This is not a logbook of stock market investments. For that, there are increasingly well-paid financial advisors. Nor is it a market oracle, God save Warren Buffett! La Vuelta al Mundo merely aims to provide a snapshot of the diplomatic, economic, commercial, stock market and, of course, geostrategic issues that dominate the global scene. At a crucial moment, when the multilateral order that has governed us since the end of the Cold War—the era carved out by the hammer blows between the US and the former USSR, which created a fragile but resistant armour that balanced the telluric forces of a planet under nuclear threat and the clash between two economic concepts: the free market and state interventionism—is under threat.

Many unknowns have accumulated in the complex equation that should lead to a harmonious world, with open trade relations and free capital flows. Most of these questions arose in the first quarter of this millennium, just after the end of a period of tense calm, with arms reduction, nuclear non-proliferation treaties and a boom in investment and trade globalisation that many analysts called The Great Geostrategic Siesta. This term was coined from an ingenious numerical game: from 9/11 (1989), the date on which the Berlin Wall and the bloc of planned economies fell, and 11/0 (2001), when the Twin Towers in New York collapsed, elevating the fight against international terrorism to the top of geopolitical agendas around the world.

The only combined foreign attack on American soil came close to bringing about the Clash of Civilisations predicted by Samuel P. Huntington, a political scientist and professor of political science at Eaton College with a British passport, who saw a confrontation between Western Catholics and Eastern Muslims as inevitable. Similarly, during those years, Francis Fukuyama’s theory in his famous essay The End of History and the Last Man, that liberal democracy would proclaim victory over authoritarian regimes at the end of the Cold War, had moments when it seemed that the battle between the heavyweights of world ideology was going to tip in favour of Washington’s allies.

Pulse to the markets in a world in turmoil

Twenty-five years into the 21st century and three major crises later—the dot-com crash of 2000, the credit crunch of 2008 and the Great Pandemic of 2020—and no shortage of industrial restructuring and productive dynamics put in place to mitigate collateral damage and usher in more sustained and prosperous economic cycles, geostrategic swords remain raised. Now the standoff is between the US and China, with Russia waiting in the wings as a leading nuclear power, and a cohort of emerging markets gaining international muscle. At almost the same pace, other key players of the past, such as the European partners in the EU, Japan and the United Kingdom, have lost their influence abroad.

This geopolitical framework has not prevented old conflicts, such as that in the Middle East, from continuing to be a particularly volatile hornet’s nest, or others from emerging, such as the war in Ukraine on the very borders of the EU. Nor has it prevented investors in the stock market from being carried away by impulses more or less surrounded by realpolitik. Gone is the New Economy that, at the beginning of the century, incorporated technologies into the production patterns of companies and countries. It was the era of the Internet, and the private tech sector was emerging without rules or internal structures capable of assimilating such a huge commitment to the future. All this created a stormy climate from a credit perspective. Personal loans (mortgages) and corporate guarantees led to (…) the nationalisation by the US Treasury of one of its flagship investment banks, Lehman Brothers, and the suspension of the Moscow Stock Exchange in the face of the free fall of its securities!!!

On 15 September 2008, the world seemed to be turned upside down. The country that championed the free market, which Fukuyama had elevated to the pinnacle of capitalism, was intervening in its banking system, while the nation that had pioneered economic planning – Russia, heir to the Soviet model – was defending its stock market tooth and nail.

This geostrategic game is what Around the world seeks to explain in each weekly meeting with its followers. To explain these seismic aftershocks on a planet in constant flux, with trends and phenomena that are more or less paranormal. To try to propose a regular game for those interested in following the trail of geopolitical, economic, investment and business shifts that are shaping a new system of international relations that will surely replace a process of globalisation that has driven the flow of goods, services and capital with virtually no borders.

A geostrategic race for global hegemony

This is a crucial moment in history. Trump 2.0 aims to bury multilateralism, undermine and even fragment globalisation, promoting, if necessary, the creation of two trading blocs, two spheres of power dominated by the US and China that will reconfigure value and supply chains, economic and trade diplomacy, and private business. All this is taking place amid a geostrategic race for global hegemony unparalleled since the Second World War. Beijing is challenging the supremacy of the dollar and its technological leadership, with AI as proof of origin of this innovative El Dorado.

For all these reasons, at Agencia comma we believe that Around the world, its review of Risk, which each week proposes a move that may differ substantially from that of the previous seven days, can serve as a road map in this famous game of geostrategy for taking investment positions in the global casino in which we live. Although this road map would also fulfil its purpose if it served, at least, to shape ideas and modulate consciences at a time when an ever-dangerous economic and ideological nationalism has emerged which, contrary to the collective subconscious that has prevailed in this first quarter of a century, leaves little trace of the triumph of liberal democracy that has ruled in the so-called Western bloc.

The return to protectionism, to the customs duties re-established in the interwar period almost a century ago, with the revival of reciprocal tariffs and a series of export bans and controls between the two superpowers of the moment, calls for a periodic review of events and rigorous analysis. This is especially true if, in the meantime, we have witnessed a stock market boom that has weathered geopolitical conflicts, with rampant global economic anaemia and corporate uncertainties about business AI projects and the dawn of an era of oil overproduction, but with emerging electricity demand to supply massive data centre facilities, the engine room of the intelligent algorithm that awaits us.

These are turbulent times. In the markets, where volatility has taken hold; in geopolitics, with intense tensions and rivalries; and in the economy, where business cycles have become endless, with no glimpse of their hidden dangers. In the case of high-income countries, excessive and risky indebtedness and runaway fiscal deficits.

