Day of the journalist and the community manager: train, inform and entertain
In a society like the Spanish one we rarely notice the privilege of access to information, free social networks and media of all types and conditions. We live in a globalized world in which it is not strange that we know what is happening at our planetary antipodes sooner than what is happening at the other end of our neighborhood.
However, this reality is not without difficulties that must be highlighted on the day on which Journalists' Day is celebrated in Spain, a unique day because it does not coincide with the celebration of this day in the rest of the world, but which here has a lot of specific weight and a long tradition. That day is also celebrated on Community Manager Day.
It is a day that we also celebrate at
Being able to practice journalism in freedom does not mean that the profession is free of dangers. According to the annual report of Reporters Without Borders, in 2021 a total of 488 journalists and media collaborators ended up behind bars for practicing their profession, the highest number since this report began.
The organization, which fights for respect for press freedom in the world, specifies, however, that fortunately there was the lowest number of murdered journalists since records began to be kept two decades ago: 46 professionals. Just one would be an aberration. It is striking that the number of female journalists deprived of liberty for practicing their profession has increased significantly: 60 women, 33% more than in 2020.
In Spain, the panorama does not reach these extremes. In fact, the annual report on the Journalism Profession prepared by the Madrid Press Association has focused on a much kinder aspect related to the practice of journalism: 85% of hired journalists and 86% of freelancers consider that the expectations that motivated their job choice have been met over the years.
This would be one of the few positive aspects that this report presents since the dominant narrative about the profession in Spain is related to low salaries, job insecurity, work in media that produce trivial and banal content to attract unique users, polarization that turns the media into party instruments or holding press conferences without questions.
After what happened two years ago, when the pandemic had a very negative impact on the sector, with 23% more journalists unemployed, the unemployment figure among these professionals was reduced by 15.2% to 7,322 professionals, if we look at the data that goes from September 2020 to September 2021.
When we talk about highly vocational professions, journalism always appears as one of the answers to that question, which is why the report delves deeper into what is meant by “journalistic vocation.” 91% of journalists say that their vocation was the reason why they decided to dedicate themselves to the world of communication and information.
