'Information is not a spectacle and the media are not a circus'

From Real Journalism Now: the media after Spain's revolution, by Mayte Carrasco and Cecilia Ballestero

Spain is going through a critical time, and it’s from that discomfort that the Real Democracy Now movement sprang, starting in the Puerta de Sol and spreading around the world. The condition of journalism in our country, as in so many other places, is a part of this upheaval. The crisis has left thousands of journalists on the street, and the media are closing their doors while special envoys and foreign correspondents are already an endangered species. But there are many more problems than these current ones: for some years now in Spain, too many media outlets have been serving the political powers; many are listed on the Stock Exchange, and information has become a mere commodity.

Audiences and readers look to alternative media to get up to speed, because the traditional ones are starting to lose their credibility. Homogeneous currents of thought invade the flow of information, simplifying and exaggerating it and thus creating tension and sensationalism. Furthermore, techno-saturation is leading to disinformation. As journalists, we think that this situation should change for the good of both the profession and of a people that has only been living freely and democratically for a short time, and that deserves something better.

As a group of ‘concerned’ journalists taking advantage of the warmth of the ‘Spanish Spring’, we think that as well as demanding real democracy and sincere political parties we should also ask for a Real Journalism Now. We should return to the journalism our universities taught us - one that is critical of politicians, honest and true; one that takes on the public responsibility of informing and educating as well as entertaining. Why are the traditional media losing their credibility? Why do our citizens no longer trust us? In the Puerta del Sol - the seat of the Spanish Revolution - why were they shouting ‘Television: manipulation’, and applauding our initiative? Then and there, we charged ourselves with making a truthful assessment of our own trade.

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