Rocky roads towards technological leadership

But these are also complex times. Environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria have transformed their acronyms. Now, the talk is of Energy, Security and Geopolitics, company boards are beginning to demand directors and executives with experience in these areas, and doubts have been raised as to whether the two acronyms can coexist peacefully. Energy neutrality and climate change are facing rocky roads. And values are adapting to multiple transitions: logistical, commercial and, above all, competitive. Without a precise compass, but with high doses of active resilience. Similarly, AI leaves unresolved dilemmas. Will nuclear energy return to solve the energy demand deficits of its data centres? Will its assets enjoy an eternal era of splendour? Will its robotic algorithms replace more or less skilled workers?

In all these areas, Around the world will seek to find analyses and points of view that clarify this combination of factors that will determine whether the future of humanity is written in terms of progress or destruction. Each week, it will report on geopolitical, economic and investment perspectives. Of course, it will keep an eye on the European roadmap, which must emerge from its ostracism if it wants to compete on equal terms with the US and China on a planet that is spinning too fast. That’s the thing about translational motion.

La entrada Around the world, a weekly game of ‘Risk’ at the capital’s Gran Casino se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

Few sensations can match the adrenaline rush of catching a wave. And few similes fit so well with information and communication. Just as a surfer must train the skill of reading the sea, journalists have a duty to understand the media agenda .
media agenda
We have to understand the media agenda, gauge the context and decide when to paddle; and -let’s be honest- enjoy the immense pleasure of riding the information wave.

Gilmore’s quote ends: “As long as you’re smiling, you’re doing it right”. For us, that smile attests to the satisfaction of coming up with the right subject, at the right time.

The same happens when content creators manage to surf the news: they become trending topics. Think of the financial communicator who explains an interest rate decision in 90 seconds and chains thousands of interactions; the analyst who breaks down a corporate merger in a LinkedIn carousel and manages to be quoted by the media; or the technologist who, at the stroke of a pen, makes a complex paper accessible and, suddenly, sets the agenda for the day. All of them have in common timing, a fine reading of the context, a clear value proposition and a journalistic -not promotional- narrative that brings immediate understanding to the reader eager for this type of content.

As communicators, with the content we curate for our spokespeople, we have a lot to learn from surfers and content creators for social networks. Because the mastery lies, I insist, in surfing the information wave and not ending up centrifuged and splashing. This requires a strategy to bring communication consultancy -for the spokespersons we represent before the media- closer to journalism. We must incorporate journalistic routines to the positioning plan of spokespersons and brands, turning them into experts in a subject. The well-known
opinion leadership
. And we must do so by being strategic, knowing and anticipating the media agenda and foreseeing, in short, which topic will be the next trending topic. There is nothing like providing journalists with an expert opinion at the right time. Being on the right topic.

As I was saying, there is a lot of journalistic flair in this art of placing that textual quotation that turns our spokesperson into the expert protagonist of an article. There is a lot of craft. Serendipity also plays in our favor. But, above all, there is planning.

The method for not splashing

Planning is not about locking a spokesperson into a rigid script; it is about providing him or her with a fertile ecosystem for his or her judgment to excel when the wave comes.

• Defined thematic territories: to be clear about the areas of authority of each spokesperson -what he/she can speak about with solvency and data-. Without territory, there is no legitimacy; without legitimacy, there is no appointment.
• Agenda radar: anticipate key news moments when a current event can trigger a journalistic appetite for expert knowledge. For that, we must read the press. And a lot of it. Newspapers, newsletters, alerts, industry conferences, etc.
• Stakeholder map: to be in contact and aware of the movements of stakeholders in our areas, especially those who have the capacity to directly influence the sector of our brand and spokesperson.
• Criteria library: curate relevant content, files, data and comparisons that allow you to respond accurately. If the text is not journalistic and is not made by and for journalists, it is doomed to irrelevance. This is where it is advisable to stand up to the proliferation of copywriters who use promotional and self-promotional language, destroying a text.
• Prepared quotes, not prefabricated ones: work on background statements – with nuance and context – ready to be fine-tuned at the right time, without falling into hollow slogans.
• Speed protocols: who validates, how, in what time windows, with what formats and attachments -biographies, data, images-. Speed is not incompatible with rigor if there is a method.

In addition to all of the above, do not throw in the towel: we must have the ability to give a second life to our content if current events dictate it. The wave is not always taken at the first paddle.

Surfing in first person

Let’s look at two recent case studies in financial content curation for colleagues in the press. The precious metals rally we have been experiencing since the summer, which has filled pages and pages in the economic media, provided us with a golden opportunity (never better said). We had two in-depth analyses, with a long-term approach, signed by two spokespersons. We gave them a first and second life: we framed headlines, updated data, adjusted the perspective – risks, correlations, macro drivers – and managed to place the spokespersons in in-depth news articles for more than a week, in explanatory pieces and in closing session analyses. For them and for the brand, we managed to be the protagonists of the news during that period. We surfed the wave. And we did it smiling.

The summer banking soap opera between Torres and Oliu (BBVA-Sabadell) has provided communication consultants with another sustained momentum to contribute expert voices that provide depth to journalists. Without entering into ‘gardens’ that put the reputation of the spokesperson or the brand at risk, the derivatives and the projection that this fact has for the European banking industry -consolidation, competition, governance, regulation, technological efficiency, territorial impact- serve us on a platter a thematic melting pot in which we can make ourselves strong as expert voices. Through data-driven opinion columns, backgrounds that sort out the key issues and a fine reading of current affairs, we have also achieved notoriety for several of the companies we advise at comma. The key was not to get there first, but to get there judiciously and sustain the news pulse for several days, modulating the angle as the facts evolved.

