From 1 August 2013, the new Director of ANS is a Salesian Brother from Argentina, José Luis Muñoz. ...
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From 1 August 2013, the new Director of ANS is a Salesian Brother from Argentina, José Luis Muñoz. Fr Donato Lacedonio has been Director for the past eight years.
(ANS – Roma) – From 1 August 2013, the new Director of ANS is a Salesian Brother from Argentina, José Luis Muñoz. Fr Donato Lacedonio has been Director for the past eight years. Before leaving to begin a new adventure at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, he gave this brief interview.
What were your thoughts when they asked you to become Director of ANS?

When the Vicar of the Rector Major, Fr Bregolin, and the then Councillor for Social Communication, Fr Scaramussa, asked me over the phone if I were willing, my first reaction was “Fine!” Then, in the weeks that followed, when I saw what was involved, I asked myself, “What made me say that?” I am joking! I have always had a passion for the world of communication. My initial “fine” lasted all during these years, with varying intensity, but it was always “fine!”

What was your biggest challenge working in ANS?

Let me mention three, instead of just one. It is hard to put them in order! Perhaps the biggest challenge was that of credibility. To continue to make ANS a credible channel of information, both for the people who entrust us with information to be published – the Rector Major, Councillors, Provincials – and for our readers who include religious, lay people, journalists and so on. There is still a lot to be done to integrate ANS into a global communication system for the Congregation, and this will depend mainly on policy decisions.
A second challenge concerns the network of correspondents and collaborators, and it is related to the first. Not all the provinces have a correspondent. After eight years working in ANS, I am convinced that there is no shortage of news stories, but a shortage of people to tell the story or who even want to tell the story. In the Congregation we have a rich patrimony of stories, plans, initiatives … all very newsworthy, but it never reaches us!

The third challenge is that of language. An editor has to think in several different languages every day. News items come from different nations and often they are not in Italian! There is the added task of verifying and integrating the different sources. ANS publishes in six languages and this is due to the translators who work every day to ensure that the same news arrives in every part of the Salesian world.
What is the major challenge facing ANS in the years ahead?

I think that depends on what happens. Major news agencies, are changing not only from paper to digital but in their whole approach. ANS made the change to digital in 2004 and 2005. At present, only ANSfoto is printed and it is still appreciated. The tendency nowadays is towards participative journalism. The social networks may give the impression that a news agency is a thing of the past, but I think that is not so! The social networks offer new incentives, new ways of working and new strategies. A news agency, on the other hand, can guarantee the quality and the official source of the information.
What are you taking away with you from this experience?

Without doubt I am leaving with a better knowledge and experience of the Salesian world. Being Director of ANS enabled me in different ways to get to know the many faces of Don Bosco in the world, and the different forms that the Oratory founded in Valdocco has taken on in all five continents. I was able to meet that multitude of young people that Don Bosco saw in his dreams. Above all, I saw the work of my confreres. I do not say this lightly. I have witnessed the dedication and the passion of many Salesians for the young.
Tell us four things about your work as a journalist: one beautiful, one amusing, one joyful and one sad.

The beautiful thing is what I have already referred to in the previous reply, and it is getting to know, explore, discover and develop a news story.

I think the most amusing thing is when something or other is being spoken about and people ask, “When was that said?” and I am able to answer, “It was published in ANS a few years ago!”

My greatest joy is when I see something I have published being taken and republished by other agencies. It means that it was read and appreciated by other professionals.

The sad thing is what people call ‘nosiness’, always asking questions. It is part of the job. You need to ask questions to get information about what is happening and to get a different view of things, from Salesians and others… nosiness for the sake of information!
link: www.infoans.org/1.asp?sez=1&sotSez=13&doc=9529&lingua=2

The Provincial Delegate for Social Communication

Role: The Delegate:
can be a Sal ...
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The Provincial Delegate for Social Communication

Role: The Delegate:
can be a Salesian or lay person and fosters communication in the Province on the Provincial’s behalf. The preference is for the person to be full time.

Details of the role: The Delegate:
149. collaborates with different teams (depending on the structure that exists on behalf of the Salesian mission to the young in the Province) for an integrated implementation, working in particular in a coordinated way with delegates for other sectors. In the case of Province business operations, enterprises, the delegate ought find appropriate representation, in agreement with the provincial economer, on the board or other management structure.

150. collaborates in drawing up and applying the Provincial Social Communication Plan.

151. accompanies and animates, to the extent that it is possible, all that relates to communication in the Province:

the Provincial Council;
Salesian communities;
local contacts for communication;
different areas of communication activities;
ongoing formation of Salesian confreres in the communications area;

152. networks with people responsible for each level in the Province, to coordinate the activities of the SSCS, emphasising the Salesian criteria outlined in an earlier part of this section:

Development and execution of plans at the various provincial and local levels;
Advancement process and implementation of activities and programs in formation, information and production.
Integration in the YM Team/Provincial Commission.
Presence in leadership teams involved with Communications production.

153. needs an overall perspective that allows him or her to make well-targeted interventions to ensure a balance between the local Salesian information centre and the world centre, in the following areas:

ANS (Salesian Info Agency): local information (correspondents);
the production and dissemination of information within the Province and the Salesian Family, tools such as the Provincial Newsletter, the Salesian Bulletin, other local products;
the operation of the website;
the functioning of the press office;
an active and positive contact with structures, people and media in the area;
Salesian image, in terms of quality and quantity;
the significance of our presence in the media and the press.
154. attends communications (SSCS) meetings at different levels (Conference, Region, World), contributing to action in synergy in the Congregation.

155. works with Church, religious, governmental and civilian groups involved in communication.
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Makati (Philippines) This broadcasting facility, located a few minutes away from the FIN Provincial ...
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Makati (Philippines) This broadcasting facility, located a few minutes away from the FIN Provincial House in Makati, is owned by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, a leading newspaper of the country. The newspaper started its own radio station in order to cater to the masses that listen to the AM band. This radio station, called DZIQ Radyo Inquirer 990kHz, approached the Salesians in the later part of 2010 and offered them the possibility of managing an hour and a half slot every Sunday, dealing with themes related to the Sunday Liturgy.

Thanks to the confreres who first agreed to carry out this apostolate through the Radyo Inquirer 990kHz, the Salesian style and concern for the young has been reaching the whole of the Philippines for almost three years. Now, the new Social Communication delegate, Fr. Bernard Nolasco, continues this service as the main presenter together with co-presenter, Miss Imelda Benitez, a Salesian Cooperator.