World Radio Day - February 13, 2022

WORLD RADIO DAY FEBRUARY 13, 2022 - Theme:  TRUST 

The theme “trust” is one I would not expect to see adapted by a UNESCO World Radio Day, and yet this is obviously the message they want to highlight and reinforce on the global landscape.  It is encouraging to see a positive value such as “trust”, being promoted by the media, because the phrase “fake news” lingers in the air long after it was first uttered.   Those words send waves of suspicion across all media, communication, and has weakened the rafters of my own mind. 

While that is the view of reality through my lens, a broader more accurate picture of radio offers fresh light.   I have learned that 80 years after the founding of the first radio station, radio continues to thrive currently in this Internet era.  From a global perspective, radio is accessible, affordable, especially in developing countries, and essential in times of climate disasters. An overwhelming majority of people around the world continue to stay tuned.   

One of the goals of World Radio Day is to celebrate humanity in all its diversity.   As example, in 2014 the theme was Gender Equality and Women Empowerment, while in 2019 the theme was Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace, in 2020 it was Radio Diversity, while in 2021 it was Evolution, Innovation and Connection.  I find this impressive. 

I would be remiss not to single out John Fetzer of Kalamazoo Mi who made a fortune in the broadcasting business of radio, television, cable and closed-circuit music transmission. Greater than all that was his quiet curiosity about meditation, prayer, philosophy, other ways of healing and positive thinking that sets him apart long after his death in 1991.  With his wealth he created a huge endowment known as the Fetzer Institute, to support spiritual/wellness pursuits, to provide education/opportunities for others currently and for years to come.   

I believe Fetzer would approve of this year’s theme of “trust” for World Radio Day and in closing, pose a question from the website of the Fetzer Institute: “How can the entrepreneurial spirit and financial resources gained from the American business sector be used in the service of creating a better world”? Fetzer, in his own passionate way, created a model for us to examine and enrich life.   For more information about the Fetzer Institute go to fetzer.org/work and explore the many programs/themes plus free offerings listed under resources. 

 -Sister Patricia St. Louis csj 

The Role of Journalists

The Importance of Journalists and Publishers

My primary purpose for this blog is to affirm the critical value of journalists.  My second purpose is to call attention to the terrible injustice of trafficking labour in Canada. Reading the individual stories of victims in the April 6 and April 8 editions of the Globe and Mail is heart rending. The abuse of unscrupulous traffickers contained in these editions contain horrendous accounts of the kind of abuse we might expect in places where traffickers force immigrants into leaky boats crossing the Caribbean or lead them across the deserts of southern United States.  In this article I wish to applaud the courage and skill of journalists who investigate and write stories of government neglect or abuse, and of the publishers who dare to publish them. We hear of the imprisonment and murders of journalists in Mexico and other countries. We have seen how journalists of investigated and written accounts about such topics as “unfounded” rape charges, money laundering, insurance fraud, solitary confinement, abusive sales of telecommunication packages or bank services have forced governments, corporations, and institutions to change their practices. 

In a time of instant and unreliable spreading of news on social media, we need more than ever to support our journalists and publishers. Political parties promise transparency of government during election campaigns but once in office they tend to make it very difficult, expensive, and time consuming for journalist to access information needed to keep the public informed. Reading reliable newspapers and magazines, writing letters to editors or members of parliament, and supporting responsible broadcast and television stations are some of the ways in which we can protect freedom of speech and promote democracy in Canada.

Trafficking Foreign Workers

In this paragraph, I am simply quoting some phrases and sentences from the April 6 and April 8 editions of the Globe and Mail.  These two editions contain well investigated accounts of how unscrupulous immigration consultants and international recruiters make millions of dollars by enticing thousands of foreigners seeking sustainable employment in Canada to non-existent jobs, uncertified training in career colleges, virtual enslavement, and horrifying living conditions. The Globe’s four-month investigation identified 45 recruiters and consultants “accused of exploiting at least 2,300 people . . . from countries such as India, the Philippines, Mexico, and Guatemala for their money, their labour or both.” . . . “The Trudeau government is well aware, from being told repeatedly in consultations, that some recruits are ending up in dismal situations. Working under intolerable conditions for meager pay. Crammed into wretched temporary housing. Holding a useless career-college diploma and no work permit.”  . . . . “The number of licensed immigration Consultants has doubled to more than 5,000 in the past five years . . . . . “Enforcement is lacking . . . . . “the number of leads that immigration authorities recorded about employment fraud by agents doubled in the past five years – from 153 to 301 – while, inexplicably, the number of investigations went down to 27 from 38.”

Freedom of the press matters. How can each of us support this in our Country?   How will our Government respond to the Globe and Mail’s  reports of abusive treatment of immigrants?

- Sister Pat McKeon

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY is this FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2019