The virtuous circle: from the spokesperson to the medium and back again

The reward for all our efforts is the gratitude of the spokesperson and the brand; the recognition of our work as consultants; and the generation of a virtuous circle in which we earn the trust and confidence of our clients .
trust
of the people we advise. They listen to us when we underline the importance of a topic that is on the media agenda in Spain; we have good, quality content; we curate it so that it adapts to the language of journalism.

This chain effect continues when the journalist receives that quality analysis just when he needs it, because it adds value and enriches his article. We become a reliable, constant source – we nourish the network of journalists with whom we maintain regular relationships with useful information, not just promotional press releases – and generate a relationship with journalists and media based, once again, on trust. The unmistakable sign that we are riding the waves, riding the news trend, is that call from the other side: “Can you arrange a statement from your spokesperson exclusively for my story? Kick flip on the ridge.

Learnings

All of the above leaves us with some lessons applied to corporate communication and the positioning of spokespersons:

• Contribute at the right time, with the right topic.
• Define territories of authority: without a thematic perimeter there is no opinion leadership.
• Monitor the agenda with method: daily reading and comparative analysis, not passive consumption.
• Curate journalistic content: data, context, nuance; zero self-promotion.
• Prepare useful quotations: short, clear, verifiable, with one idea per sentence.
• Build a stakeholder radar: know who is making moves, when and why.
• Sustaining momentum: iterating angles and updating parts -first and second life-.
• Agree on speed and control protocols: speed with judgment.
• Measure and learn: what worked, what was missing, what can be improved.
• Care for the relationship: contribute even when there is no press release; be a source, not a loudspeaker.

Surfing a wave is not about beating the sea; it is about understanding it. The same thing happens in communication: it is not a matter of forcing reality to fit our headline, but of reading the current of information, choosing the wave that corresponds to us and accompanying it with the demeanor and criteria of those who know where their place is. As Gilmore said -and it is worth remembering-: there are a million ways to do it, and if you smile, you are doing it right. Smiling, in our profession, is not frivolity: it is the serene expression of an invisible work that brings together craft, sense of smell, serendipity and planning. When these four pieces fit together, the spokesperson does not splash; he leads. And the brand doesn’t shout; it explains. That’s the kind of reputation that is earned wave by wave, article by article, relationship by relationship.

La entrada Surfing the information wave to prevent our spokespersons from ending up splashing around se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

In recent years, the communications sector has undergone a huge transformation. The modus operandi of media in 2025 has changed due to advances in AI, the rise of so-called independent journalism and transformations in information consumption patterns. However, one thing has remained immune to this new age, virtually unchanged by trends and almost inscrutable to journalistic dogmas of faith: successful PR still depends on having strong links with the media.

Not even the AI or the RRSS will be able to alter -at least in their totality or easily- some concepts intimately associated with journalistic culture.

No doubt there will be many examples. But let’s take a couple of them. One, dedicated to the clients of communication agencies. The other is for the media, those still extremely indispensable vehicles for generating Fourth Estate. Regardless of whether their digital editions are more or less well-oiled or survive with greater or lesser solvency the road traffic that their news offerings provoke.

The first one refers to the temptation of analysts, managers or heads of public or private institutions to activate on their own initiative supposed communication strategies with the media. In reality, they are not guilty of anything. They are only at the mercy of the maelstrom of events. Of an immediacy that overwhelms us all, but which, at the same time, requires tactical calm. The message that first reaches a newsroom is unsuccessful. Nor to a journalist with whom you have established professional ties. Sometimes these manoeuvres can be counterproductive. They can end up with exclusivity tactics or selective choice of media to disseminate a corporate or institutional news item or a special market valuation. Or contravene it through third parties, usually customers, suppliers or knowledgeable management, who leak revealing information without regard to the communication tactic.

The second might seemingly clash with access to the primary sources of a newsworthy subject. But nothing could be further from the truth; A journalist’s contacts and professional agenda are like the Grail (…) undoubtedly sacred. In more frequent and, therefore, less transcendental cases, in the day-to-day news, a stock market, economic, geopolitical or commercial valuation or a relevant corporate novelty can collide with a company’s due diligence policy if it is given to the media without the adequate control and supervision of an agency or a communications specialist. Beyond the designs of SEO managers seeking preferential digital repercussions. Without this oversight, which should be minimal but unavoidable, the communication spigot between companies and the media can be closed without remedy.

The value of journalistic culture

In both cases, there is an underlying guiding principle: the importance of journalistic culture. This is something that must continue to govern communication tactics. It is surprising that in this day and age, where information flows at breakneck speed, company directors and even communication managers demand that agencies stop a news story. As if they had omnipotent power. And, moreover, against the clock. Or that, in the opposite direction, the media entrust them with altering agendas to urgently satisfy a chronicle about to take flight.

It is not that it should be renounced – of course- but, rather, to convey that it is not always feasible. In other words, it is the exception to an unwritten rule that exists and must remain in the journalistic ecosystem.

So the key to properly open this Pandora ‘s Box requires in the first instance confronting the technological avant-garde, accepting the effects, direct, beneficial and harmful, of the RRSS and, above all, preserving journalistic culture. A bit of heritage and tradition is never a bad thing. For which, we leave you with a decalogue of good practice. It never hurts in troubled times when hostile (geopolitical and ideological) attacks proliferate, (economic and financial) headwinds blow, and ( corporate and AI-related ) intellectual property battles rage against the media industry and communication quality standards.

Perhaps this is an opportune moment to put on record a number of recommendations for good journalistic practice in modern times.

The ‘Ten Commandments’ of today’s Communication

1 · Personalisation is non-negotiable. In the past, PR specialists could send press releases to hundreds of journalists and cross their fingers. That strategy is no longer effective. Every day, journalists receive hundreds of submissions and can recognise a generic message at a glance.

