KAROL WOJTYLA'S VISION OF JOURNALISM (1949-1978). PART I (Karola Wojtyly wizja dziennikarstwa (1949-1978). Czesc I)

• Authors: Narewska Dorota
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The article's main thesis is based on the premise that Karol Jozef Wojtyla (1920-2005), the 264th Pope John Paul II (1978-2005), during the Cracow period of his life (during People's Republic of Poland) was a journalist publishing in ninety three catholic newspapers (fifty of which were Polish) and a co-editor of one of them - 'Tygodnik Powszechny'. Based on his twenty nine years of journalistic experience and personal-professional rules proposed to the editors and journalists, he is predestined to formulate his own vision of journalism. The personal, biblical, eucharistic, symphonic, ecumenistic, kerygmatic-rationalistic, ethical, educative, and spiritual Carmelitan vision of journalism is owed to the journalistic-editorial practice and the thought process related to the catholic journalism from the pastoral point of view. The theory of the Honorable God Servant may have a significant influence on the contemporary catholic media whose goal is to satiate the recipient's hunger for God through publishing activity. This scientific paper has proven that Wojtyla was a journalist receiving payments for his articles since 1949 and that, as a result of being the 'religious supervisor,' and served as the editor-in-chief of the 'Tygodnik Powszechny' since 1958. He cooperated with this catholic paper as a bishop, archbishop and cardinal, co-creating its social-cultural profile together with his secular editor Jerzym Turowiczem (1912-1999). Wojtyla wanted it to be a newspaper for catholics who could rediscover Church as well as themselves in it. Out of six hundred thirty five Wojtyla's publications found in the Subject Bibliography Wiktora Gramatowskiego i Zofii Wilinskiej, seventy two articles were published in the Cracow newspapers (proven by utilizing three criteria 'newspapers,' 'genra domination,' 'editorial') while nine of them were published in 'Znak'. It constitutes one fifth of all of Wojtyla's publications from the Cracow period. Two articles, out of eighty one, were chosen for detailed analysis: Mission de France and Catholicism of Stubborness, which show Wojtyla's journalistic growth in 'wisdom and grace'. The publishing debut turned out to be a success for a beginner journalist while the second article resulted in a journalistic 'failure' which later on contributed to choosing a transgressional journalistic path crossing the bounds of the classical forms of press genera. This paper proves that John Paul II's cooperation - which he classified by the term of 'alliance' - 'Tygodnik Powszechny' consisted of four stages characterized by his evolutionary relationship with the newspaper due to the newspaper's changing course and direction. The newspaper faced self-determination problems of character in the socialistic reality (repressive and preventive censorship, lack of printing paper, press monopoly). The leading thesis of the dissertation was to identify Wojtyla's basic journalistic ideas. These are eight essential pirmacies for God's Servant: 1. Primacy 'Spirit's speech' in the Mystical Body of Christ over the speech of a human, 2. Primacy of a person over an object, 3. Primacy of 'to be' over 'to act,' 4. Primacy of 'to be' over 'to have,' 5. Primacy of that which is spiritual over that which is bodily, 6. Primacy of love over conflict, 7. Primacy of internal life over its external aspects, 8. Primacy of initiation over information and pedagogy of faith over opinion journalism. Based on the analysis of Wojtyla's life, teachings and journalistic publications one can formulate nine rules: 1. non-separation between a person and his/her honor (personal), 2. non-separation of triad person-truth-information (eucharistic), 3. dialogical truth (symphonic), 4. internal and external consultation (ecumenistic), 5. initiation in information (kerygmatic), 6. gradual information 'true and complete' (biblical), 7. pedagogy of faith in journalism (apta paedagogia fidei), 8. catholic trust (rational), 9. responsible criticism of Church (ethical). The eight central ideas of Wojtyla's journalism and his nine personal-professional rules (encompassing the tenth mystical rule of replaceable suffering in the intention of evangelization) may become a directional sign for media people. The new theory however requires deep consideration since it was not even accepted by the intellectual elite of the 'Tygodnik Powszechny' with which Wojtyla collaborated.

Keywords

EN

'TYGODNIK POWSZECHNY'; 'ZNAK'; CATHOLIC CHURCH; JOHN PAUL II; JOURNALISM; KAROL WOJTYLA; NEWSPAPERS

Discipline

• MEDIA_&_COMMUNICATION: MEDIA & COMMUNICATION

• Publisher: Faculty of Theology at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin / Chair of the Contemporary Forms of Faith Transmission
• Journal: Biuletyn Edukacji Medialnej
• Year: 2010
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 47-73
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Narewska Dorota

• Dorota Narewska, Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawla II, Wydzial Teologiczny, Al. Raclawickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

11PLAAAA10395