Untrustworthy people in power will sometimes modify their actions in response to pressure. True, they may not be sincere, but people benefit from for instance removal of an anti-Catholic TV program or news commentator.
There was a time when Catholics united with their bishops forced significant changes in Hollywood movies; 1935 - late 1960s. But it could not have been done by various groups acting independently, there was a national, coordinated effort.
I do try to influence the media in some ways.
The reality is that the media in recent decades has created a mindset among everybody, including Catholics, that we need to be skeptical about religious leaders - don’t obey them, we need to tell them what to teach - but we should not be skeptical about the media. In effect, we are taught to obey the media.
That’s why Catholics are constantly telling their pastors, bishops, pope what to emphasize, how to communicate it - and we rarely try to influence the media. We usually follow it.
That’s why Catholic laity have much less power to impact society than we used to.
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