2 · Authentic storytelling captures attention. Journalists and the public alike know the difference between a real story and a marketing gimmick in today’s world. Brands that prioritise authenticity over promotion will be the most successful in media relations.

3 · Build relationships, not transactions. Media links are not deals, but connections. Journalists prefer to collaborate with PR specialists who provide genuine value rather than simply a press release when it suits them.

4 · Understanding the new media landscape . YouTube channels, blogs, newsletters, podcasts and micro-influencer platforms have grown in number as traditional media have shrunk. Reaching audiences wherever they are is the goal of media relations. Not just TV stations and newspapers.

5 · Multimedia content is a must. Journalists are often under pressure to produce interesting content. Providing multimedia content, such as images, videos, infographics or short audio clips, makes it easier for them to report on the topic.

6 · Use AI to work smarter. It enhances journalistic practice, but will not replace PR specialists. Instead, it can help with proposal writing, finding journalists, monitoring media and even monitoring coverage in real time.

7 · Speed is essential but not essential. News move faster than ever before. You will miss opportunities if you cannot react quickly. However, you may miss them if the response system loses efficiency and attractiveness by being meteoric. Or leave room for improvisation. Mistakes are paid for.

8 · Transparency is non-negotiable. Attempting to manipulate a situation or hide facts rarely succeeds. Brands that are straightforward, truthful and prepared to face up to their mistakes strengthen their ties with the media.

9 · A long-term strategy trumps short-term victories. A single press release will not be enough to build strong channels of engagement with the media. It is necessary to build permanent bridges of credibility, provide ongoing value and create long-term bridges of connection.

10 · End of the Decalogue. Epilogue: create an annual media relations calendar. This is something that is mainly within the reach of communication agencies that deal with media and clients alternatively.

Commonality of criteria (…) and interests

The search for instruments to increase digital traffic and subscriptions is not guaranteed. Even less so in convulsive times like the present, when information is devoured in an attempt to understand, no more and no less, a change in the international order and in the social relations of coexistence. For this reason, the communion of criteria between agencies and their clients and of interests between the former and the media must not be devalued if journalistic quality and rigour are to be instilled. Or without losing the values of objectivity and, above all, the right to truthfulness, which on too many occasions is confused with a freedom of expression that is not conspicuous by its absence, but is invoked by those who lack rational and weighty arguments to impose their ideas. Not infrequently, moreover, because of hidden interests.

Perhaps if journalistic culture returns to its origins, without renouncing technological progress, the Reuters Institute survey, which states that only four out of ten opinion leaders in Spain (41%) have confidence in the prospects and future of journalism, could be reversed. And only one in six (17%) express little or no faith in the profession.

La entrada Time for change in journalistic culture? Let ‘s not abandon good practice se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

Despite the personal -or self-interested- determination of those who want to see the professional relationship between journalists and communication agencies as a paranormal phenomenon, an encounter between two species without any defined link between them, the connection between the two not only works, but is also essential for news and quality analysis to flow to public opinion as a well-oiled transmission belt. There are some. I do not know if they are legion. Or if they are only residual. But my impression, almost certainty, is that they are wrong.

Those of us who have had the opportunity to practice journalism on both sides of this border should recognize more often the shared merit of this marriage of convenience. Journalists, those who are in the front line of the news, value the reception of reports, comments and opinions of experts that, on a daily basis, reach their usual news channels. They are not their primary sources of information, but they are surely their healthiest sources of assessment. Obviously, not all of them are of equal quality. Prestige is not achieved at the drop of a hat. It is, as academic and health institutions, for example, are well aware, an arduous and time-consuming task that generally responds to a sophisticated strategy that does not always bring the desired benefits. But to detect this quality there is a journalistic sense of smell.

Of course, in this context, the polluted atmosphere that some people strive to describe in order to discredit the work of agency agents – ironically, the redundancy – is not real. Or, at least, it is not part of the air that is generally breathed in this profession. There are always people for everything, as the Spanish saying goes. But the norm is that cooperation is the usual sign of identity. With the usual exceptions, of course. In other words: the alleged interference of agency journalists to influence or interpose a smokescreen around a preconceived defense of their clients is neither a pattern of behavior nor a common practice, but rather a rara avis, a tumor diagnosed, localized and with surgical treatment for its removal.

The vital constants that predominate in the journalistic relationship between media professionals and communication agencies is cooperation. The frequent supply of data and analysis with which newspapers, radio and television stations and their applications and social networks nourish their readers, listeners and viewers. In a world that is spinning at an unprecedented speed in history. Agencia comma has perfected this transmission belt in one of the most sophisticated areas of news, market valuation and analysis, with a capacity for immediate adaptation to critical moments, in which major transformations have been precipitated in the world order, in geopolitics and in the economic situation, as a result of paradigm shifts in the technological and energy fields and with unavoidable challenges to combat the climate catastrophe.

However, and despite this effervescent era of transformations, we must not lose perspective or abandon the sign of identity that should govern the communion of interests between the two spheres of journalism. The roadmap sets as a final destination the search for symbiosis between these two souls of information treatment based on six driving ideas.

Collaboration between journalists and PR agencies offers benefits for both parties

The former gain access to relevant information that will fill their stories with meaning, expert testimonials and supporting data sets that will drive subscriptions and encourage downloads and clicks. PR agencies, meanwhile, will thus have access to trusted media from which to disseminate client news and promote brands.

A relationship that demands more than meets the eye

PR support for journalists can come in many forms, and one great option is to have a media kit. These media kits provide easily accessible information about a brand, including company background, key executives, product information and visuals that can be used by journalists as well as informed technical opinion on what they are experts in your industry. The distribution of informative and analytical material and the engagement of journalists will be supported by a well-prepared media kit that provides quick access to relevant data and enhances news coverage. This is one of the best ways in which collaboration between professionals can be streamlined.

