We cannot deny that one of the most changing professions in their practice is journalism. The typewriters in the newsrooms, the desks with ashtrays full of half-consumed cigarettes, whiskey glasses [only a few], are memories of a journalism that today only exists in our memories in a romantic way.
"I have been doing journalism for more than two and less than four decades," says Carolina Robino, a journalist with the BBC, who, together with her colleague Gerardo Lissardy, made the paper Journalism: the BBC World model.
The only thing that may not have changed is the journalistic rigour. “I think nowadays it has intensified -Robino reflects-. A long time ago I swore not to work in a newspaper, moved to a weekly magazine and then to a monthly one. And the work I do today is even more demanding than being in a newspaper”
But what is important is not the vortex of information circulating through social networks or websites, but the focus of the news event. Carolina makes a stop, looks at the public and says: "The enemies of digital journalism are us journalists". I agree. Then she continues: "The journalist writes to be read, we are not the “cursed writers” that are not interested in whether they are read or not (Laughter)".
Finding the most perspectives about an event is the key to avoid falling into the routine and tiresome. 'Titles must be as good as content', says Lissardy. "We cannot deceive people by formulating a striking title if the content is not of equal quality".
The musings on the subject were transformed into questions. There was nothing more to discuss, those who were present agreed on the following: the journalist has no choice but to adapt to changes. Clinging to the paradigms of the past will only lead to an information failure.
Carolina Robino and Gerardo Lissardy took part in the journalism workshop of BBC World inside the Hay Joven, the section of the Hay Festival Arequipa dedicated exclusively to university students.