“Of all the vocations of man,
journalism
is the one in which there is
the least room for absolute truths
. The sacred flame of journalism is doubt, verification of data, constant questioning. Where documents seem to install a certainty,
journalism always installs a question
. Ask, investigate, know, doubt, confirm a hundred times before reporting; “Those are the capital verbs of the most risky and most exciting profession in the world.”
It was said by
Tomás Eloy Martínez
, one of the most brilliant journalists and writers that Argentina gave to the world, and it is as valid now as it was then, several decades ago. Because what he described is nothing more and nothing less than the
essence of journalism
, beyond the formats or platforms in which it is practiced.
In a paper titled “A Test on the News,” two-time Pulitzer Prize winner
Walter Lippman
and later New York Times editor
Charlez Merz
postulated that “ statements coming from governments or circles close to the government as well as from leaders of political movements cannot
be taken as proven facts
by the independent press.”
Last Wednesday, in the middle of a meeting of the Impeachment Commission,
the Diputados TV broadcast was abruptly cut off
. It was the meeting in which the libertarian representative Marcela Pagano had just been elected head of the commission, presumably with the approval of President Javier Milei. The same meeting that, at the request of Karina Milei, Martín Menem, president of the Chamber of Deputies, called one minute before the time called for the start. The same one that Menem himself was unaware of and called again for this Thursday. The same one that ended the La Libertad Avanza party bloc.
The next day, while she was explaining what happened on Diputados TV, journalist Laura Serra announced on camera that they had just asked her over the phone to
stop talking about the subject
. Before and after these events, the President once again launched his attack against journalism and against journalists, with disqualifications, insults and various complaints.
How
to talk about “enveloped” but without giving names
, telling your officials that “there are media outlets that you should not go to” putting the emphasis on the interviewer's question and not on the responsibility of the person who gives the answer for their statements, being happy for the potential bankruptcy of a medium or classify in the harshest way those who do not support their exact ideas,
directly considering them enemies
or members of the caste who
"don't see it
." Just yesterday, in a report that he gave to the American Ben Shapiro, he said that “
the worst sewer in the Universe
is in the Argentine media.”
Attacking journalists, in addition to everything, can be an
effective mechanism to encourage self-censorship
, due to the fear of public outrage or that of
armies of trolls
, defaming and slandering protected by the anonymity favored by social networks, with their capacity for viralization: No matter how much it is denied, something will already be installed.
In such a cracked country, after sixteen years of Kirchnerism, what is needed is not precisely a new crack, nor to continue speaking in terms of “with me or against me”,
friend or enemy, caste or pure
. Much of the enormous flow of votes that the President garnered in the runoff sought to put an end to that. I hope it's not another missed opportunity.
See also
See also
Why Javier Milei bets everything on 2025 and how the Government sees the opposition
See also
See also
Menemista remake, ammunition for NATO? and “help” from the CGT