ARCHBISHOP FOLEY: EDUCATE THE MEDIA

VATICAN CITY, NOV 14, 2003 (VIS) - Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, spoke today at the International Seminar on Media Education: World Experiences, organized by the International Catholic Union of the Press (UCIP). The seminar took place in the Free University of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven (LUMSA) in Rome.

'Media education is absolutely essential in today's world,' said the archbishop,
'but I must admit that I have found opposition from two sources: the academic community and media executives.'

'Academics,' he explained, 'object because many of them don't consider media as serious. How they can overlook the profound influence that media have on youth ' is an attitude I cannot understand. Teachers can and should help young people to be critical and intelligent consumers of the media.'

'Media executives object because media education can and should make people critical, and I sometimes think that some media executives prefer couch potatoes ' those who watch entertainment and perhaps news programming without a critical eye ' and then buy most of the things that are advertised.'

'Thus, I look forward to hearing today of media education experiences around the world. We need such education and we need such shared experience.'
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