethical Future?"

Pointing to the ever-changing and advancing technologies used by the media, the archbishop said that "the Church, thank God, has generally made early use of improvements in media technology." He pointed to the Bible as the first book printed wth moveable type, to the establishment of Vatican Radio and television, which use satellite technology to reach the world, and to its web page on the Internet.

He stated that, while there have been many positive advances in technology, "there are also some potential ethical problems," including measuring the good of technology not as it serves the person, but rather as it serves greed, using technology "not so much for information but for manipulation and control" and using it "to communicate the tawdry and demeaning, if not the downright immoral."

Archbishop Foley announced that his council will publish a study on "Ethics in Communications" in June on the occasion of World Communications Day and the Jubilee Day for Journalists.

CON-CS;MEDIA; TECHNOLOGY; ETHICS;...;FOLEY;VIS;20000330;Word: 210;