Pope Francis on the Media

In the book on Heaven and Earth, I just just read a couple of remarks by Pope Francis in which he makes some astute observations about the Press, Media, Politics, and Clericalism, among other hot button issues. I admire how freely he speaks, speaks up and speaks out, uninhibited, not-one-bit-intimidated, open, friendly and humble, even though he is aware what he says is not going to be accurately represented in the morning paper. 

 Here's one gem: "The problem of the press, truthfully, is that sometimes they reduce what one says to whatever is opportune. Today, from two or three facts, the media spins something different: they misinform."

Here's another: "Today image is more important than what is proposed. Plato said in The Republic, rhetoric- which equates aesthetic- is to politics what cosmetics is to health. We have displaced the essential with the aesthetic; we have deified polling and marketing."

This third one is another favorite: "The media's way of putting things, in black and white, is a sinful tendency that always favors conflict over unity...Today there is misinformation because only part of the truth is said, only what interests them is taken for their convenience, and that does a lot of damage because it is a way of favoring conflict. If I read five newspapers comparing the same story, it is very often that each one will emphasize the part it is most interested in according to its inclination."