La comunicazione strategica negli eventi ecclesiali

Sergio Tapia-Velasco

• Publisher: EDUSC
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9788883337406
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Nonprofit Organizations & Charities
• Index: Business

L'importanza degli eventi si può percepire soprattutto oggi, in un'epoca in cui lo sviluppo tecnologico e la diffusione capillare dei social media hanno creato un contesto comunicativo caratterizzato da disintermediazione e coinvolgimento diretto delle persone.Un contesto sempre più partecipativo e aperto, nel quale si moltiplicano i generatori di notizie e spesso si produce uno scambio di ruoli tra i media tradizionali e i loro pubblici. Intrattenimento, informazione, divertimento e serietà, tempo libero e riflessione, ormai viaggiano insieme.In questo panorama la dimensione più propria della comunicazione diventa quella dell'incontro – tra persone, temi, istituzioni – che è ciò che caratterizza gli eventi.Come dice Papa Francesco, la sfida è quella di "reimparare a raccontare, non semplicemente a produrre e consumare informazione" per favorire una nuova "cultura dell'incontro".Sergio Tapia-Velasco è professore di Public Speaking e Media Training presso la Facoltà di Comunicazione Istituzionale della Chiesa della Pontificia Università della Santa Croce. Oltre alla comunicazione istituzionale della Chiesa, si dedica allo studio della predicazione, della filosofia della conversazione, dei nuovi movimenti religiosi e della storia della musica contemporanea.

Chapter 8
An International Media Team for Large Church Events. A proposal based on World Youth Day and World Meeting of Families experiences

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Jamie Lynn Black, Thierry Bonaventura, Yago de la Cierva, Marilú Esponda, Paulina Guzik, Cecilia O’Reilly, Rafael Rubio, Leopoldina Simões, Christopher White & Daniel Arasa¹

8.1 Introduction: approach, scope and methodology

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More and more often, the Catholic Church organizes large events which thousands, even millions, of people attend: canonizations like that of Mother Teresa in St. Peter’s Square in 2016, a Papal trip anywhere in the world, large processions with popular images as Nuestro Señor de los Remedios in Lima, and many others.²

And while the Church promotes large events for their pastoral value, not for the headlines, they are indisputably unique opportunities for Church communicators. In normal circumstances, at least in Western countries, the Church mostly undergoes media attention, as the news is often bad—forcing the Church to respond or defend. When something positive happens, Church communicators often have to convince reporters that it is real news, not propaganda. In large events, on the contrary, the Church drives the story and the media are listening. Large events are a gold mine for Church communicators.

Dealing with media in any large event on the local level does involve some difficulties, mainly because of the huge number of reporters who generate an intense demand all at the same time. But that obstacle can be overcome with just a good core communication team and some reinforcements.

International events like World Youth Days (WYD) and World Meeting of Families (WMOF) represent a completely different set of challenges. The role of a communicator is complicated not just by the number of reporters, but by the kind of attention they require. International media comes with varied needs in terms of languages, cultural and working styles, perspectives, and interests.³

Dealing with media at such events is difficult for two reasons. First, the local media is always a priority for any local organizer, and, when the growing to do list begins to overwhelm, the international media coverage is not a top concern for any event organizer. It is tempting for them to ask: why bother with something that does not really affect me? And second, media relations in a large, international event requires experienced personnel with an international mindset—something not always easily found with communication departments.

The goal of this paper is twofold: explain why an international event requires an international media office; and how an International Media Team could be an effective tool to solve that need.

The scope here is limited to media relations. We are well aware that dealing with media is only a fraction of the communications efforts during a large event, and probably not its main one (direct communication with the main stakeholders through online platforms is even more important), but we will concentrate our attention on this element,⁴ to maintain focus and respect space limits.

Regarding methodology, our considerations are based on real experiences in the largest Church events organized since 2002. The paper studies the past and presents a reasoned, complete and feasible proposal. Our goal is practical: to help the organizers and communicators of future Church events anticipate problems, avoid them, and to contribute to a qualitative rise in Church communications for the benefit of both the Church and the media covering its events.

8.2 Lessons from the past

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a. International Church gatherings

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In the last fifty years, Popes have been traveling a lot. So far, there are only a few countries not visited by successors of St. Peter, and the reason why is not their lack of interest but the opposition of the local civil and/or religious authorities: Russia, China, North Korea and most of the Islamic countries.

On the other side of the spectrum, eight countries were visited at least once (though sometimes more) by each of the last three Popes: Brazil, France, Germany, Mexico, Poland, Spain, United States and, of course, Italy. That means that several dioceses and bishops conferences have experience organizing papal trips. They would know what to do (and what not to do) if they had to organize the media coverage of a papal trip in the future.

