La Marea: An independent media (II)

Since 2012, La Marea has established itself as one of the most independent journalistic media in the country.

La Marea front page January-February 2022

La Marea, with its ideology and formation as a monthly media, has made it very clear that the way journalism was practiced in the past was far from ideal. In this aspect we refer mainly to a series of factors, all of them subordinated to an action, we are talking about the pressure, the pressure that the power groups of the time, which still have power and always will have it, exerted on the elaboration of journalism.

Under this reflection and idea, to leave aside all kinds of pressure of power in writing, publishing, and fake news, La Marea was formed with values of independence that have allowed them to form a medium without prior influences of individuals or groups of power.

The García Ferreras Case with the publications and false information on Podemos fueled, according to La Marea's own website, the debate on the independence of the media. Thus, there is also a reference to one of the most important journalists in our country, Iñaki Gabilondo, in reference to two key questions to understand the influences, namely: who dared with El Corte Inglés, who dared with the monarchy just a few years ago?

"We should have got our act together. If we hadn't been watching the shrews, it wouldn't have gotten this far. That's where I feel professionally ashamed. Abad is the proof that it was possible".

For these questions, one answer is mentioned, and that is that something more could have been done, and that is because of the influences or fear of those power groups.

Therefore, La Marea is an independent media, i.e., it can make any publication, under the journalistic regime of veracity and with a forbidden hate speech, because, according to experts, independent media are those that do not depend economically on power groups. What does this mean, this means that no company deposits money in its coffers and, therefore, La Marea owes nothing to no-one. In this way, journalism is more loyal to the information, without hiding anything and without any feeling of being harmed or forced to make posts that are not true but benefit their investors. Or who knows, maybe the opposite, to avoid publishing any kind of post that harms those who invest in the media.

Below we have an example of what La Marea would publish if it were not an independent media group.

Why the previous statement? very easy. If La Marea has a strong influence from these two groups of power, as an example, they could have never published that as they are the ones who are investing in their media. Perhaps, if they are supported by another group of power they would maintain themselves out of the equation, as they probably are receiving as well money from those public arcs.

But these are things that have not happened and will not happen, La Marea is an independent media that does not allow itself to be influenced and does not allow large sources of power to invest the smallest amount of money in its journalistic project.

Thus, the media itself establishes a series of guidelines, under its point of view, shared by some experts, that differentiate independent media from others.

List provided by La Marea (https://www.lamarea.com/2022/09/12/un-decalogo-de-medios-independientes/)

1. The media has no shareholders or owners with interests in large business groups or political power.

2. The journalists in the media do not have interests in large business groups or political power.

3. The media does not depend on advertising to finance itself.

4. The media does not exceed a limited percentage of institutional advertising.

5. The media does not publish sponsored content or, in the case of publishing it sporadically, it clearly indicates it.

6. The media publishes its accounts and clearly identifies the destination of expenses and the source of income.

7- The media has a vocation for public service and transformation.

8- The media outlet never vetoes, misrepresents, or manipulates news for any reason.

9- The journalists in the media do not censor themselves for any reason, including the possible fear of losing readers who support their editorial line.

10- The journalists in the media work under decent working conditions.

La Marea thus proposes a special called #LaMarea90, whose cover can be seen right next to this text, a peculiar poet where they themselves state that they do not call themselves 100% independent, something that is very difficult to do nowadays. They attach, in the preview of this special document, that they are independent but not completely, they are missing one thing. A very interesting fact attracts attention and creates "hype" to read the special La Marea.

In addition, the book strictly follows the 10 points mentioned just before to verify whether or not they are 100% independent, so they consider them important and necessary aspects to achieve, in a very effective way, the purpose of becoming an independent journalistic media.

“What no media that claims to be independent should ever do is to make decisions based on political and economic interests." Rosalba Mancinas-Chávez, professor of Information Structure at the University of Seville.

Therefore, there are many explanations of what should not be done, and, in principle, although they themselves define that they have a problem, La Marea, in its entirety, is an independent media.

In addition to the development of the analysis of media independence, we must mention that it does not provide advertisements to Ibex 35 companies, that is to say, they have practically no advertisements. It is well known that the advertisements are usually the face of brands with a high national profile, and therefore have a presence in the Spanish stock market. Thus, further proof, in addition to their word and the page itself that La Marea is absent from these ads. This is La Marea's statement, regarding advertisement:

With this, we can confirm that what they say (unless it's all a big lie) is true, and are guided by donations, small-scale local advertisers, or sponsors who do not have the power to condition a piece or publication.

Finally, we want to conclude this post with the idea of job insecurity. This is one of the main enemies of journalistic independence and ethics. Once again, the profit motive clashes with the nature of public service that journalism may and can provide. The constant fear of job insecurity can also hinder a journalist's ability to provide unbiased work, and one, as a journalist, may become conditioned by the investors' eyes.