Esther Mucientes Madrid
Madrid
Updated Thursday, February 1, 2024-18:24
"If misinformation is taking up more and more space, the role of the media is more important than ever." The phrase of
Joaquín Manso
, director of EL MUNDO perfectly summarizes the essence of one of the most important tables that have been held at the
Annual Conference of the Union of Open Commercial Televisions
(Uteca),
The social value of the media communication. Responsibility vs Disinformation
.
Once again this year,
Uteca
has brought together great personalities from the world of communication in a conference, inaugurated by Cani Fernández, president of the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), in which the great challenges faced Journalism, commercial television and, in general, the media have focused the debate with different tables dedicated to the
lack of protection of minors on social networks
or
new advertising models
for these new times, among others.
Under the motto
The value of the media in the new world technological order. Journalism and companies
, Uteca wanted to put on the table not only those great challenges but also the dangers that the media and, therefore, society face, but also exposing what are the functions and values by which The media must fight to face the future.
"The social value of the media and legacy media
consists
of
generating that trust between truth and lies ,"
Manso
insisted
at the table moderated by the journalist, announcer and collaborator of EL MUNDO,
Rafa Latorre
. "We have not lost the monopoly on verification," said Manso, who was part of the debate along with
Julián Quirós
, director of
Abc
;
Ignacio Escolar
, director of
eldiario.es
;
Nacho Cardero
, director of
El Confidencial
;
Encarna Samitier
, director of
20 Minutos
;
César G. Antón
, News Director of laSexta, and
José Luis Hornillos
, Content Director of Trece TV.
Manso
explained that this is "a fundamental moment" in which journalists "are going to face a technological challenge of immense magnitude with Artificial Intelligence (AI)." And it is in this challenge where the director of EL MUNDO has highlighted the importance of journalists, their social function and the work of
"generating trust" to control "the political powers that now create division and show off of lies or relativize the existence of truth"
.
"It is often difficult to distinguish the truth from a lie and many times the lie wins," added Nacho Cardero, insisting that precisely for this reason "qualified journalism, with criteria and capable of distinguishing and truth, has never been so necessary." Of the lie". "Our objectives have to be:
transparency, quality and being sincere with our readers
," he assured.
Encarna Samitier
followed the same line
, emphasizing that "The antidote to misinformation is journalists with names and surnames." And he noted that "the history of the media is the history of great technological advances." "We move in a world of contradictions with a business model in crisis, although
reality is stubborn and facts tend to prevail
, and you have to be where they occur to tell them," she stated.
Everyone present has spoken precisely about that business model, subscriptions, and they have all agreed that "doing journalism costs money." In that sense,
Rafa Latorre
has made a point to highlight that the media "have failed to tell what it costs to do journalism." It was then Ignacio Escolar who stated that the fact that many media outlets are betting on payment models "is good news."
"If a reader pays to read you, you better not lie to him and you better do things right
," he said.
In fact,
Julián Quirós
has been the one who has put on the table the challenge that the media has been fighting against for a long time: Google. For Quirós "we are in the hands of someone from outside, who has taken the measure of us and that is why we have to make an effort to create a community of readers for which payment models and direct traffic are essential."
In this sense, the director of EL MUNDO has pointed out that "direct traffic reflects true value", but
"Google also helps us reach an audience that we would not reach
. "
What it is about, according to Manso, therefore, is "to also generate trust in that audience and also create a community with them."
Within the
Uteca Conference
, attended by important personalities such as
Marco Pompignoli
, executive president of Unidad Editorial, or
María González Veracruz
, Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure of the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Service, among others , there has also been debate about the importance of protecting minors in the audiovisual field, the regulation of AI or new advertising models.
It was at this table where its moderator,
Julián Garvín
, Communications and News director of Grupo KISS Media, has given such important data as that, according to the Uteca barometer on the perception of advertising, 83% of Spaniards believes that commercial television advertisements are the most impactful, the most exciting, and the most memorable.
Given the importance of this data, the General Commercial Director of Unidad Editorial,
Sergio Cobos
, has insisted that today "everything is much more complex than before", with media outlets that "have multiplied by a thousand", therefore that "traditional media have to highlight their values and comply with the legal framework."