Liberty and truth in responsibility,
journalism at the service of the person

Rome, November 17, 2010 - Magdi Allam, former assistant editor of the Italian newspaper “Il Corriere della Sera,” a Muslim born in Egypt and an Italian citizen, received his baptism at the hands of Pope Benedict XVI some years ago during the Easter Vigil at St. Peter's, fueling a wave of criticism among radical Muslims in Europe. As a result he lives with security guard protection.

Allam, who took Christian as his new first name, recalled that “the combination of freedom and truth, accompanied by the practice of responsibility, represents today the essential aspects that should characterize the work of journalism.” While we are witnessing the "disintegration of the person," caused by an increasingly rampant relativism and the consequent lack of truth in social relations, it is more necessary than ever to "restore the public's right to accurate, responsible information.” This was the allegation made by Magdi Cristiano Allam, MEP, writer and journalist, who spoke  at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in a meeting with students of the School of Church Communications.

The speaker stressed the need to bring to media news a "battle for truth and freedom as a service to the person," two things that cannot be given univocally and that must therefore "light the way for those who work in the field of journalism." You cannot, in fact, reach the truth unless you are a "free mind," capable of looking at reality "without prejudice and without deception." At the same time, no one is free without the ability to tell the truth in its completeness. This reasoning - according to Allam - extends to the problem of "relativism," that, in a certain sense, negates access to reason because it "deprives us of the parameters of evaluation." Pluralism does not mean that every opinion assumes equal value, otherwise it all ends in denying "the very notion of truth." Persons have equal value, not opinions.

That concept of "freedom" results in a profound distortion, because today it is essentially defined as the "measure of having and appearing rather than being," making citizens simple "consumers." The recent global economic crisis has demonstrated the failure of this way of thinking.  So it is not an exaggeration to say that "a consumerist and materialistic civilization, is characterized by, among other things, a "demographic suicide," and is destined to disappear. The victims most subject to these results are  youth, deprived of "certain references in the context of morality, family and evenpolitics in a broad sense."

Faced with all these difficulties, journalists are called to respond with “commitment” in order to regain “the authentic values of truth and liberty,” which reside fundamentally in “what we ourselves are.” Those in communications must become "trainers of minds and consciences," far from those "prejudices and stereotypes that often inadvertently perpetuate themselves,” and should undertake the commitment of "witnessing" in this "historic moment." Each one, according to their share of the responsibility, must be able to give “good example,” showing a correspondance "between what is said and professed, and what is done."

Answering students' questions and referring to recent events in Iraq with the martyrdom of numerous Christians systematically threatened by Islamic terrorism, Allam has called for intervention by the international community, which "ties Iraqi institutions to respect for religious freedom." He also expressed regret at the lack of serious intervention by the European Union, which is "so de-Christianized, without a soul" as to be "incapable of concretely helping persecuted Christians."

The speaker was also helped in a way to remember the moment of his baptism at the hands of Pope Benedict XVI,  and called the Pope "a witness of faith and freedom," "true shepherd of faith," capable of bringing "the freedom of Jesus Christ to anyone who freely asks him."

by Giovanni Tridente