The Vatican has been worldwide media savvy with print, radio and is now starting it’s own broadcast network. Sure those are “traditional” media, but all media — old, new, social — is media. And this is the age when we can all participate like media, maybe just not like some of the world’s wealthy media giants.
I found this story in the broadcast daily newsletter, ShopTalk. It struck me for what it says and doen’t say. The Vatican is making a big investment to create ways to share their voices, passions and stories past, present and future. But like an earlier post in this blog, Robert Scoble interviewed a Catholic Sisiter who is a top ranking IT guru for the Vatican. That interview showed that the Vatican — like companies, individuals, families…good and bad — have strong desires to show and tell stories.
This is the age of expression! It’s best to invest so that you can show and tell your stories clearly, intelligently, with passion and insight. If you have the insider’s view, you get to present it first hand to the world. Doing it with full disclosure, consideration for audiences and good storytelling skills will allow everyone to get information from “the source” and make their own decisions about what they believe.
Here’s the story:
Eric J. Lyman at Reuters/Hollywood Reporter, the Vatican plans new TV network:
Days after Pope Benedict XVI criticised the media for its “destructive” influence, the Vatican on Monday announced plans to launch its first television network by the end of the year.
Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd at the start of his weekly Angelus address over St Peter’s square at the Vatican REUTERS/Tony Gentile
H2O will broadcast news and original entertainment programming worldwide in seven languages, according to a statement. Additional details were sketchy.Over the years, the Vatican has been quick to adopt new technologies in its efforts to communicate with the world’s more than 1 billion Catholics. In 1996, the Vatican introduced its Web portal nearly three years before the Italian state unveiled its own Web site. And it has embraced digital and satellite technology. (more)
Robert Scoble laughed and couldn’t get his words out right. Finally he spit it out. “My mind is racing with a whole number of stereotypes…you’re breaking all of them.” So from the LIFT conference his uplifting interview began with Sister Judith Zoebelein, editorial director of the Holy See. Sister Zeobelein runs the team that builds the Vatican‘s Website and has done so since 1995 — wow! It’s inspiring to see one of the world’s oldest organizations harnessing — or at least seeing the benefits of using — new tools to communicate with people.
Surprised? The Vatican says IT budgets are up and more people hired (now 17) to utilize technology for networking with its worldwide flock and for reaching those living on “the edges.” Celebrating “Digity of the person” is only one of many reasons fo doing so. And the IT team just switched to Apple laptops (Intel Core 2 Inside)!
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Movin' Ahead 