“Who cares?” That might very well be your response regarding the latest in the ongoing saga of former CNN host Chris Cuomo and former CNN president Jeff Zucker. Why should we spend any of our precious time following the developments of folks who have done their part to give the already questionable news media yet another big fat black eye, and that could be considered the understatement of the century, as the old saying goes. But there are many reasons why we should care. The latest revelations are shocking to say the least, because they pertain to further allegations of intentional manipulation of information. Media do matter, as in the influence of media on our lives; including whether we want to realize it, the daily choices we make.
“…when the coexistence of human beings within a community is founded on truth, it is ordered and fruitful, and it corresponds to their dignity as persons. The more people and social groups strive to resolve social problems according to the truth, the more they distance themselves from abuses and act in accordance with the objective demands of morality.”
— Vatican’s Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, VII., 198
The Church teaches us that Catholics, as Archbishop Charles Chaput stated years ago so eloquently: “need to know how the media work, so they don’t work on us.” And as the plot with the CNN scandal continues to thicken, we’re learning that media moguls and their mouth pieces, or as in the case of Jeff Zucker and Chris Cuomo, former moguls, and megaphones, well quite frankly they have been indeed working on us overtime.
That’s why I hope you take some time to listen to my most recent “Fact Check Friday” segment from my Catholic Connection Radio Program. This is a segment dedicated to revealing how the mainstream media is manipulating the information they report. I help Catholics and other Christians discern fact from fiction. I also hope you’ll visit, or revisit, the many teachings of the Church on media as well as other resources which I have included below.
I do care; we all should care about how long and how many times we’ve been duped by the media powers that be.
Click Here to Listen to my latest “Fact Check Friday.”
Resources:
- Fact Check Friday Radio Show Segments – Teresa Tomeo
- NOISE: How Our Media-saturated Culture Dominates Lives and Dismantles Families – Teresa Tomeo
- Modern Media: Facing the Danger, Opportunities & Responsibilities – Streaming Video or MP3 Download, 4-Part Course
- Resources for Media Awareness
- The Rapid Development – Pope St. John Paul II
- The Use of Social Communications Media – Catechism of the Catholic Church
- World Communications Day Message 2022 – Pope Francis
- Vatican’s Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, VII., 198
- OSV Webcast, The Truth Shall Set Us Free, But Only If We Let It: A Catholic Response to Media Bias and Mob Mentality – Teresa Tomeo
