State Of Phil Media - Paper

Titus Brandsma Center-Media Program 1 Media and Spirituality: The State of Philippine Media and the Challenges of Social Communication towards Evangelization

MEDIA AND SPIRITUALITY: The State of Philippine Media and the Challenges of Social Communication Towards Evangelization

Introduction:

Where is the Love?

Black Eyed Peas

First Part:

Media Awareness: Basic Information on the Philippine Media Set-up (Ms. Maria Rowena O. Ladaga)

Material:

AAAA Media Factbook 2000 Sr. Consolata Manding, FSP (Globalization in the Media Age) PIA Media Factbook 2000 Titus Brandsma Center-Media Program

The Philippine Media Trends, Issues and Needs – Research 2 (a survey on perceptions of media practitioners) 5 Parameters used (MPs) 1. definition of media, perception of their roles as media practitioner, their driving force and motivation 2. perception of the trends in media: content, orientation, and ethical practice 3. understanding of the forces influencing media content/conduct (government, business, academe) 4. understanding of the church in media 5. analysis of needs among media practitioners Reflections from the Study 1. Media defined
Media is power;
Used either in harmful or helpful way;
Vergel S. - conditions of the market and the advancing technology are factors that define media today;

Titus Brandsma Center-Media Program 2 Media and Spirituality: The State of Philippine Media and the Challenges of Social Communication towards Evangelization


Trend of sex-and-violence fare; increasing gap between the informationrich and the information-poor;
Major formator and educator of the public especially the young;
Media is both a joker and a watchdog. 2. Media and politics
Used by politicos as electoral machinery to project their viability (more concerned about how they are projected rather than the content/message they want to communicate;
Love and hate relationship between government and media: government loves to have media on their side, while hates it when it displays a critical attitude. 3. Media and business
Bottomline of media is “ratings”. These are: a) ratings scheme, b) niche marketing – media programming is based upon a particular type of audience;
More of a political capital;
Ideal situation is where the owners of the media themselves are primarily media people themselves. 4. Media and academe
Question: how does education enable young people to learn from experience? Are lack of professionalism and critical thinking skills among students a trend or just isolated realities in Philippine education?
Education is shifted to technical and market-driven ones;
For the young to adapt more successfully to rapid change, there’s a need to sensitize them to the possibilities and probabilities of tomorrow. 5. Media and the Church
Church is a part of the institutional power struggle;
Media shows apprehensions that Church people have their own agenda of extending the Church power;
Catholic Church – sees significance of its presence in the media world in terms of institutional power. 6. Media and their needs
Skills development;

Titus Brandsma Center-Media Program 3 Media and Spirituality: The State of Philippine Media and the Challenges of Social Communication towards Evangelization


Right orientation among media persons;
On-field and professionally guided training;
Need for the development of the media organizations’ research department;
Fine-tuning of government policies particularly in advertising;
Alternative strategies to be able to sustain quality productions are needed;
Church-based media need to survive financially from the stiff competition
Need to pull existing media and communication resources of the NGOs and people’s organizations, including the resources of the Church-based media to provide a competitive, yet uncompromised identity of the media product (only responsible to its readers and not to the stockholders;
Need to improve wages of the media workers;
Need for a broad guideline/policy that is crafted by the government, the civil society, the business sector and other interest groups to provide a better media climate in the country;
Need for community dynamics – “sense of community among fellowreporters in the news-editorial office”;
Need to look into the reality of “stress, pressure, tension management” that are all stapled with media work; are students and practitioners ready to face this reality and this work environment? Conclusion We address the results of this research to three categories:
Media practitioners
Philippine Catholic Church
Education sector Media practitioners
First impression – media practitioners usually have to work under pressure; 1. Can this be confirmed? 2. Can we detail the symptoms of it? 3. How can this be addressed?
Second impression – has to do with the perspective on faith and life; 1. Faith and values of most of the respondents are being compartmentalized “as if faith were only ‘religion’ and/or religious activities”;
Third impression – “neutrality” problem

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1. Media practitioners should prevent to go against the right of the audience on information by making the media the instrument to promote certain financial or political interests without the knowledge of the audience; 2. “Neutrality” puts pressure on the media practitioners; a. economic independence b. need to make career c. time pressure d. confusion on basic standards of decency and justice, etc; 3.

