I am 27 years old, almost the same age as he is, to this day, the newspaper. It can be said that I have grown up with this newspaper and that many of its stories and signatures inspired me to study and practice journalism in this troubled country. This is the last issue of this paper, and I guess I’ll have to live through multiple runs of 27 years without it. The feeling is strange; an accumulation of sadness and helplessness, mixed with gratitude and hope.
I say goodbye to this space with a lump in my throat, but above all with the satisfaction and honor of having been able to practice my profession in this newspaper that opened the doors for me as a columnist, reporter, opinion editor and digital director. My time at this newspaper has served to verify what many of my colleagues, teachers and mentors repeat endlessly: that the newspaper it was, more than a medium, a school of journalism. Prestigious journalists passed through its ranks who were, little by little, polishing that narrative style, and that obsession with in-depth research and the cultural agenda that characterized its pages so much, under the guidance of bold editors and lovers of letters. I am proud, and at the same time saddened, to have been one of the last promotions of journalists in this school.
I must also admit that although the newspaper it was a vital means of communication, it was not perfect, as no medium is. Sometimes it is hard to accept, but it is the reality: we are not exempt from failures and we must humbly learn from our mistakes, without forgetting that all the press and its journalists are constant experiments for improvement. The media are driven and integrated by people, with their complexities, virtues, defects, vices and imperfections. It is what we are, humans in constant search of excellence.
Whenever he closes a professional medium, he loses his citizenship and loses the country. Today we lose, but we do not give up. “Losing” and “winning” are antonyms, not synonyms. Crises are seedbeds of opportunities and although the changes in the industry and the rise of authoritarianism in the region have withered the flowers, the ground is still fertile to sow good journalism, although the “climatic” conditions predict that this crop will take time to grow. . There will always be a need for good journalism; of that important social service that serves as one of the pillars of democracy and the progress of nations. We will learn from setbacks to start again, over and over again.
We will continue reading on other pages, because silence is not an option. We’ll see where this journey takes us. For now, it’s time to say goodbye. As that song says, “when leaving, a kiss and a flower…”
@godoyesjd
