Michael KellyThe Church in Ireland must build a new relationship of “mutual respect and trust” with the media Archbishop Eamon Martin has said.
Speaking at the annual Radharc Awards in Dublin, the Primate of All-Ireland said the media had to move beyond caricatures of the Church.
“It is true that we in the Church have sometimes reacted defensively or in denial to legitimate criticism in the media. It is also true that some commentators, particularly on social media, seem at times to have lost the ability to objectively question a story, running instead with their consensus caricature of the Church.
“Most now accept that the media has played a vitally important role in Ireland and around the world, in lifting the lid on a terrible and shameful chapter of our history; giving a voice to those who for years had been carrying a lonely trauma.
“Media attention of these issues has accelerated the development and implementation of best practice in safeguarding, both in the Church and throughout society,” the Primate said.
Archbishop Eamon said he believed “it is now time for us to build afresh mutual respect and trust between the Church and the media in Ireland, not in any fawning or deferential manner, but in recognition of the fact that we share similar goals – to seek out the truth, to highlight injustice.
“In many ways we have a common mission – vocation even – to interact with society and the world in order to promote truth, ask hard questions, multiply goodness, enhance beauty and to serve the common good,” the archbishop said.
Archbishop Eamon paid tribute to Radharc, describing it as “probably the most significant media achievement of the Church in Ireland in the 20th century.
“The Radharc squad were like ‘missionaries’ offering a commentary, in the light of Gospel values and Catholic social teaching, on what Ireland and the world were really like and were becoming. Their approach to the involvement of Church in the media, was pioneering for its time, but also prophetic in what it says to us today,” he said.
The Radharc awards for television documentary films in the tradition of Radharc were presented at a lunch in the Stillorgan Park Hotel Dublin.
The winner of the Radharc trophy was Paula Keogh of Saoi Media for her production of An Dubh ina Gheal (Assimilation) first broadcast in December 2013 on TG4. In this film, Louis de Paor weaves a social and personal history about the complex relationship between the indigenous Australians and Irish immigrants who went to live there.
The highly commended award was presented to Ruán Magan of Create One Media, Dublin, for his documentary Lifers which was broadcast on RTÉ 1 in January 2013.The film tells the story of veteran Irish missionaries who spend their lives helping others and perhaps never coming home.
The commended award was presented to Gerry Gregg of Praxis Pictures Blackrock, Co. Dublin for his film Close to Evil, first broadcast on RTÉ in September 2014. It tells the story of Holocaust survivor Tomi Reichental who discovers that one of his jailers is still alive. He sets out to investigate her claim that she is innocent and finds some unexpected results in the course of his investigation.
The Radharc New Media Award for short documentaries was won by Niamh Heery of SwanSong Films for her film Harmanli: Trapped on the Fringe of Freedom, first screened in the Lighthouse Cinema in June 2014. The film is about Syrian refugees living in a refugee camp in Bulgaria waiting endlessly for news of their refugee status in one of the poorest countries in the European Union.
The Radharc awards honour the memory of the late Fr Joe Dunn, co-founder of Radharc Films. They are presented to the producers of documentaries of outstanding quality, which address national or international topics of social justice, morality or faith.
The documentary can be of any religious adherence, but it should portray positive human values in its report.