Establishing linkages through thought leadership interviews

Another form of cooperation that almost always comes to fruition is the offering of thought leadership interviews. Collaborative teams working together will provide valuable expert information, generate credibility and provide brand exposure. These encounters with thought leaders or prestigious personalities in their professional field are an essential tool for laying the groundwork and deepening mutual trust between clients and media contacts. Public relations professionals can use press releases, media outreach, proprietary channels, and primary content to secure the inclusion of thought leaders in the media and create meaningful connections with journalists.

Public relations and journalists

Their interdependence in the collaborative process of crafting compelling stories must be frequent. The journalist counts on receiving accurate information and the public relations professional expects the factual story to be communicated correctly. Building trust and open communication are the cornerstones of these synergies. Through storytelling, teamwork takes shape to create compelling and accurate content that resonates with the audience and enhances the perception of both the media and the brand.

Provide valuable resources and information

This umbilical cord offers agencies a valuable resource in the media to reinforce corporate brands. As representatives of their clients’ image, PR teams can provide the media with data, research, images and expert commentary or quotes. So they are in a constant quest to provide their editorial colleagues with reliable and timely information; in other words, to give them solid media reading and coverage.

Overcoming challenges and maintaining ethical practices

Deontology must also preside over these communicating vessels. Because there are potentially risky challenges in the relationship between media journalists and agencies, such as conflicts of interest, but also ethical considerations. From the agency’s perspective, being a source of information for journalists and a public relations cultivator at the same time can be complicated. Therefore, the links must be transparent and honest, so that these interactions can successfully navigate any potential ethical hurdles.

In short, if this cooperation between these two frontiers of journalism did not exist, it would have to be invented.

La entrada Journalists and communication agencies, a well-matched informational marriage se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

The event brought together media experts, academics and politicians to discuss strategies and tools against disinformation and in favor of democracy. Leading the presentation were, among others, the president of CLABE, Arsenio Escolar; the Minister for Digital Transformation, Óscar López; and the president of the Congress of Deputies, Francina Armengol.

Based on the conclusions of the collaborative book Comprometidos con la verdad: propuestas para combatir la desinformación, coordinated by Raúl Magallón, professor at Universidad Carlos III, the text proposes measures to address disinformation from legislative, educational and technological perspectives.

During the event, the need for media, governments and digital platforms to work together to combat the spread of false information was emphasized, highlighting the risks of social networks in the dissemination of disinformation. The structural threat posed by disinformation to journalism and democracy was also discussed, calling for action to regulate the impact of social networks and encourage self-regulation in the media.

The opportunity for journalism

In this sense, the last chapter of this collaborative book has been written by Professor Ramón Salaverría, entitled: ‘Disinformation: an opportunity for journalism’, beyond the harshness of his statements, aims to “open a door to hope” as he himself stated in his Linkedin. In his article, he invites journalism to see the crisis of disinformation as an opportunity to renew its commitment to the truth. He assures that, in order to regain credibility, the media must be more transparent, independent and rigorous. The chapter analyzes the problems that have undermined trust in the media and outlines some proposals to restore it.

For Salaverría, the proliferation of false news and intentional manipulation has deteriorated public confidence in the traditional media, especially in Spain, where credibility levels are alarmingly low.

He therefore proposes that, in the face of this crisis, the media must make a renewed commitment to truth and transparency. To regain trust, journalism needs to reform in several key areas.

Among the recommendations, it highlights the importance of prompt and honest rectification when mistakes are made, transparency in working methods and the source of funds, and clarity about sponsored or AI-generated content. It also stresses the need to improve professional standards, prioritizing information over opinion and entertainment. The independence of public media, which should be free from political control, is another crucial point for him.

Salaverría believes that the implementation of these measures, although challenging, could allow journalism to assume a more ethical and trustworthy role, acting as a shield against disinformation and serving as a reliable guide for society in an increasingly complex information context.

Main conclusions of the book

We have highlighted Professor Salaverría’s chapter because it seems to us to be one of the most remarkable, but we did not want to stop only in this chapter and we have prepared a summary of the entire document so that we cannot justify lack of time to read it, because we consider it to be of great interest.

Committed to the truth addresses the phenomenon of disinformation as one of the greatest challenges of the digital era and presents multidisciplinary strategies to combat its effects. The book explores how the spread of fake news and intentional manipulations has affected various sectors of society, threatening democracy, public health and social cohesion.

Through multiple perspectives, the text examines the importance of strengthening media literacy, transparency and ethics in the media.

One of the central themes is media literacy from an early age, defended as a crucial tool for forming critical citizens who are less vulnerable to information manipulation. The book emphasizes the need for media education to be a priority in public policies so that young people learn to distinguish truthful information from disinformation.

It also examines the European Union’s policy responses to disinformation, highlighting its leadership in digital regulation with initiatives such as the Digital Services Act and the Code of Practice on Disinformation. These measures seek to limit the amplification of false news on social networks and digital platforms, promoting a safer and more reliable information environment.

The impact of technology and social networks on the spread of hoaxes is another key issue. The chapters dedicated to this issue explore how social networks have become channels where hoaxes spread rapidly, driven by algorithms that prioritize sensationalist content. The authors advocate for collaboration between platforms, media and regulators to develop tools for verifying information.

In addition, the book delves into the damage that disinformation causes in specific areas such as science, economics, feminism, migration and consumption. Scientific misinformation, especially on health and environmental issues, has become critical, exacerbating problems such as vaccine resistance or climate change denial. In the economic sphere, the spread of false information can affect markets and investment decisions, while on gender and migration issues, hoaxes often reinforce stereotypes and prejudices, undermining social progress and inclusion.