When it comes to international gatherings such as WYD and WMOF, however, this confidence can sometimes be part of the problem as these events are quite different events from a normal papal trip. They are truly international, in a different way as other large events that attract international media, such as the United States Democratic or Republican conventions, the funerals of a head of state or the crowning of a new king or queen. These are local events with international exposure. WYD and WMOF, on the other hand, are more like the Olympic Games, or other sportive world championships, in which the event is international represented, and accordingly, its communications is as well.

This profoundly international character has consequences in terms of content, spokespersons, logistics (credentials, media center, TV signal, services available to foreign broadcasters, etc.) and calendar. It makes WYD and WMOF something radically different from a “normal” papal trip.

Good communication for an international Church gathering should be glocal:⁵ simultaneously global and local, as the Church is simultaneously global and local. Content has to be framed accordingly to the different audiences the international media are reaching, adapting it continuously so it can be understood and relevant to many people around the globe who, while not in attendance, want to be connected to the event.

In this sense, an International Media Team (from now on, IMT) could be an effective addition to the local organizers’ communication plan. In the following pages, we will develop a detailed description of the roles that must be filled and lay out practical ways to assemble such a team, but first let us take a glance at past experiences in large Church events to paint a clearer picture of exactly the kind of challenges an IMT will face.

b. Five communication dilemmas for local organizing committees

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A study of the last WYD and WMOF communications reports show that the main media relations problems for communication departments can be explained with five questions: (a) who should make decisions on communication matters; (b) who has to deal with media; (c) what information must they be able to access; (d) how to take care of the international media; and (e) how should the communication department be organized.

1. Who should make decisions on communication matters?

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WYD & WMOF are complex events, and one of the reasons for their complexity is that there are several authorities operating in different layers and in both civil and religious spheres. As Vatican events organized by a local diocese they have two heads: the prefect of the corresponding Vatican dicastery⁶ and the local archbishop or bishop. As they usually include a papal visit, the Vatican Secretariat of State decides everything related to the Pope,⁷ which deals directly with the local committee but also through the nunciature.

In addition, when the event is part of a larger papal trip that includes stops in other cities, the regional conference of bishops usually participates in the organization and in its communication.⁸ Additionally, participants in these events do not typically attend individually but in groups, and this reality makes internationalization even more substantial.⁹

WYD and WMOF also have important civil aspects: it implies not only the visit of a head of state, but also large crowds of people, with consequences for security, transportation and traffic, public health, etc. These are competences of the local City Hall, the regional administration, and the national government. These entities decide many things (with or without the Church committee consensus), and they also communicate with their own spokespersons and through their own channels.

As organizational science explains, communication is a part of management.¹⁰ As such, it is part of the decision-making process. Since each large event has a different decisional structure based on cultural, political, economic and also personal motives, it is not possible to describe just one effective solution for all situations. Nevertheless, it is safe to deduce from experience three conclusions:

1. Management and communication go together, so those who communicate something have to be close to those who decide about that issue. As a consequence, you cannot separate communicators from bosses (for instance, outsourcing the Media Office to an external provider);¹¹
2. The more event Church and civil organizers define procedures, channels, and spokespersons in advance, the better—for both consistency and internal unity;¹³
3. Being the event’s spokesperson is clearly a communication function, and cannot be separated from the rest (social networks, website, grassroots campaigns, etc.).¹⁴

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2. Who has to deal with media?

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Almost all Church events organizing committees’ start thinking that media coverage is so important that only the top management can do it. And they are right: the public success of the event will depend on media coverage, and you can’t make mistakes in front of TV cameras. The problem is, top management agendas become thicker and thicker as months pass by. They have time to deal with reporters when media is not yet interested in the event b...

Table of contents

• Indice
• Introduzione
• Capitolo 1La grandezza degli eventi è nelle persone
• Chapter 2Managing Communication in Large Church Events1
• Chapter 3Communications Plan for the Pope’s Visit to the Philippines Manila, Philippines January 15–19, 2015
• Capítulo 4Misionero de misericordia y paz: la oficina de prensa del Viaje apostólico del Papa Francisco a México
• Capítulo 5Comunicar la Beatificación de Romero. Tres momentos
• Chapter 6Communicating mercy during World Youth Day 2016. A case study on how to make young people practice Christian values
• Capítulo 7Las redes sociales en grandes eventos internacionales
• Chapter 8An International Media Team for Large Church Events. A proposal based on World Youth Day and World Meeting of Families experiences