The need to defend the truth characterized the graduation ceremony of the 38th class of the Master of Journalism of the UAM-EL PAÍS School. The students graduated during a ceremony that took place in the Multipurpose Hall of the Plaza Mayor of the Autonomous University of Madrid. The director of EL PAÍS, Jan Martínez Ahrens, in charge of holding this year’s closing lesson, addressed the students who finished their internship last summer and thus completed their master’s degree: “Our task is to tell the truth about what happens and to do it without fear.”
Martínez Ahrens referred to the turbulent times in which we live, in a world where disinformation spreads at a dizzying speed, there is less consensus, more inequality, greater risk of wars and where the work of journalists is more necessary than ever: “Journalism will be necessary to inform, dismantle lies, contextualize, offer explanations… This will be your task.”
To do this, the director insisted that they do so with “a recognizable code, with a method that guarantees the honesty of their work and strengthens public trust”. “This code is that of quality journalism, which you were taught in school and which you must preserve and develop,” he explained.
The president of the PRISA Group, Joseph Oughourlian, asked the students during his speech to engage in the profession with independence and plurality: “Do it honestly, with sensitivity and with the condition that every word can change someone’s life, that our work changes the world”. He also recalled that EL PAÍS, which will turn 50 next year, was born with and for democracy, and that this work is not finished and will never end. “Always remember that you bear an enormous responsibility and the privilege of telling the world about it,” he stressed.
The former director of EL PAÍS and director of the School of Journalism, Javier Moreno, also insisted on this need to serve society honestly: “You must do the journalism that your generation needs and do it well. At the School we are committed to ensuring that you master the techniques of the trade, but also so that you can internalize and take on as your own the values of journalism, the professional ethics and the commitment you make to society.”
Moreno recalled that both he and the current director of the newspaper attended the classrooms of the School of Journalism, and the president of the Group underlined that the next director of EL PAÍS who will celebrate the 70 or 80 years of the newspaper could be among them. Martínez Ahrens, who assured that during his graduation he felt the same concerns as today’s students, recommended that they take care of written, spoken and visual language, which is their privilege and that, in case of doubt, when they are under pressure, they do one thing: journalism.
Also speaking at the event were the rector of the UAM, Amaya Mendikoetxea, and the director of Communication and Institutional Relations of CaixaBank, María Luisa Martínez Gistau, who underlined the importance of the program and that the students work to safeguard the truth.
The 38th class of the Master of Journalism is made up of 39 students from different countries of origin: Spain, France, Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Uruguay. Most completed their internship year in the EL PAÍS editorial team in Madrid, but two of them were in the one in Barcelona, another in the one in Valencia, six in Cadena SER and one in AS.