La entrada Misinformation and liability se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

He may have lost some of his freshness, but his videos are still funny. However, when he switched to AI voice cloning something made me feel a bit like those La Codorniz published under the title “Tremble after you have laughed”. Would we be able to distinguish between a real and a fake audio of a personality, an actor, a politician, a prosecutor? From one of our close relatives? Honestly, I don’t think any of us have that fine an ear, and studies underline this.

There has been much warning about images (photo, video) called deepfakes, and there are good tools for detecting falsehood, but I think audio has almost more danger and destructive potential because of its enormous capacity to evoke images in our brains. If you regularly listen to the radio or podcasts you know exactly what I mean.

The voice-cloning is already being normalised and not always for the better. Or rather: everything that is invented for good can be used for evil, sooner rather than later. Their potential to interfere in electoral processes is, in my opinion, greater than that of deepfakes or mainstream misinformation. We still have no effective means to defend ourselves from it nor has its use been regulated: it may be useful for learning languages or scheduling medical appointments, but it poses a very high risk to democracies.

The crisis of truth

Truth is in crisis. Facts are known only through the senses, and if hearing and sight, which are our main ways of knowing what exists, are circumvented, we are more exposed than ever to lies and swindling. In his now famous “Infocracy“, Byung-Chul Han warns about the crisis of truth: we live, in his opinion, in a digital and therefore “defactified” universe, from which “the common world” has already disappeared, along with factual truths.

We need the truth. I return to Infocracy, where Nietzsche’s concept of truth is quoted, “a social construct that serves to make human coexistence possible“. Given the relevance of truth for coexistence and the need we have for a certain consensus around the facts in order to be able to work with opinions about them, it is difficult not to see the gravity of what we are experiencing.

The first Pedro Sánchez’s letter to the public had his party on tenterhooks for five days and the country for those same days and a few more in the corner of thinking about what’s going on with the disinformation. This debate existed until now for academia, the journalistic profession, communication, judges and politicians. A protocol was even adopted to combat disinformation in 2020.. And yet, here we are four years later, reading the letter from the president “deeply in love” that has finally taken the debate out of the academy and into the mainstream.

Disinformation training

Ramón Salaverría, to whom we will never be sufficiently grateful for his study and this talk in El Elefante Verde, spoke recently on El País on this issue. It was not the first time he referred to the need to educate the public and public decision-makers on how digital has taken lifelong misinformation to another dimension. The AI will take it even further, of this I am almost certain.

The BBC has started working on the issue in earnest and last March launched this new functionality to help your readers discern the veracity of your images and videos. Through a button on the screen, it tells you “how we verify this”, to understand the verification process carried out by journalists, a kind of making-of the news. This new functionality may need to become standard, and even then, there will be those who do not want to believe the truth.

I return to the Korean philosopher and his “Infocracy”: “The crisis of truth is always a crisis of society. Without truth, society disintegrates internally”. He adds: “Conspiracy theories thrive especially in crisis situations […] as micro-narratives that provide a remedy here”. I cannot refrain from also reproducing the following sentence: “Conspiracy theories resist verification by facts because they are narratives which, despite their fictitious character, underpin the perception of reality”. What can the BBC’s verification system, or any other, do against this reality?

We can all be victims of manipulation

As can be seen, this is not an easy debate. No one is comfortable with the assumption that they can be manipulated by third parties with bad intentions and relatively simple tools. It is not because we all think we are stronger and smarter than we really are, but because no one has explained to us the fact that no matter how smart or strong you are, you will always have a weakness to be attacked.

The only Spanish MEP who has participated in the recently approved lEU AI law, Ibán García del Blanco, has many interesting things to say as a result of his participation in this extremely important legislative work. Among them, one of a very political nature: the future (or perhaps already present) debate will not be polarised around left and right, but around two poles that no one would have imagined just a few years ago: those who respect the institutions of the liberal democracy and those who do not value, nor want, that institutionality. Perhaps that is why the European Parliament campaign for the upcoming elections has as much to do with a serious warning to young people about what the dictatorships and totalitarianisms. It is the young people who will live the longest in the EU that will be voted on Sunday 9 June, and who should have the most interest in the European elections; and yet they are the ones who are most easily demobilised by messages for them in social media, which are pure disinformation and anti-politics.

In short, and to conclude, there is an urgent need for literacy education about the disinformation that threatens their security and their freedom to choose their representatives, but no less urgent is literacy education also, as Carmela Ríos tweets, people much less humble, the one who has to decide who are journalists and who are, not just agitators, but manipulators of the will of the people.

This issue cannot be regulated without a thorough understanding of what disinformation is and how it works in these digital times. The problem now is whether those who are going to regulate us will admit their lack of understanding of this complex phenomenon, will sit down and listen to the experts, and will be able to regulate it without infringing on fundamental rights.

La entrada Truth in crisis: facing the avalanche of disinformation without dying from infoxication se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

I think we have all been impacted by those images; We’ve all looked away from our phones at some point, and we’ve all wanted to avoid thinking about those war-torn lives. I talked to my friend and explained to her how networks work, how to deal with this news and how we must protect ourselves from realities that we individually cannot prevent but that impact us in the same way as if we were living (or almost living) them on the ground; It is empathy, it is love for others, that makes us more vulnerable to the evil and suffering of others;

In a world where information is constantly flowing, negative news, particularly that related to war, has become a ubiquitous element in our lives. This constant stream of harrowing reports and international conflicts not only informs, but also shapes our perceptions and, ultimately, our moods;

When we dive into the coverage of the war, we are not only processing data, but also absorbing a significant emotional charge, and we are often doing so alone in front of our mobile phones, without the shelter of a familiar conversation that used to relativise the things we saw on TV. It’s a bit like the pandemic: the bombardment of messages, fake news, reports, press conferences, research that was published without passing the peer-to-peer filter… it killed our nerves and our ability to concentrate.We are still recovering.