Media cannot be ‘neutral’ in an absolute sense! a. first – medium always betrays a certain option or perspective; b. second – practitioner him/herself makes a stand in the ongoing societal discourse by the fact itself that the media enter the public space

4.

Political will a. what direction to take? b. how to come to decisive steps?

Philippine Catholic Church 1. Must reflect on the development of media (fast and revolutionary changes) 2. For the Churches this means:
Media shape the world of the people the Churches are serving. The Churches in their pastoral ministry should be sensitive to the “language” of the media and at the same time critical in adapting that “language”;
Church leaders should enable themselves to deal with the media in an adequate way; seek help to media practitioners;
Should critically review the image they project in the media world;
Churches should develop a pastoral presence in the media world, rather than building a counter force. Education-Academe
Students are overwhelmed by the load of information; - how can the student learn to be selective and critical? - affects reading habits; - actual takes the place of tradition



Titus Brandsma Center-Media Program 5 Media and Spirituality: The State of Philippine Media and the Challenges of Social Communication towards Evangelization


Teaching personnel is in need for an adaptation to and a critical appreciation of this new world in relation to their educational job. This research wants to offer a modest instrument this.

AAAA Media Fact Book 2000 A. Advertising Industry Top Brands Advertised

Top Advertisers

Advertisers Unilever/PRC Procter & Gam. Nestle Phils. PLDT

1996 3 2 1 5

Rank 1997 3 1 2 4

1998 1 2 3 4

Brands PLDT Sunsilk San Miguel Hope SKMF

1996 2 5 1 15

Rank 1997 1 5 2 4

1998 1 2 3 4

Top Ten Product Categories

Product Categories Comm./Bus. Machine Rest./Fastfood, etc. Gov’t Agency, Int., Public Utilities Med. Prods/Equipment

Rank 1996 1997 1 1 6 3 13 8 8

5

1998 1 2 3 4

B. Broadcast 1. Radio
Media Penetration Radio: 85% (total Phils.) 94% (MM)
Regional medium
AM still the dominant format nationwide but MM has 73% FM listenership vs. AM’s 27%
Key provincial areas have also higher FM listenership.
Evolved to be a “personal” medium.

Titus Brandsma Center-Media Program 6 Media and Spirituality: The State of Philippine Media and the Challenges of Social Communication towards Evangelization

Year 2000 SUMMARY OF RADIO STATIONS (Per Region) REGION RADIO AM FM Region 4A NCR 24 26 Region 1 Ilocos 32 34 Region 2 Cagayan Valley 11 11 Region 3 Central Luzon 8 10 Region 4 Southern Tagalog 16 22 Region 5 Bicol 25 23 Region 6 Western Visayas 28 25 Region 7 Central Visayas 27 22 Region 8 Eastern Visayas 5 13 Region 9 Western Mindanao 18 18 Region 10 Northern Mindanao 27 25 Region 11 Southern Mindanao 35 32 Region 12 Central Mindanao 10 12 GRAND TOTAL

273

266

TOTAL 50 66 22 18 38 48 53 49 18 36 52 67 22 539

Source: Philippine Media Factbook 2000 by Philippine Information Agency (PIA)

AREA Commercial Non-Commercial
Educational
Government
Military
Religious GRAND TOTAL

NUMBER OF RADIO STATIONS (By Type of Service) RADIO AM FM 228 260 4 31 2 8 273

3 1 0 2 266

Source: Philippine Media Factbook 2000 by Philippine Information Agency (PIA)

