When analyzing the degree of independence that a digital media has in the networks, and performing journalistic work, many factors can influence, for this, today with the help of Antonio Maestre, Journalist, documentary filmmaker and self-described aspiring imitator of Günter Wallraff. He writes in media such as La Marea or El Diario.es and has publications such as Franquismo S.A., we will analyze some of these factors.
To listen to the full interview in Spanish, scroll to the end of the article.
Q: How did La Marea arise?
A: La Marea arises from the decision of several workers of the newspaper Público when that newspaper closes, who decide to capitalize their unemployment and create a platform called Más Publico, which first tries to buy the website of Público, but, after a maneuver of Roures through a front man, he buys the website of Público, and leaves all these workers without a website, so they decide to create their own website, which is La Marea. Workers who become unemployed, capitalize on their unemployment, and create their own media.
Q: Did the rise of digital journalism and networks facilitate/benefit this project?
A: This project is given by the personal situation of these workers who became unemployed, and therefore they took advantage of the situation they were living in where journalism prevailed these projects in which there was a greater democratization of space, with the possibilities offered by the Internet, and well, it was a way to show that workers did not need a large platform to create their own media.
Q: Do you enjoy journalistic freedom?
A: Freedom does not exist in an absolute way. Freedom is subject to a lot of limitations that go from the resources you have to work with, the economic situation of the workers, because obviously if you have a lot of money and huge resources, and you do not need to earn money to work, then you have much more freedom, but when you need to earn money to live, then you have a freedom subject to many restrictions that other workers have in any field.
Absolute freedom does not exist and we, within a media that is subject to self-imposed resource restrictions, we do not accept advertising from companies that evict, or with sexist, classist, racist advertising... companies of the IBEX 35, you limit your ability to get resources, then you are limited to the subscriptions of members, which in themselves function as a small dictatorship, because, all those members who see that you write something they do not like, use their subscription as a means of blackmail: "as you are writing this, I will unsubscribe".
So, in the end, independence never exists, because you are always subject to pressure, in some cases it is the pressure of a big company that tries to influence with its advertising, and in other cases it is some kind of collective, nest, small shareholders such as the subscribers, who sometimes use their subscription as a means of blackmail.
Q: Is La Marea economically independent or does it depend on external help?
A: It is independent, because it does not have anyone dictating what it has to use in a journalistic way, but it must be made clear that obviously your editorial line always generates a consequence that calls into question your permanence or viability as a media, if several partners coordinate to mount a discrediting campaign, they can destroy the media, because it is much more sensitive to these dynamics while it does not have sufficient resources to maintain viability, its independence is very limited, because what is the use of having a media if it disappears the next day. And the problem with these media that live only on subscribers, is that these subscribers sometimes act worse than the CEO of a big company, because they consider themselves owners of the media, and do not support the media because it is independent, but so that it publishes their biases, and when the media questions it, the subscriber threatens to unsubscribe, and this is one of the problems to which these media are exposed, which are subject to a very precarious independence, and a precarious media with few resources like La Marea, is always on the edge of the precipice.
Q: Do you feel that you have had to change your journalistic work because of all this?
A: No, on a personal level I don't because I am a bit kamikaze, sometimes imprudent, but one thing I have always tried to do is to say what I believe and think, with the limitations that any worker has, but I have continued to do my job. In fact, when I am pressured on one side, I usually have more influence on that side, if they tell me not to talk about something, I usually talk more. That is to say, pressure does not usually affect me, but I am always aware of the risk it entails, and that is something that Magda Bandera, the Director of La Marea, has always understood, and has always defended my positions, even when they were harmful to the media itself, because she considered that above all is independence and not giving in, sometimes putting at risk the media itself, because she considers that a media that gives in, is a media that should not continue, so if it disappears, it disappears being faithful to those principles, it disappears being faithful to those principles, I have taken decisions to protect the media, leaving the deputy management of La Marea was precisely to protect the media, because there was a discrediting campaign against me, which was damaging La Marea in a lateral way, by the abandonment of subscriptions, so Magda Bandera and I agreed to leave, because it was affecting the media, and above all for me there is a collective good, which is La Marea, and the salary and work of my colleagues.
2.2. In 2022 you launched a crowdfunding that raised up to 250,000 euros: When announcing crowdfundings, how much do you depend on social networks for the dissemination of the announcement?
