“Journalism is going to be increasingly important for the defense of democracy” | Interview

By: Jaime Bedoya from El Comercio / Peru / GDA *

Since its founding in 1991, the Group of Newspapers of America (GDA) it has been a bastion in defense of democratic principles and civil liberties. 30 years have passed since that date, during which time the organization has been concerned with always being at the forefront of the journalism, promoting synergies, informative collaborations, as well as the use of technological innovations among its members.

SIGHT: SOS: the media under harassment in Latin America

Eleven leading media outlets in the region currently make up the GDA: La Nación (Argentina), O Globo (Brazil), El Mercurio (Chile), El Tiempo (Colombia), La Nación (Costa Rica), El Universal (Mexico), El Comercio (Peru), El Nuevo Día (Puerto Rico), El País (Uruguay), El Nacional (Venezuela) and La Prensa Gráfica (Salvador).

Guillermo Scheck, lawyer and CEO of El País de Uruguay, is the current president of the GDA. In this 30-year anniversary conversation, Scheck reviews the urgent challenges facing contemporary journalism, encompassing both the tight and changing digital transformation agenda, as well as the looming shadows over democracy and democracy. freedom of expression in our region.

—During its 30 years, the GDA has faced various journalistic challenges, the fundamental one concerning freedom of expression in the region, always under threat. How do you evaluate this defense over time to the present?

Undoubtedly, the defense of freedom of expression, as the question raises, is the determining challenge that we have had in these last 30 years. Fortunately, we came out of the time of dictatorships in the ’70s and’ 80s, and when the GDA was created, we were in a stage where the measures for canceling the media, forbidding outings on the streets, did not appear – especially when we only had the paper version — but freedom of expression was also seriously threatened in these 30 years. In some countries it was much more so, such as Venezuela, now El Salvador, also Argentina at the time with a very, very arbitrary media law, but as I mentioned, the way of pressuring the media changed. Before it was the cancellation or prohibition of going out to the street and now it has been with more indirect measures, such as excluding opposition media from official advertising, ecruiting journalists, reviling the media through platforms related to the governments, and in these 30 years the GDA has always been very attentive to all these threats. Every time a media outlet suffered or suffers an attack on freedom of expression, the Group immediately publishes joint editorials, informs and suggests that this threat cease. What is clear is that freedom of expression continues to be a challenge, it is under threat and it is a value that must be defended, and we defend, day by day.

(Illustration: Dante de la Vega / El Universal de México)

—Digital disruption, to which the Covid 19 pandemic has been added, has posed new challenges to the journalistic practice at the same time that it has forced it to restructure its business model. How have the GDA and its members adapted to this change?

Obviously, what has happened with the pandemic has presented us with new challenges for the exercise of our profession and for our business model. Before we only had the paper version and the digital version and now we distribute our content on many other platforms, with different formats. Podcasts, virtual events, a series of tools and new ways of distributing content appeared in which we must be present and allow us to approach and connect in different and new ways with our audiences. I believe that all the members of the GDA have responded successfully to this transformation process. Obviously, it is not a process that begins today and ends tomorrow, it is a continuous process and some media are more developed than others in this challenge of transformation towards digital, but we are all on that path.

Regarding the business model, it has obviously also been reformulated, we all have paywall and we are receiving more income from consumers. It is more of a B2C business than B2B in most countries, even digital advertising continues to grow and in some it is already ahead of advertising print. Therefore, I believe that the GDA has been growing well and is finding its model. We are clear that it is a continuous process, a process of cultural change fundamentally, where we must focus on what is growing, which is digital, and on the other hand try to maintain our paper version because it is also very important. Until the costs can be covered by the digital business, paper is going to help a lot.

COVID-19 transformed the world. (Photo: EFE) (Juan Ignacio Roncoroni /)

—Just as it was said that television would annul radio and that cinema would do the same with television, it has been said that the internet would end the written press. Although the impact has been hard and strong, the newspapers have known how to adapt to the new reality and are defending their jurisdiction. What are the resilient virtues of print newspapers?

There were always people who predicted the death of certain media, at first it was said that television was going to end the cinema and the same with radio, and now that the Internet was going to make the printed newspapers disappear. The print runs are not the same as those of decades ago, but printed newspapers continue to be valid for a certain type of public, and I believe that this will continue for many more years. For example, Mark Thompson predicts that The New York Times printed will continue for at least 15 more years. Before the century changed, some predicted that printed newspapers would not reach the year 2000. Twenty years have passed and they are still very important in the business model of each and every one of us, not only of Grupo de Diarios América but also in the world.

And within the virtues of the printed newspaper, one that stands out is the hierarchy of content. I mean that a web page changes continuously, but that selection that the paper has, where with the title of the newspaper they tell you every morning what is the most important news of the day and in each section they also rank the information that the reader cannot leave to know, it is unique. This becomes more relevant today when there is such a wealth of information and it is still highly appreciated by many people, especially those over 45 or 50 years old.

Additionally, the printed editions continue to mark the news agendas of the day. They are the basis of the radio and television newscasts and their strong point is also the context, the analysis that contributes to the news events. In all this, the paper edition is unbeatable.

—New technologies have strengthened the collaborative work of the GDA, as well as provided new communication tools. Digital platforms, initially dedicated to hosting disposable content, now flourish with high-quality journalistic output. How have you seen this digital transformation in the GDA newspapers?

New technologies have been of great help to all members of the Group and have allowed us to achieve much more fluid communication. There is no doubt that all the media have gone through this digital process, competing with the platforms and being on the platforms in the best possible way. As I said before, it is a continuous process and you have to be in all the places where the audience is, in the different ways and with the different languages ​​and supports that are necessary, but always on the basis of journalistic quality. That is what we can never lose.

(Trade)

—How do you envision the future of journalism in the next 30 years?

I believe that journalism at this time, and especially from now on, is going to be increasingly important for the defense of democracies and freedoms. I believe that journalism is important today more than ever, and especially the big brands. And proof of this was what happened in the pandemic, where people, faced with so many fake newsIn the face of so much misinformation, in the face of so much chaos, he returned to the traditional media and the big brands, he once again believed in the media, and that brought us a very important increase in the audience. For this reason, I believe that the future of journalism is a future that obviously will have stones in the way, but that will continue to survive because it is necessary for democracy and for social coexistence. He is going to be the one who is going to put order, the one who is going to say what is true and what is not true, the fact-checking It happens to be one of the most important attributes in the face of so much false version that there is. And, on the other hand, I think there will be a solution at the copyright level. I believe that what happened in Australia, what is happening in Europe and what is going to happen in the United States with the News Media Alliance – that association that includes 2,000 North American media that will be able to discuss and negotiate hand in hand with the big platforms— It is going to make that move in the world. And it will ultimately result in the media giving us fair compensation for the use of content and for that abuse of a dominant position that makes what remains of digital advertising is a much lower percentage than they take platforms, 80% take it themselves and 20% take it the media. I think that will change, I have no doubt, it is a process that is here to stay and it will be one of the great tools that we will have in the coming years to continue subsisting and being profitable. (END)

* The Grupo de Diarios América (GDA), to which it belongs [este diario], is a leading media network founded in 1991, which promotes democratic values, independent press and freedom of expression in Latin America through quality journalism for our audiences.

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