Speaking to a gathering of Italian Periodical Press Union and the Italian Federation of Catholic Weeklies members at the Vatican, Pope Francis urged them toward more accurate and less sensational reporting.
Encouraging them to be more thorough in their reporting and avoid “clamorous and ambiguous speech,” the pontiff encouraged them to use calmer language.
“Your free and responsible voice is fundamental for the growth of any society that wants to be called democratic, so that a continuous exchange of ideas and a profitable debate based on real and correctly reported facts are assured,” Pope Francis said, adding that:
“There is no need to fall into the ‘sins of communications’: misinformation, that is saying only a part which is calumny and which is sensational, or defamation that seeks out things past and old and bringing them to light today. They are very grave sins that damage the heart of the journalist and damage the people.”
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