The rawness of the violence, the loss of life and destruction of homes and hospitals, the uncertainty surrounding war events can fuel anxiety, while constant exposure to harrowing narratives can plunge us into a state of hopelessness;

We are victims, but there are more victims than us

Carmen Linares Albertos is dean of the College of Psychology of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and I spoke to her about this, but she reminded me that the real victims are those who are suffering the war, in Gaza, in Ukraine, or in places less visible in the media and social networks: “Wars have devastating psychological effects for the population that suffers them. We are going to find various types of reactions. Among people who experience war very closely, they may develop post-traumatic stress disorder. People who suffer the loss of family and loved ones or pets, homes, etc., and go into a phase of bereavement;

Linares explains: “The uncertainty of what is going to happen, and the fear and violence to which they are subjected, means that they can develop a high level of anxiety and stress: “The fact that many people have to leave their homes also provokes a sense of uprootedness and not belonging that also needs to be worked on”. A borderline situation that, according to Linares, “causes physical and psychological symptoms, such as sleep disturbances, eating disorders, personality… and requires both social and psychological support”;

The damage will depend “on the type of war and its duration and intensity, as well as on the people who face it”, because, as Linares knows well, “there are people with brutal levels of resilience and others who have no tools and for whom it will be more difficult to cope with the situation”;

The mechanical damage of war

Her sentence about the impacts on the physical level led me to talk to the associate professor of the Carlos III University, Daniel García, who instructed me in what was the main topic of his doctoral thesis: how war impacts the brain, not at the psychological but at the mechanical level, and how that then has psychological repercussions at the behavioural and coping level.

Daniel started his research on materials, but during his research he applied the same materials methodology on biological material such as the brain of a laboratory mammal; Their aim was to determine how the deformation of these materials influences the cognitive level; “Your body is like wiring,” he explains, “if you distort it, you can load it up and it works worse;

The brain exposed to physical, mechanical impacts deteriorates faster and faster; The Day After has gone viral this video about former Atlético de Madrid captain Enrique Collar, who reminds us of this reality: scoring headed goals has consequences. Daniel Garcia began to move from the computational to the experimental side, subjecting laboratory mice to explosions (non-lethal, say to the blast wave) and then studying the damage to the brain;

They found that there was cognitive damage from mechanical pressure on neurons; The experimental animal showed severe stress to a flashing light; “A laboratory animal that had not suffered mechanical damage to the brain, being with others of its species without such stress, calmed down; in contrast, those animals subjected to mechanical damage lost that quality of social contagion so that they were not able to relax in contact with their calmer peers”;

Thus we see how war causes psychological stress, but also mechanical stress, or, in the words of this researcher, “causes emotional disorders associated with mechanical deformation”, specifically of neurons;

“This mechanical part (as seen in the film “The Truth Hurts“, which you can watch on Netflix); it is known to exist,” he stresses. “Stress can damage certain components and connections; it’s not just chemical: it’s also mechanical”; I will not go into the wonderful description of how neurons, when mechanically deformed, modify their behaviour; It is as fascinating as it is complex to understand for those of us who are not specialists in neurosurgery;

And children are not left out: children are not to be shaken. Neither emotionally nor physically. Children are less able to defend themselves; Damage can be severe and may not show until it is too late;

Prolonged exposure to negative news can contribute to the development of conditions such as anxiety and depression. The feeling of powerlessness in the face of the apparent lack of solutions to global problems can generate a sense of hopelessness, affecting our perception of the world and our place in it;

Balancing information intake

In this context, it is essential to consider the quality and quantity of our information intake. Overexposure to negative news can lead to a distorted view of reality, focusing only on the darker aspects of society; Setting healthy boundaries and selecting balanced news sources can help us maintain a more realistic and positive outlook;

The importance of diversificating our news sources cannot be underestimated. Consuming information from a variety of sources, both nationally and internationally, allows us to obtain a more complete and contextualised view of events; This variety can help counteract the sense of fatalism that often accompanies war coverage;

In addition to regulating our information diet, it is crucial to find ways to channel our emotions and contribute positively in the midst of adversity. Participation in charities, demonstrations, raising awareness and supporting peace initiatives are concrete steps that can make a difference;

Contributing to charitable causes not only provides direct aid to those affected by war, but can also offer a sense of purpose and meaning; Spreading awareness through social platforms and conversations in everyday life can amplify attention to important issues, generating long-term impact;

Human resilience in the midst of adversity

Despite the emotional burden of covering war, it is essential to remember the inherent resilience of humanity. Throughout history, we have overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges, demonstrating time and again our capacity for compassion and collaboration;

Celebrating stories of hope and solidarity can counter the dominant narrative of hopelessness; Let us not forget that those who want to spread negative feelings try to sell us the remedy: if they sow insecurity, they will sell us security measures; This is how the market works, and it is our duty to be wary of those who make money out of our discomfort; Highlighting the efforts of who work tirelessly to bring aid and build peace can inspire us and remind us that, even in dark times, there is light. There is light beyond our mobile screens;

La entrada News diet to avoid succumbing to bad news se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

The journalist is dead, long live the journalist 3.0

If we focus on the new communication paradigm of the Internet era, the figure of the message sender in possession of the information, who decides what is truthful and therefore relevant to society, has long since signed its death warrant. The web 2.0 caused an evolution of the audiences of classic communication models and ended the unidirectionality that mass media are supposed to.