Almost totally, there is no other means of dissemination of crowdfunding, there is no other way to work. A crowdfunding like the one we did, only and exclusively spreads through social networks. Another thing is that those of us who work there have the capacity to be able to move it in other areas and carry out our work, for example in the SER radio station it was broadcast, in La Sexta I have tried, but in fact if it were not for the networks it could not have been achieved.
Q: By social networks we mean mostly twitter?
A: Not necessarily, although it is true that twitter has the highest visibility.
Q: And what do you think about twitter, financed by a private investor such as Elon Musk, and with its evident ideological line, "banning" certain media and journalists who touch on certain topics... to what extent, if tomorrow "banning" the Marea, would the media continue to have the power it has?
A: Evidently, this is one of the problems of large corporations having the exclusive use of media that are of public interest, as Twitter has become, not only as a matter of media viability, but also as a means of public service information, related to major events of natural disasters, i.e., it has become a public interest good. Obviously when that falls into the hands of a character as nefarious as Elon Musk, it perverts it absolutely, the viability of the media is called into question, but it also happened when Facebook changed the algorithm to harm those who do not pay ... that is obviously an attack on freedom of expression and public dissemination of the media .... if the Tide, if they ended up closing Twitter or Facebook, the format would end as it is, I do not know how it would work, although it is true that the contents of certain media do not live exclusively from the traffic that comes from Twitter, sometimes it is residual, I have been told that ElDiario. es, 8-10% nothing more comes from Twitter, although it is true that it has a great capacity to set the agenda, to flow in the public scene, I think it has become an important element, although not more than others, in certain age groups influence more Tiktok or other networks, the dissemination by Telegram, Newsletters, although it is true that the Marea uses other networks, it is true that the media always seems to be more into Twitter, although there are others, such as SEO positioning, but it is true that the Marea does not have a great SEO positioning because it does not have money to pay someone to position it.
Q: We have seen you as a talk show host in programs such as Al Rojo Vivo, Más Vale Tarde or La Sexta Noche, all produced and televised in La Sexta channel, owned by the ATRESMEDIA Group, returning to the previous topic, do you think you have more independence, less independence, or the same, in a media such as La Marea or in these privately funded programs of La Sexta?
A: There are different levels of independence or freedom, in the end you always have some elements that you can't touch or you have more difficulty to do it, I mean, in La Marea I don't write right now about the crisis of the left, because it can harm them, but I do it personally, nobody has told me that I have to do it, because if I start to talk about the crisis of Podemos or the left in La Marea, in the end it will generate a conflict within La Marea, because they will end up cancelling the subscription, so I censor myself to protect them, because I know what it entails, so in the end it is true that I am self-censoring because I have other means to publish it. I publish in La Marea, El Diario and La Sexta, so if there are issues that I know that La Marea can be harmful to me, I put it in Diario.es, because I know it has more muscle to withstand those criticisms, so in the end you always have elements that limit you, and it has nothing to do with the medium, often it is the weakness of the medium that makes you have more problems to do it, because for example in our space, for me to get involved with Iberdrola is free, I have written a book, Franquismo S.A., in which I talk about Juan Roig, etc., and I have no problem, but it can be a problem to pick on Pablo Iglesias. Obviously a journalist from the extreme right generates a tremendous conflict to mess with VOX, and they are not going to do it, but it is free to mess with Podemos. And I think that those who see communication in a romantic way do not understand these nuances that those of us who work in communication do understand. Because in the end, what people are looking for is to reaffirm their bias, and the moment a journalist of their own line says "you are wrong", they become a suspicious element.
Q: What do you think about the fact that the information of certain media is not totally free on the Internet, and that there are certain pay walls, behind which, if you don't pay, you cannot access that information?
A: Obviously the media have to look for viability and economic resources, because a newsroom is expensive and journalists' salaries should be well paid, then those resources can be sought through advertising, subscriptions, paywall or both together, so the paywall is a resource. There is no other way to adapt to the digital world when you no longer have paper that people have to pay for. There is no other way, if you want good journalism you have to pay for it. Another thing is that there is information or very important moments that are released because they consider that they have to be accessible, but it is necessary that, in some way, those who have the resources pay the media that they consider that they contribute something. La Marea has subscriptions but its information is free on the web, precisely because they have subscribers, because if they did not have subscribers they could not survive. In La Marea there are 4 workers who have to live, and how they live, generating resources, either through advertising or through paywall. I personally pay for two media, and I cannot pay for all the media I consume. Regardless of the fact that it is impossible for all of us to pay for all the media, I believe that we should demand that readers pay for those media they consider important.
Full interview in spanish:
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