Archbishop to challenge media
The Archbishop of Canterbury is to challenge the media to undergo a radical reassessment of the way it operates.
In what is being billed as a major speech by Lambeth Palace, Dr Rowan Williams is set to urge the media to rethink the common-heard refrain of “public interest” .
Dr Williams is expected to say: “There is a difference between exposing deceptions that sustain injustice and attacking confidentialities or privacies that in some sense protect the vulnerable.high levels of adversarial and suspicious probing send the clear message that any kind of concealment is guilty until proved innocent.”
He will add: “There are undoubtedly facts which would be of huge interest to a certain sort of public, but are not by any stretch of the imagination matters of public interest in the sense that not knowing them creates or prolongs a seriously unjust situation.”
In a lecture delivered on Wednesday evening to media professionals, politicians and church leaders, Dr Williams is also expected to take issue with the Westminster Village atmosphere that pervades some news reporting.
He will argue that the way news is packaged and marketed actually creates a “parallel universe” which is remote from most people’s experiences.
And he will tell the media that action must be taken to tackle the “embarrassingly low level of trust in the profession” so that media can take on its role as a “necessity for mature democracy”.
The Archbishop is not expected to be wholly critical of the media, as he is set also to praise the courage and commitment journalists have shown in promoting “moral change and vision”.
As a caveat, Dr Williams will also note “the relation with the wider society is mutual; societies to some extent have the media they deserve and license”.