TOTAL 488 7 32 2 10 539

Titus Brandsma Center-Media Program 7 Media and Spirituality: The State of Philippine Media and the Challenges of Social Communication towards Evangelization

Number of AM/FM Radios 4%

17%

19% 11%

11% 17%

5%

16%

AM Luzon 100 stations

AM Visayas 60 stations

AM Mindanao 87 stations

AM Metro Manila 26 stations

FM Luzon 92 stations

FM Visayas 60 stations

FM Mindanao 90 stations

FM Metro Manila 24 stations

2. Television
Mass media vehicle for coverage of widest audience across all socio-economic households in urban areas nationwide.
No. 1 Medium
Most impactful media vehicle because of audio visual color advantage
Most cost-efficient-efficiency measurable thru accurate research data (PeopleMetro Manila)

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SUMMARY OF TELEVISION STATIONS (Per Region) REGION NO. STATIONS Including Cable Channels (excl. Chinese stations) Region 4A NCR 13 CAR 29 Region 1 Ilocos 13 Region 2 Cagayan Valley 51 Region 3 Central Luzon 14 Region 4 Southern Tagalog 89 Region 5 Bicol 26 Region 6 Western Visayas 11 Region 7 Central Visayas 13 Region 8 Eastern Visayas 4 Region 9 Western Mindanao 14 Region 10 Northern Mindanao 12 Region 11 Southern Mindanao 17 Region 12 Central Mindanao 6 Region 13 CARAGA 8 GRAND TOTAL

320

Source: Philippine Media Factbook 2000 by Philippine Information Agency (PIA)

Philippine TV
Free TV - 6 VHF Channels: 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 13 - 5 UHF Channels: 21, 23, 27, 29, 31
Pay TV (Cable) - Over 60 Channels - 3 Cable Operators (Sky Cable, Home Cable and Destiny) now accepting advertisements on selected channels. - 900,000 HHs subscribers (nationwide) - Regional commercials on Satellite Channels seen Manila only. Program Commercial Load
18 commercial minutes per program hour (36-30”)
5 commercial interruptions per program hour, each gap at 3-4 minutes
Clutter of over 2,000 various product spots aired daily (excluding station/government pluggings)

Titus Brandsma Center-Media Program 9 Media and Spirituality: The State of Philippine Media and the Challenges of Social Communication towards Evangelization

Ownership of Radio and Television Sets by Household As of December 2000 (AAAA Media Factbook 2000) Mass Media Radio Television Print Newspapers Magazines

Total Philippines

Metro Manila

85% 71% 32% 29% 10%

94% 96% 82% 48% 18%

Year 2004 Number of Broadcast Stations and Channels As of December 2003 (NTC June 2004)

Radio: Total Philippines AM FM Total

373 586 959

Television: Total Philippines 39% 61% 100%

Public TV Cable TV Total

229 1,421 1,650

14% 86% 100%

3. Electronics and Internet Number of Mobile or Cellular Phone Service Providers and Units As of December 2003 (NTC June 2004) Year

Number of Service Providers 5 5 6

2001 2002 2003 Projected by end of 2004

Number of Users 12,000,000 18,000,000 22,000,000 30,000,000

Installed Personal Computers Year 2000 (IDC 2001) Type of Installed PCs Desktop 994,906 89% Notebook 97,636 9% PC Server 20,699 2%

Area of Installed PCs Large Business 388,533 35% Medium Business 200,089 18% Home 139,958 13% Small Business 136,893 12%

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Total

1,113,241

Government Education Small Office Total

100%

106,651 10% 71,151 6% 69,966 6% 1,113,241 100%

C. Print

Newspaper Readership 50.00%

48.00%

40.00% 30.00%

29.00% Total Philippines Metro Manila

20.00% 10.00% 0.00% Total Philippines

Metro Manila

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REGION Region 4A Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4 Region 5 Region 6 Region 7 Region 8 Region 9 Region 10 Region 11 Region 12 Region 13

