Second day of the I.A.O. Seminar Conference on Mass Media

Kisha D Dorado OCP Delegate of Serbia, Balkan and East European Region
OCP News Service – 14/5/14

Thessaloniki: The second day of the Interparliementrary Assembly on Orthodoxy Seminar was held on 13th may 2014 at St Gregory of Palamas Centre. It was divided into three major sessions with various paper presentations.
The First Session was on Communicative theology and politics where Mr. Ioannis Petrou, tenured professor at the School of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki spoke on the subject Religion, communication and public space, Prof. Valery Alexeev, I.A.O. Advisor presented the topic Post-modern trends: Christian dimension. Mr. Andreas Loudaros, Journalist, Director at the Religious News Network with talked on Information on the field of religion in the internet abyss: Perspectives and pathogeny. Dr Emad Gad, Member of the Parliament of Egypt presented Political crises with religious dimensions and international media.

The Second session was on Populism and authenticity in religion where Mr. Bruce Clark, Editor of “The Economist” on religious issues with talked on the subject Church and social networks. It was an online presentation through skype. Mr. Volen Siderov, Member of the Parliament of Bulgaria, Chairman of the I.A.O. Committee on Mass media talked on the subject Christian values – political parties – public space. Mr. Marco Politi, Writer and Vatican affairs expert (Il Fatto Quotidiano) presented the subject International Media and religious events. Mr. Ihsan Yilmaz, Associate Professor of Political Science, Fatih University (Istanbul) wtalked on Power of the State, religion and Mass Media.

The third session was titled Church and Social Media where Dr. Christos Tsironis, Senior Lecturer, Contemporary social theory, School of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki talked on Church, community links and social networks, Dr Kostas Mygdalis, I.A.O. Adviser presented the topi 2016 Council of Orthodox Church – Politics – Mass Media, Mr. George Alexander, Secretary and Spokesperson of the Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE Society talked on the subject Seeking United Orthodox Christian Witness through Mass Media, Mr. Philip Lee, World Association for Christian Communication, Deputy Director of the Programmes and Editor of the international journal Media Development, talked on Communication rights, ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue.

The fourth Session was on Information – Worship – Unity where Fr Michail Dudko, Executive Editor of the ‘Orthodox Moscow’ newspaper talked on Worship in a secular environment-Particularities of understanding, Fr. Jivko Panev, Associate Professor in Canon Law and History of Local Churches, St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute, Director of French Web portal Orthodoxie.com presented the topic Media, modern world and worship, Ms. Vlada Wahlstén, Chief Communication Officer of the Orthodox Church in Finland talked on Worship through Radio and Unity in Facebook and the last talk was delivered by Mr. Sergei Chapnin, Chief Editor of the journal of the Moscow Patriarchate on the subject Preaching and faith in the information society (Jonah and the journey of the Wise Men).

Source:
OCP News Service