Since the early 2000s, the receiver of the messages has been transformed into a user with the ability to interact with transmitters and other users, which in turn makes it a transmitter, a rebroadcaster and an amplifier; The accessibility of the technology to create these messages is now universal and has placed a multimedia tool in every citizen’s pocket. Information has evolved into multimedia content; The channel is now constituted by a myriad of semantics platforms, increasingly decentralized and emitting a constant flow of messages and information in real time, which leads to saturation

All of the above, and especially the social web, has been to journalism what the meteorite that hit the earth 66 million years ago was to the dinosaurs; It has eradicated the previous model and forced the profession to compete in an environment where the user has become empowered, has adopted the role of content creator and is now the medium, the message and even the channel. The information professional and sole possessor of veracity has been extinguished to make way for the citizen journalism or journalism 3.0.

The content curator

This phenomenon has thrown the traditional media into a deep crisis from which they have not yet managed to emerge and to update themselves as they have never had to do before; But the quintessence of the professional journalist versus the citizen journalist has remained unchanged, it has only had to adapt to a new context of high demands;

From 9/11 to the Arab Springs

While the Lewinsky scandal, the pinnacle of infotainment, is considered the first major news case of the Internet era, 9/11 is recognized by authors such as Dan Gillmor, in his book We the media, as the turning point of the blogger phenomenon. On that terrible day they rose up as the chroniclers of events, in the face of the collapse of the webs and the classic media, breaking forever the canons of the informative orthodoxy that delimited, to date, the professional channels;

There was no turning back; Exclusivity over information was taken away once and for all and the era of monopoly of the traditional channels was over; The new reporters transgressed the rules and mixed reporting with opinion, planting the seed of what more than a decade later would give rise to the fake news and journalism had to reinvent itself.

It was another historic event of major importance that restored the profession to a place of relevance in the information consumption chain;

Between 2010 and 2012 the world witnessed a series of popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt or Libya, known as the Arab Spring through blogs and information from citizens, who relayed the events in first person, while the media in those countries hid the reality. At the time, Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera decided to set itself up as the platform for all this popular content, exercising a role ofgatekeeper of veracity, applying journalistic criteria, no longer to the production, but to the selection and service of those information provided by the protagonists of the news. And it gave birth to the new professional journalism of the digital age;

In the last decade, the core skills of the trade have become a compass to help readers navigate a new world of infoxication constantly and in which anyone can broadcast information without checking or verifying. Journalists have been able to regain their authority, no longer as the only loudspeaker, but as a filter, hierarchizer of information and content curator.

Is there anything new in journalism in the face of AIs?

Just when we thought we had reached a new status quo, the challenge posed by artificial intelligence is once again shaking the foundations of the profession. This new revolution puts society as a whole in check and poses an almost dystopian future in which AIs will produce the content, supplanting journalists, photographers, graphic designers, illustrators and almost any craft reserved for human creation.

What is even more shocking is whether they will be able to illuminate alternative and artificial multimedia realities, where misinformation and the fake news will take on new dimensions, to the point where it will be virtually impossible to distinguish between what is real and what is a construct of machines.

Gatekeepers of the veracity

We journalists have arrived at this situation without having yet left behind two decades of idiosyncratic changes, which we have tried to summarise in this text, but with the previous lesson well learned; And in the face of the new artificial realities, our role as curators of content, key verifiers and verifiers will become even stronger; “selection” of information and realities, based on journalistic criteria and using professional honesty”, claims Miquel Pellicer, director of Digital Communication at the UOC, in the podcast El elefante verde blog.

As Pellicer so well expresses, we are not inventing anything; We have been at the crossroads for years and journalists have learned to coexist with the citizen journalism we talked about during the Arab Spring, with social networks, content creators, youtubers, tiktokers and streamers; We have seen the birth and death of journalistic content dissemination tools (does anyone remember the web-source phenomenon –RSS feeds-, which were largely replaced by Twitter and other social networks?).

We have abandoned our pulpits of one-way communicators and have learned to interlocue with audiences and incorporate their capacity to produce content; we have been flexible; we have renewed the profession, incorporating new skills and capacities, which have turned us into almost orchestra men and women; We write, layout, search for and retouch images, apply html code, produce copy, disseminate news on RRSS (and a host of other functions that we are absorbing so that technology does not pass us by). And he who has not learned, has fallen by the wayside;

The definitive evolution of the trade

Throughout this process, two weaknesses have become apparent:

1. The first and most obvious is how the academic programmes at national universities have been overwhelmed by the evolution of the profession, and have come up with answers for the training of new journalists late and badly. Even today, as we move into Web 3.0 – not Web 3, mind you – where AI is proving that it will play a major role in the semantic and digitalised web, young journalists enter the workforce with almost embarrassing knowledge of Web 2.0, so it ends up happening that they learn their trade in the newsrooms where they start as trainees – something that has happened all their lives, by the way; It is to be hoped that the same will be true of the new challenge that AI poses to the profession;
2. The second is the inability of large media corporations to react quickly to innovation and the reluctance of each of us communication professionals to embrace it. Despite all the above, we remain entrenched in our craft of being the only ones fit to inform and we are reluctant to abandon those pulpits that we no longer have and that are now occupied by streamers, tiktokers or influencers. But our mission in this new world of artificial intelligence is to be the first to learn how to use these tools to amplify the verification, content curation and critical thinking functions of journalists.

We are tasked with train these artificial intelligences so that they respect citizens’ fundamental rights, do not show bias towards minorities – while being inclusive – and do not contribute to increasing social inequalities. Do not manipulate; Do not misinform; Do not construct false stories;

In short, we must renew ourselves once and for all, abandon all resistance to the fact that a story, today, can be told by anyone much better than us, even a machine, and lead a counter-revolution: the one of ethical Artificial Intelligences; The one of information professionals as guardians of truthfulness;

La entrada Journalism and AI: the values of the craft versus artificial realities se publicó primero en Agencia comma.