Honesty is our best policy

by Editor · May 18, 2001

Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, has many anecdotes to tell about his days as a Catholic journalist in the United States.

One such story he told the Paris meeting of the Inter-national Catholic Union of the Press in 1997. The then-Father Foley was the media spokesman for the US bishops, whose meetings were not open to the press. During one meeting, a bishop said something that was widely regarded as foolish, which Fr Foley relayed to the media. Asked by the flabbergasted bishops why he had done so, Fr Foley replied: “It’s not my job to save people from their own foolishness. It is my job to report accurately.”

Archbishop Foley told the Catholic journalists that their “first responsibility is not to offer our own opinions, not to filter events through the prism of our own preconceptions or even our own convictions, but to provide an objective, dispassionate and complete account” of the news.

On another occasion he reminded an assembly of Catholic journalists that “when virtue may be sadly lacking, the only appropriate response is honesty.”

In yet another address, Archbishop Foley said that Catholic editors have a duty to report fully the news, even if such news is bad.

“I’m not saying that Catholic newspapers should be seeking bad news I am saying that we cannot and should not deny or ignore” bad news.

The editorial policy of The Southern Cross is guided by the principles held by the man appointed by the pope to head Catholic social communications.

When there is news that reflects badly on the Church, the Catholic press would act negligently in brushing these under the carpet, or even delay publication, for whatever reason. In doing so, the Catholic press not only guards its integrity another theme emphasised by Archbishop Foley but also serves its readers by providing the full story, arming them with all the information necessary to counteract anti-Catholic propaganda.

We do not relish scandal. But when publishing bad news becomes a necessity (and as a rule we begin such reports by presenting the point of view of the relevant Church authority, usually the Vatican or the local bishops), our readers have the right to expect from us the full truth, without fear or favour.