Every two years, some 40 senior editorial staff from European and Latin-American media sources come together by invitation of the Spanish Communications group Prestomedia, to share their experiences and discuss the challenges and opportunities linked to the profession of journalism, against a backdrop of profound technological advancement.
This year, the fifth congress, which took place in Madrid between 9 and 11 November 2021 and which I attended, devoted its work to the freedom to provide information and to the role of the media in tackling disinformation and fake news.
On the former team, the news in from the European and Latin-American countries is chilling. In El Salvador, for instance, no information is filtering through to the public on how their tax money is being used, particularly concerning the buyout of the newspaper Diario El Salvador, which has become a mouthpiece for the powers that be. Independent media and journalists face a permanent smear campaign.
The government in power in Poland, not satisfied with its recurrent attacks on the independence of the judiciary, is gagging the media on the pretext of the ‘Polonisation’ of a society which, it claims, is prey to external threats from the European Union or Russia: there has been a purge on public press organisations and the colossus of regional press, Polska Press, has been bought out by the public energy group PKN Orlen.
According to their instigators, these initiatives are based on the democratic legitimacy obtained by the universal vote that brought these governments with illiberal tendencies to power.
On the fight against disinformation, many editors-in-chief on both sides of the Atlantic told of a wave of lies and intimidation on communications terminals, made worse by the impression of impunity given by the Presidency of Donald Trump in the United States. The current pandemic highlights the degree to which information technology can be used to mislead the public over the importance of vaccinations to slow the spread of the most virulent strains of COVID-19.
Some editors stressed the historical importance of current times, comparing the advent of social networks to the invention of printing. As every challenge brings its own opportunities, the media must not wallow in nostalgia for the past, but roll up their sleeves and grasp a reality that is unavoidable. Surf the wave before it swallows us… Ongoing training for journalists is vital if they are to adapt to new ways of consuming information and to continue to provide a worthwhile service.
Media heads predict that paper will disappear in the medium term, partly due to the increasing cost of raw materials. But irrespective of its medium, as long as the information is of high quality, there will always be readers who are prepared to pay for accurate, factual, properly sourced and reliable information. As well as our responsibility to educate, we as journalists have a role to play in giving our public, particularly young people, points of reference, by giving them the tools they need to dissect complex issues and helping them to hone their critical thinking.
As for the press editors, who must ensure that their media businesses continue to turn a profit, they rely on the tried-and-tested commercial model of quality information at a price. They stress the importance of going into battle against technology groups, including the GAFAs, to ensure that they pay a fair price for their copyright. In Europe, Directive 2019/790 forms the basis for negotiations on this matter between the media and the digital platforms, with each member state arranging these negotiations to suit the specific national situation.
As the editor-in-chief of Agence Europe, I spent my time in Madrid trying to explain and illustrate the specific nature of what it is that we do: produce a specialist publication in digital format on the major issues of European current affairs for a target market of seasoned professionals. As we are able to benefit from true freedom of expression in Brussels, we dissect European news every day, completely separately from official institutional communications, and we stand as a bastion against the fake news which abounds on European matters, sometimes deliberately and sometimes out of ignorance.
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Read the Madrid declaration (English version starts on p. 7): https://bit.ly/3FhvXfi
Mathieu Bion