The miracle of the media

75 Days to go!!

It is truly amazing how skilled the media is at turning what is a neutral or positive story into what comes across as completely negative. let's take two examples:

A couple of weeks ago a news story appeared here in which the headline read "Pope knocks back Youth Day Vestments". Now that seems to be a very serious claim as we currently have all the vestments in production and it makes us sound like we are totally working at odds with the Holy Father. In reality though when you read the article there was no actual reference to the Pope knocking back anything. They took a quote from a new book about the Pope by Dr Tracey Rowland which stated that the Pope doesn't like rock music in church or symbols in vestments that aren't explicitely Christian (and that last part wasn't even given as a quote!). Well none of that is any revelation to those who know the Pope and those who have followed what has been coming out of Rome for some time now, ie for all time really. The symbol on the back of the WYD vestements has been publically announced to be an aboriginal painting of the Holy Spirit and a Southern Cross image on the front so I would hardly say they are pagan. Now they may not be to everyone's liking and no one is saying they are the most beautiful vestments ever made but they certainly carry a dignity and beauty that is obvious (and they certainly beat in my opinion what was used in Toronto in 2005!).

Of course the article didn't bother to mention that the vestments for the clergy in the upcoming World Youth Day had been approved long ago in Rome.

Now the second article appeared today as a response to a press release put out by WYD. Now first of all, have a look at the press release:

123,000 pilgrims confirmed to attend WYD08 – and counting

Almost 123,000 pilgrims have confirmed they are coming to World Youth Day Sydney 2008 (WYD08), with registrations well on track to achieving 225,000 registered pilgrims. WYD08 organisers say 85,000 individuals have so far registered online, including some 30,000 Australians.

Additionally, WYD08 has received financial commitments from several large national Bishops Conferences, including the Italian Bishops Conference (11,000 pilgrims); the Polish Bishops Conference (3,000); the French Bishops Conference (3,800); the German Bishops Conference (3,000); and an additional 17,000 from the widely followed Neo-Catechumenal Way who are still in the process of completing their online registrations.

The total to date is 93,000 international registrants and 30,000 domestic registrants.

A significant number of paper applications are also currently being processed. “We are excited to welcome the youth of the world to Sydney for this magnificent occasion,” said Danny Casey, WYD08 Chief Operating Officer. “We are on track to achieve our estimated number of overseas pilgrims,” he said.

The top 10 countries by registration are: Australia, the USA, Italy, Germany, Philippines, New Zealand, Spain, France, Mexico and Canada. “Our advice from Rome is that the typical scenario of past World Youth Days is that the majority of pilgrims register in the last few months,” Mr Casey said. “Our official tour operator, Harvest Tours, has bookings for 48,000 pilgrims.”

Mr Casey said the Department of Immigration and Citizenship has processed some 21,000 visa applications, with 4,000 applications awaiting approval from the Department and an additional 25,000 have commenced their visa process through the WYD08 website. “About 30% of all pilgrims will not need a visa, including those from New Zealand. “We are encouraging all pilgrim Group Leaders to complete their registrations to avoid processing difficulties for the Department. “Our one message is – don’t miss out on the event of this lifetime! Register to attend at http://www.wyd2008.org/ and join the youth of the world in this great celebration.” Sydney will host the 23rd World Youth Day from 15 – 20 July this year. Organised by the Catholic Church but open to all, the event will mark the first visit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Australia.

Now to me that is a pretty upbeat and encouraging press release, but by some marvel of editorial magic what came about was this story entitled "Miracle needed to save the Day". Need I really say more! Now of course not all the WYD media has been bad but let's keep praying to St Francis de Sales to Patron saint of journalists for more good encouraging coverage.