How about some info ethics?

How about a little “info ethics” in addition to “bio ehtics” and all the others.?

That was basically the message of Pope Benedict XVI on the feast day of St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of journalists.

"In view of their meteoric technological evolution, the media have acquired extraordinary potential, while raising new and hitherto unimaginable questions and problems," the Pope writes. Commenting on the increasing power of the mass media, he notes that the communications revolution has helped to increase world literacy, speed the flow of information, and sometimes strengthen democracy and international understanding.

However, the media can also be exploited, the Pope warned, in the interest of "subjecting humanity to agendas dictated by the dominant interests of the day." That danger is heightened, he said, "when communication is used for ideological purposes or for the aggressive advertising of consumer products."

Equally dangerous, the Pontiff continues, is the use of the media to "legitimize or impose distorted models of personal, family or social life." He added that the means of social communication can be corrupted by users who are prone to "vulgarity and violence, and to overstep the mark."

The distortions that occur through the means of modern communications technology, the Pope continued, are particularly dangerous because the media "claim not simply to represent reality, but to determine it."

In light of this extraordinary power and influence, the Pope suggested the development of a new field of special moral analysis, covering the proper use of modern information technology. He observed: "Many people now think there is a need, in this sphere, for 'info-ethics,' just as we have bioethics in the field of medicine and in scientific research linked to life."

(Today is fhe feast day of St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), patron of the Catholic Press, who was known as the “Gentleman Saint.” He wrote the Introduction to the Devout Life and A Treatise on the Love of God)