SUMMARY OF PUBLICATIONS (Per Region) PUBLICATIONS

NCR CAR Ilocos Cagayan Valley Central Luzon Southern Tagalog Bicol Western Visayas Central Visayas Eastern Visayas Western Mindanao Northern Mindanao Southern Mindanao Central Mindanao CARAGA

GRAND TOTAL

12 (broadsheet), 17 (tabloid), 32 (magazines) 12 44 18 56 84 48 29 17 14 14 21 39 23 9 489

Second Part:

Church and Communication (Fr. Christian B. Buenafe, O. Carm)

Material

Communicating in Community (Fr. Franz Josef-Eilers, SVD)

HUMAN COMMUNICATION
“We celebrate the blessings of speech, of hearing, of sight which enable us to emerge from our isolation and loneliness in order to exchange with those around us the thoughts and sentiments which arise in our hearts. We celebrate the gifts of writing and reading, by which the wisdom of ancestors is placed at our disposal and our own experience and reflection are passed on to the generations that follow us. Then. . . we recognize the value of the ‘marvels’ even more wonderful: ‘The marvels of technology which God has destined human genius to discover’ (Inter-Mirifica, 1) . . inventions which have immeasurably increased and extended the range over which communications may carry and have amplified the volume of our voice..” Pope John Paul II



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Pope John Pual II calls here communication media the “admission ticket to the modern marketplace where ideas are exchanged, news is passed around and information of all kind is transmitted and received.”
Social communication refers to all ways, means and processes of communication which are related directly or indirectly to human society.
Latin root ‘communis’ – communication means to have something in common, to share.
Christian sense – ‘communio’ that is ‘communion’ which finally leads to community
Only communication serving and leading to community is the real ‘social communication’ we are concerned about.
Studying communication therefore means studying people in their ways of exchange and sharing, relating and influencing each other for a common concern.

Titus Brandsma Center-Media Program 13 Media and Spirituality: The State of Philippine Media and the Challenges of Social Communication towards Evangelization

SOCIETAL FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATIONS In Political System 1. Information, receive, seek “Social Radar” gatheringinformation; inform

surveillance, gathering gathering intelligence, audience “research”

In Economic System

Socio-cultural System

Information on: resources; buying & selling opportunities; materials, places, persons…

Information on: norms and roles in society; accepting or rejecting them

2. Interpretation Handling, assessing, evaluating information, environment

Interpret information Interpretation and for decision making coordination of political facts, intelligence Persuade others, Making disseminating, command enforcing policy

Interpretation of economic data & information; setting of economic policies, operation & control of market

Coordination & interpretation of public understandings, needs & desires; operation of social control

3. Instruction

Seek knowledge

Initiation into economic behavior, laws, life

Transmission of social norms and role prescriptions to new members of society

---------------------

Relief from work & problems; socialization and incident learning

Transmission of socio-political heritage, laws, customs

Learn, teach, instruct 4. Entertainment

enjoy, relax

----------------------

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Communication is – 1. Continuous: We cannot stop ourselves to put meaning into words and actions of others around us. 2. Personal: the world outside and the one in ourself – “world behind our nose consists of attitudes, values and experiences, all that makes us, us. This world determines how we see and interpret the objects, the people, and events in the world beyond our nose. In a way, we are at the mercy of our background whenever we communicate, for it influences the way we interpret a message”. 3. Circular: It is “a series of actions and reactions which appear to have no fixed beginning or end.” 4. Irreversible: Information once transmitted “cannot be removed from the listeners ‘brains and returned to a communicator’s mouth”.

