Victoria Madrid Martín
Newtral is an innovative medium launched by the presenter and journalist Ana Pastor. Its main objective is to be a reference in fact-checking and the fight against disinformation. In recent years it has been gaining relevance and also new challenges such as the production of audiovisual content, media literacy projects or transparency in relation to politics and disclosure of the process of law production in our country.
We spoke to its executive producer, Beatriz Nogareda, Ana Pastor's right-hand woman. She is in charge of the team's logistics, keeps track of the company's progress, and also continues to produce content, editing interviews and other pieces, which, as she told us, is what she enjoys most. We spoke to her to find out what she thinks about the current state of Journalism and the challenges it will face in the near future.
Beatriz Nogareda Source: Newtral
Well, I don't know if you can summarise a bit about the day-to-day life of a journalist in your newsroom. I mean, do you have a certain routine for publishing in a certain way? How does your newsroom work a little bit?
Well, look, there are different departments, there is the department of hoaxes. Newtral is very much dedicated to that on the web. But there is also an audiovisual department. I'm more in charge of audiovisuals, the things we do for television, for la Sexta, for Antena tres, but also for platforms. For example, when we made the documentary on the Borbones. I do the voice, for example and also worked as a script writer. So, you can see that Newtral is a very horizontal company. What does that mean? That there is no hierarchy here, that we all do everything. So, in the working of that documentary the team would get together to see how to approach each chapter. For example, the chapter on the Borbones and money or like the Borbones and women. So, how are we going to approach it, what tone are we going to give it? Do we want it to be irreverent? Do we want it to go beyond serious journalism and do something a bit more transgressive? OK, come on, so where are we going to start?
Newtral newsroom Source:Newtral
We have to plan what elements are going to appear in the documentary and, therefore, what we need. Imagine, interviews. We have to interview a series of people who are going to appear in the documentary, but we also have to think about how we are going to illustrate it, because we can ask for archives, but there isn't much. Imagine, there's not much archive. So, to illustrate what we're saying, we're going to use graphics. So, we call a person from the graphics department here and we say, come on, I'm going out with the King, so he draws you the King hunting an elephant, for example.
So, as you are more in the audiovisual side, you work more on a project basis, right?
Exactly, by projects. Each project requires these things. It has different needs. That's right.
As Newtral is an innovative company in the media landscape and strives to combat the different challenges journalism faces, I also wanted to ask you what do you think is the biggest challenge for journalism now?
The biggest challenge facing journalism? Disinformation. There is too little contrast. Today and with social networks. Disinformation creeps in from all sides. So, the biggest challenge is to maintain rigour. To maintain rigour and tell the truth. And everything is so, so polarised. It's very difficult to maintain serenity, calm and find the middle ground and the right point. No. I would say that the biggest challenge is to maintain rigour. And to avoid polarisation and to avoid tension. I'm talking mostly about politics, which is what is happening, especially with politics. But, well, a bit at all levels, because with social networks, the adrenaline of impact, of the immediacy of things and news, is very much sought after. But news often requires time to analyse whether it is true or not. Talking to all the parties and as there is a lot of impatience, why? Because if you're not going to be overtaken by the other side, you're going to be overtaken by the competition and it's complicated.
"Today and with social networks. Disinformation creeps in from all sides."
Do you think people are aware of the extent to which disinformation affects their lives?
No, no, no, people are not aware, it's just that people don't even have the tools to know what is true and what is not. That's why for me it's so important to fight disinformation. It is one of the great challenges that this company has set itself, to combat disinformation.
And speaking of misinformation, right now with artificial intelligence everyone is speculating about how it might affect journalism. Do you have an established position within the newsroom in terms of ethics and journalism on how to use it, do you use it?
Of course. The truth is that it is still such a new field that everything is still to be explored. So, we have not yet experienced the dangers of artificial intelligence. But, for example, imagine that I have to write to a person in the United States to convince them to give us an interview. And I'm there for three hours thinking, searching and so on. And a colleague says to me here is a letter for this person, in a moment with the use of AI, I get it. I can't believe it. Well, I think it has some wonderful advantages, but it's true that you say well, then people won't be needed anymore. Also, for example, I have been able to check the failures of artificial intelligence because I speak French. So, yes, I have been given texts written by the artificial intelligence in French and I always have some correction to make. Just a few. I'm amazed at the level, because, come on, there are some mistakes, but we humans also make them. So, the truth is that artificial intelligence is amazing, but as I said, it's still an unexplored field and so we haven't managed to see what the dangers are yet, but it won't be long now.
So, for the moment you don't have established criteria, right?
No, exactly. We still don't have a code of action. Let's say, how far we can go with artificial intelligence. Because it's not very well implemented yet. There are not many people who go out of their traditional working method to remember that they have artificial intelligence and use it yet. I think not many people do. But yes, yes, at some point in the very near future a code of conduct will have to be established.
"There are not many people who go out of their traditional working method (..) and use AI"
In terms of hoaxes, are you noticing an increase in the number of hoaxes you receive from artificial intelligence, or is it more or less the same for now?
I think for now it's the same, we haven't noticed a change in that yet. No.
And what strategies do you have right now with the public, do you reach a younger public through the networks, is it more or less standard, or do you try to reach another type of public?
I think that, on social networks, the audience is basically young. Yes, and we move around a lot. We do a lot of work on the web, a lot, and of course. Look, the Audiovisual department has to think about older people, especially when we go on TV. Older people watch TV. So, we have to think about our target. The target is the audience, it's older people. And that conditions you a lot. Because you have to look for topics that interest them. But on the web, it's a very different thing. The target is young people and as young as you can imagine it is. Why? Because social networks are increasingly used by younger and younger people.
Comments