In a political and social context plagued by misinformation and fake news, the director of ABC, Julian Quiroshas stated that power cannot in any case be the guardian of truth nor does anyone who monitors the abuses of the press. “It is extremely dangerous to establish a system of censorship decided, calibrated or calculated from power,” he stated this Tuesday at the ‘Journalism and disinformation’ conference, organized by the Malaga Press Association in the capital of Malaga.
Quirós has stressed the importance of preserve freedom of information and not grant democratic governments the attributes of totalitarian regimes, so, in his opinion, politicians should not decide what the principles of truth are or annul the counterpower of the press.
The director of ABC has thus warned about the threat of disinformation for Western democracies and has defended professional journalism as a key instrument to guarantee right to information.
Along these lines he has questioned that the anti-hoax plan proposed by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will actually be put into practice. As Quirós has indicated, the socialist has always spoken about this measure “with empty hands.”
Furthermore, questions have been raised about the real intentions of the Executive with this proposal, since the hoaxes to which Pedro Sánchez and some of his ministers have frequently referred had been spread on social networks and not by media but, however, the plan they have proposed does not affect the content platforms such as X, Instagram or TikTok through which they were disclosed.
Thus, the director of ABC explained that in the last year, under the excuse of combating hoaxes, there has been a covert threat to the activity of the free press. “And it coincides, whether this is a temporary coincidence or not, with investigations that affect the president’s family,” commented Quirós, who recalled that in a democracy it is the laws, the penal code and the civil code those who guarantee rights and sanction lies and slander.
Power and misinformation
According to Quirós, contrary to popular belief, the media they do not generate misinformation nor fake news. “Journalists will be collaborating in polarization, but this is not an issue for which we are responsible,” he assured.
As the former director of Las Provincias (Valencia), Hoy (Extremadura) and deputy director of Sur (Málaga) has expressed, the political power is the one that has tried to attribute false news to the media with the aim of counteract the power of the press.
«The professional press makes mistakes. We make exaggerations and have bias, but that is not incompatible with telling the facts as they are or with respect the truth of the facts. What we do not do is consciously fabricate false facts to be distributed either in Spain or in other places where there is a free press. That’s not true. It has never been,” Quirós asserted.
As he has defended, the media respect a series of criteria and do not consciously invent news: “They may twist or have another point of view that can be disagreed with, but they cannot be invented a murder or a political statement that has not existed,” he stated before acknowledging, however, that on occasions some media outlets have been able to fall for these hoaxes and publish them as if they were true.
Future
According to Quirós, although there remains at least a “tremendous” decade in which we will have to confront misinformation, it is important trust” and keep in mind that journalism will continue to be necessary because it continues to have reliable criteria despite polarization or bias.
«We are in a very prolonged crisis process and all this massive misinformation generates mistrust and confusion. Our responsibility in these complicated times is to try contribute to public opinion of citizens with the information that we can best do,” he concluded.
Julián Quirós’ conference was held within the framework of the media literacy project for seniors ‘Ageless Press’organized by the Malaga Press Association (APM) with the Provincial Council and the “La Caixa” Foundation. In this fourth edition, the initiative will reach around 300 seniors and around twenty municipalities through workshops given by journalists, with the aim of breaking the digital divide and providing students with the necessary tools to be well informed.
Julián Quirós, Medal of Honor of the Malaga Press Association of which he has been a member for three decades, has been accompanied by Elena Blanco, president of the Malaga Press Association and the president of the Malaga Provincial Council, Francisco Salado.
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