HISTORY
4th Century: State religion of Roman Empire and becomes the bearer of culture in Europe which includes the oral and written heritage of mankind.
St. Augustine applied the rules of classical rhetorics to homiletics in the fourth book of his ‘doctrina christiana’ and in his ‘De catechezandis rudibus’ he applied communication principles for the first time in Church history to catechetics.
Pope Gregory the Great presented in his ‘Pastoral Rule’ from around the year 591 communication principles as basic for any pastoral work. He puts a special emphasis on the different audiences to be addressed in different ways according to their needs and understandings: “The discourse of a preacher should be adapted to the character of the hearers, so as to be suited to the individual in his respective needs, and yet never deviate from the art of general edification. For what else are the minds of attentive hearers but, if I may say so, the taut strings of a harp, which the skillful harpist plays with a variety of strokes, that he may not produce a discordant melody? And it is for this reason that the strings give forth a harmonious melody, because they are not plucked with the same kind of stroke, though plucked with the one plectrum. Hence, too, every preacher, in order to edify all in the one virtue of charity, must touch the hearts of his hearers by using one and the same doctrine, but not by giving to all one and the same exhortation”.

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Printing by Gutenberg (1450): the Church did not see the importance of this new printing method but Martin Luther and his companion saw otherwise. It was not that the church did not use the new means at all like in her mission work. ‘Doctrina Christiana’ was the first book published in Philippine history. But apparently, the implications of the new invention for the influence and power of the church were not sufficiently seen.
Printing 1. changed the situation of the Church in the power system of those days. 2. changed the ways of doing, teaching and living theology as Paul Soukup observes: “Printing fostered the textual criticism of newly recovered biblical manuscripts, a development which led to a sophisticated theological hermeneutics and text oriented theology. With the printing press making identical copies of texts common, academic theology reached more readers and had more profound impact. . . E.g. Catechism – widespread biblical publishing and the lay biblereading movement, with the rise of vernaculars as scholarly languages and with widespread readership for theologians. 3. alliance of reform and counter-reform with printing: stamped an enduring mark on liturgy. . . the tridentine missal created a standardized form of the Latin mass that last lasted over four hundred years. . .”
Pierre Babin: printing “created a different way of communication faith” unlike the earlier oral communication before this period. He sees a general trend growing out of printing for all Christian churches in those days: 1. The need to impart one doctrine and firm moral teaching to the masses. 2. The need to train personnel, particularly by establishing schools and seminaries. 3. The need to, ‘instruct and educate the humble people’ in the most concrete and practical way, by producing ‘short and precise treatises.” (Catechisms were needed to regulate and firmly establish discipline and faith.) Most important result of this method were a strictness in doctrine and a uniformity of knowledge. In doctrine, the importance of a logical knowledge and of abstract notions was clearly stressed
Babin believes that this way the original nature of local and oral cultures was completely changed and “what counted in Christian education was knowing the catechism by heart”


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Shift into the audio-visual way of religious education which he calls ‘stereo catechesis’.
Political developments 1. French Revolution 1789 2. Revolution in France 1830, 1848 - strong growth of antichristian and antichurch elements which is also reflected in a growing anticlerical political press. - the Pope lost his political power as a head of state in Italy. - experiences of Pope Gregory XVI and Pope Pius IX both reigning together for almost half a century resulting in a certain pessimism especially towards the political periodical press. - 19th century: worldwide initiative for the ‘good press’; Gregory XVI described his view in his encyclical ‘Mirari’ from August 15, 1832 on Liberalism and religious indifferentism: “. . .our roman See is harassed violently and the bonds of unity are daily loosened and severed. The divine authority of the church is opposed and her rights shorn off. She is subjected to human reason and with the greatest injustice exposed to the hatred of the people…” Against such a situation a good press, defending the pope and church had to be created. (Pope’s newspaper “L’Osservatore Romano”)
Middle of the 20th Century: Pope Pius XI and especially Pope Pius XII comes a more positive attitude to the means of communication in general.
Gaston Roberge: sees in the relation between Church and social communication three trends or attitudes: Church approaches to Communication (Mass Media) Attitude Suspicion and rejection Trend II Imitation and ambition Trend III Critical understanding Trend I

Action

Position

censorship and control use at all costs

outside marginal

Discriminating inside use & compassionate service

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At first (Trend I + II) the church looked at the media in order to control and use them – from the outside. Later on, she began to look at them from the inside. She discovered that the ideal of service to the world which the Vatican II Council had formulated finds an area of application in the Mass Media, for the communication media constitute one of the main forms of contemporary social life. They are the world to evangelize.

