Journalism is indebted to the truth and to the people

2023-06-11 07:43:26

Journalist’s Day was celebrated on Wednesday the 7th. Few times in the history of this profession, Argentine journalism has gone through moments as negative as those we have to live in these times. For this reason, this ombudsman is convinced that the subject must be discussed, contextualized, investigated and wonder what a good part of the professionals are doing wrong so that the margins of credibility for “the best profession in the world” (Gabriel García Márquez dixit) they have sunk so low. Even the President, who already has little to offer as a ruler and even less as an amateur philosopher, dares to criticize him, as he did on Tuesday the 6th. He is right regarding some things: with the full validity of the so-called militant journalism (which is usually the analysis in this column), the spurious resources on either side of the crack have their own shine: political, ideological, economic commitments (via semi-hidden envelopes, juicy guidelines and perks tied to praise for their own and contempt for others) and official positions or officious Thus, there is no truth that endures.

It is the truth, precisely, the one that the main promoter of the Gazeta de Buenos Ayres, Mariano Moreno, took as the subject of one of his memorable editorials from June 7, 1810. “Truth, like virtue, have in themselves his most indisputable apology; by dint of discussing and ventilating them, they appear in all their splendor and brilliance; if restrictions are opposed to speech, spirit will vegetate like matter; error, lies, concern, fanaticism and brutalization will make the currency of the peoples, and will cause their despondency, their ruin and their misery forever”. Any parallel with these times is not pure coincidence.

I bring to this column, once once more, one of the great teachers of contemporary Argentine journalism, Tomás Eloy Martínez: “The reader’s avidity for knowledge is not satisfied with scandal but with honest research; he does not appease it with coups, but rather with the narration of each event within its context and background. The reader is not distracted by fireworks or loud denunciations that vanish the next day, but is respected with accurate information. Every time a journalist throws fuel into the will-o’-the-wisp of scandal, he is putting out the genuine fire of information with ashes. Journalism is not a circus to be exhibited, but an instrument to think, to create, to help man in his eternal fight for a more dignified and less unfair life.

Another master of the trade, the Polish Rysard Kapuscinski, was interviewed in Madrid for El Mundo TV and the report was published on May 29, 2006 in the print edition of the same multimedia. To the question: “Do you have to be a good person to be a journalist?” Kapuscinski replied: “Yes, I am very sure of this. Our work depends a lot on other people. It is a collective work. We only point people’s voices and opinions. If our sources don’t want to talk to us, we won’t get any information.”

Why do I bring these words? To illustrate how to exercise this trade with good weapons. To Martínez’s statements, he would add that the basic rules of the profession cannot be complied with if one acts from a position closer to the show than to moderation. Let’s see, if not, how much power the so-called panelists are achieving in TV programs, who have little of journalists and a lot of vedettes.

Once once more, I invite the readers of PROFILE to play an active role in defense of good journalism.

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