Isolate the Reasons of the

¶ … isolate the reasons of the direct IMPACT that Catholic Voices Catholicism and its surrounding faith were given a stern test in 2010 with a number of potentially scandalous accusations leveled against it. Yet when the Pope visited the United Kingdom in the fall of that year, there was a perceived air of positivism that accompanied the media's depiction of this event. This paper will research exactly what impact Catholic Voices, a media advocacy group based in the United Kingdom, had on the media's portrayal of the Pope's visit.

Various members of Catholic Voices were interviewed, and several media sources were examined to verify and determine what role Catholic Voices played in the media's coverage of this event.

Findings show that Catholic Voices was able to positively impact the media's coverage by anticipating the media's need for information in a timely fashion, presenting its group members as experts on Catholicism in the United Kingdom because they lived there, and by utilizing social media -- all of which points to the media's evolution as a forum in which regular citizens determine what is newsworthy.

Introduction Increased advancements in technology and in its various forms of interactive, social applications has widely altered the way in which modern media disseminates and portrays information. The scope of possibility for a single citizen's impact on the perception of national and global, events has never been greater -- or more accessible. This phenomenon was demonstrated when Pope ____ visited the United Kingdom in 2010, marking the first time that a papal authority had visited since ____.

Catholic Voices, a small, British-based media advocacy group comprised of ordinary people, was able to play a significant role in the perceived success of the Pope's visit during what many consider a volatile, negative time for the Catholic Church by anticipating the needs of and incorporating the various methods by which the media portray an event.

By successfully utilizing the channels of media accessibility, Catholic Voices, and other advocacy groups like it, was able to impact the way in which the Pope (and the larger Catholic faith) was rendered, providing a most salient example of the different manifestations of the media's capability from that of previous times. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the evolution of the media: specifically how its resources and objectives have changed to allow advocacy groups like Catholic Voices to affect its portrayal of important events, i.e.

The Pope's visit to the United Kingdom in 2010. This aim is a prudent topic of research since it shows how (collectively) individuals both perceive and alter the media coverage which largely influences a person's worldview. A look at the media's coverage of the Pope's visit will show how organizations such as Catholic Voices were able to influence the media by adhering to four principles.

The objective of this paper is to illustrate that by utilizing the media's needs for information, its needs for obtaining and presenting this information in a specific time frame, by presenting its various members as authorities on Catholicism since they live in the United Kingdom, and by using social media tools, Catholic Voices directly impacted the Pope's favorable depiction in the media during his 2010 visit.

The fact that the media has a need for information (sources, stories, and the disparate angles that comprise them) cannot be overlooked when examining the impact which Catholic Voices had on the Pope's 2010 visit to the United Kingdom. Given the historical significance of this particular event, as well as the surrounding context of the pedophile scandals which plagued the Catholic Church for the greater part of the year, it was highly obvious that media outlets of all types would cover the Pope's visit.

Catholic Voices was able to take advantage of this fact by preparing its members to be media savvy. The organization trained its members to be ready for publication and media studios, abreast of the most current events related to the Pope and the church, media friendly and humble -- all of which aided the group's conviction in swaying the media's opinion about the Pope's visit. The specific time frame during which Catholic Voices mobilized played an equally important role in the media coverage of the United Kingdom's 2010 papal visit.

Because the group anticipated the media's need for sources and news related to the visit, it was able to initiate contact with the media prior to the Pope's actual appearance. Thus, the timing of the preparation of its members occurred well in advance, so that when it was September, several major media outlets were well aware of the group's presence and actually sought it to color the perspectives of their respective broadcasts or publications.

Both of the aforementioned factors relate to the third point as to how Catholic Voices was able to impact the media's rendering of the Pope's United Kingdom visit last year: the group was able to portray its members as authorities on the subject of Catholicism in the United Kingdom largely because they are based there.

This fact connects directly to the evolution of the media referred to as one of the paper's aims, since in contemporary times ordinary citizens can largely determine what points-of-views are expressed about an issue by being there and being outspoken about it. In the case of Catholic Voices, its members were able to create a positive perspective surrounding the Pope's visit by being there and telling various media outlets their opinion.

This example demonstrates the modern trend in which people now tell the media what the news is, when not long ago the opposite was true. When one factors in the consideration of the rapidity of social media including camera phones, text messaging, emails and social networks websites, it becomes apparent that the common person has more sway over the media than ever before. Catholic Voices was able to utilize the media's evolution to a citizen-based forum to successfully impact the Pope's perceived positive visit to the United Kingdom in 2010.

Research questions: Why was Catholic Voices formed and how was it organized? How was the Catholic Voices image coordinated, and what various media enabled you to do so? Who sent the media to Catholic Voice, and why did they go to this group first? What were the motivations and objectives of the various group members? Were all objectives were achieved? How are individual members of Catholic Voices important in the media and why? What were some limitations in the objectives/planning of Catholic Voices? Do you think that the setup of Catholic Voices was a good idea? Did Catholic Voices control the media? What is the measure of success for this organization, and how successful was it? Did Catholic Voices want to promote religion? Who funded the training for Catholic Voices? What does the Catholic Voices charity involve? Chapter overview Following this introduction, the initial part of this dissertation will take a first-hand look at the perceived success of the Pope's 2010 visit to the United Kingdom by examining various web sites, newspapers, and, as applicable, television and radio interviews.

Public reaction will be gauged to determine whether or not the visit was indeed successful. Success will be defined in this part of the paper as to whether or not there was positive press regarding the perception of the Pope's presences and that of the Catholic Church in general. The following part of the dissertation will examine what direct role Catholic Voices played in this success. Particular emphasis will be given to members who were interviewed in these various publications and broadcasts to determine what they might have directly.