A. Pontifical and Council Documents 1. CHRISTIANAE REPUBLICAE, 1766 (On the Dangers of Anti-Christian Writings) – encyclical by Pope Clement XIII on Publishing 2. VIGILANTE CURA, 1936 – encyclical by Pope Pius XI on film and was mainly triggered by the success of the “Legion of decency” in the United States. People becoming members of this “legion” made a public promise not to watch and to boycott immoral films as well as cinemas showing them. Action: proposed in all countries of the world Catholic cinema offices and a film rating system according to moral standards. Impact: certain cinemas and films in the United States lost up to 40% of their income because of such a boycott. Pope Pius XII in June 21, 1955 with his speeches to representatives of the Italian cinema industry and to international film distributors has developed further ideas and proposals on the ideal film. Focus: It expressed concern for moral issues in a communication medium which was considered more influential than the press. 3. MIRANDA PRORSUS, 1957 – encyclical by Pope Pius XII on electronic media of cinema, radio, television but not the press. The electronic media are presented together under the label of “communication.” Speaks about Christian doctrine and audio-visual communication. Shows clear analysis and a positive approach to the electronic media, their potentials and to the pastoral needs arising from this. Noteworthy is the clear vision for future developments, the analysis of the effects of the electronic media and the consequences to be taken out of this for the pastoral part of the teachings of Pope Pius XII at other occasions. 4. INTER-MIRIFICA, 1963 – decree on the Instruments of Social Communication by the Second Vatican Council Positive Points:
An ecumenical council for the first time in history treats the subject of social communication in an official document.

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Introduces a World Day of Communications.
Introduces the expression “social communication” as a new name for the communication of the church.
An instruction on the pastoral dimension of communication is demanded and authorized by the council fathers to go more into detail and help the implementation of the council principles. This instruction was published finally 1971 with “Communio et Progressio.”
The need for proper training and formation of church people, communicators and recipients, is clearly stated.
The establishment of permanent institution for social communication at the Holy See is proposed. 5. REDEMPTORIS MISSIO, 1990 – “It is not enough to use the media simply to spread the Christian message and the Church’s authentic teaching. It is also necessary to integrate that message into the “new culture” created by modern communications. This is a complex issue since the “new culture” originates not just from whatever content is eventually expressed but from the very fact that there exist new ways of communicating, with new languages, new techniques and a new psychology.” Pope John Paul II The world of communications is the modern Areopagus for the church. 6. AETATIS NOVAE, 1992 – by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. It goes from the cultural-social and political-economic context of modern communication to the service the media can offer. It treats some current challenges like the need for critical evaluation, communication and development and the right to information. Special emphasis is placed on pastoral priorities and the need for pastoral planning. In fact the document contains as integral part of an appendix with “Elements for Pastoral Planning.” Focus: Affirms that these mass media “by no means” detract from the importance of alternative media which are open to people’s involvement and allow them to be active in production and even in designing the process of communication itself. The church rather “must take steps to preserve and promote folk media and other traditional forms of expression, recognizing that in particular societies these can be more effective than newer media in spreading the gospel because they make possible greater personal participation and reach deeper levels of human feeling and motivation”

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Training of pastoral workers and priests to minister to the “information-rich and the information-poor.”

Supplement: FABC-OSC 7th Plenary: Church and Social Communication in Asia Basics For Social Communication In Asia 1.1 Christian communication flows from the Most Holy Trinity. The Trinitarian life of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is in its essence communication. Communication is the unifying bond among the Persons of the Trinity. Because human beings are created in "his image and likeness," they are able to communicate. Any human communication rests in this theological fact. •

•

•

The communicating Trinitarian God communicates with his creatures in revealing himself. For this revelation God uses all modes and means of human communication. He reveals himself on the levels of nature and grace. The high point of God's revelation is the incarnation of his Son Jesus Christ. In him God communicates with us through becoming one of us in the person of his Son: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us..." (Jn 1, 14). The Church exists to continue God's revelation and incarnation into the here and now of every time and place:

The Church is, by her essence, communication, which flows out of the communication of the Holy Trinity. She is founded to continue the communication of Jesus Christ in word and deed. Communication ought therefore to mark the life of the church in Asia. Communication then must be a constitutive dimension of all ministries of the church. Home of the great religions, Asia and its evangelization call for dialogue as a way of life (BM '96).

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1.2 Christian communication serves evangelization and development. In continuing the revelation and incarnation the Church communicates in word and deed Gospel values in the service of humankind. 1.3 Christian communication is social communication. Social communication refers to all "the communicative relations of members of a social system, their means, structures and processes" (cf. Eilers, 1994, 271-278). This has important consequences for the communications' attitude and apostolate of the Church in Asia, especially also in view of local cultures and inculturating Christian values into the old and the media-shaped new cultures of the Asian continent. 1.4 Christian communication is person-oriented. "We are not to lose sight, however, of the truth that it is the person and not the technology that is the best means of communication, especially in Asian cultures.” 1.5 Christian communication has a positive approach. "We should be careful, however, not to brand everything that belongs to the new media cultures decadent or evil. We should not also panic and throw up our hands in despair, thinking there is nothing we can do. As believers, we should have the confidence that we can face this problem - that we can educate our people so that they will allow themselves to be nurtured by what is positive in the new media culture but will firmly reject anything that does not correspond to true Christian faith and to traditional Asian values." (BM '96) 1.6 Christian communication in Asia is dialogic and creating relationships. "The calling posed by the new media culture offers an opportunity for interfaith cooperation in communication activities, because it affects all religious communities in Asia. Hence, interfaith dialogue leading to understanding and cooperation should be an aspect of all our communication programs and activities. It is imperative to make clear to our brothers and sisters of other faiths that we are not in any way aligned with destructive forces in the new media culture. Failure to do so will alienate them further from us. As in many Asian countries, Christianity is still seen as an alien, western religion of the colonizers." (BM '96) 1.7 Christian communication helps through education to build awareness for seeing the way media represent reality, and thus contributes to a more mature and positive approach to a modern communication environment: "Media education, understood not simply as skills training but as awareness and understanding, of the representations of reality generated by media in a media-shaped society, is for all... Hence, media education

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ought to be an essential and integral part of any pastoral plan. Training should be provided from a simple to a more comprehensive form and approach..." (BM '96) 1.8 The public image of the Church and Christians is very often the first "communication" to a non-Christian environment.

CHURCH COMMUNICATION STRUCTURES
Hierarchical structure
National offices
International offices
Diocesan offices The chief tasks of diocesan communication office: To organize the pastoral apostolate within the diocese, penetrating right down to parish level,” and To prepare for world communication day within the diocese. The obligations of the diocesan offices are the same as the national offices, but confined to the diocesan level.
Spokesperson/Press officer
Professional organizations Third Part:

The Challenges of Social Communication towards Evangelization (By Jofti A. Villena)

Materials:

Communicating with Communities (Alecks P. Pabico)

See the Slides (Practical Suggestions)

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VATICAN (Pontifical Council)

INTERNAT’L ORG

FABC

REGIONAL NATIONAL OFFICE

DIOCESAN OFC

PARISH

PARISH

NAT’L ASSOC.

DIOCESAN OFC

PARISH

PARISH

DIOCESAN

PROFESSIONALS