To filter or not to filter, 'that is the question'

Of course it is no coincidence that the three outlets that first leaked the audios of the Toledo accident pointing to human error were El País, Eldiario.es and the SER. And it is not the result of a capricious alignment of the stars that between the first and the last of these three, little more than a minute passed. But this, per se, does not invalidate their informative value. Journalism is often built with clandestine bricks that a source raises to the public because they want to achieve an effect. And this effect can be selfless – beyond fulfilling a civic duty – or it can hide a particular interest. This is where the journalist's judgment comes into play, as they must ask themselves if letting themselves be instrumentalized obeys a higher good such as bringing relevant information to society or if they are simply participating in the promotion of a narrative and pushing for the wide part of the funnel.

These days there has been a certain lynching on social media of the reporters and media outlets that brought the audios to light. The question is not whether they should have been disclosed (because everyone with a minimum of journalistic instinct would have done so) but whether they were well contextualized. The fact that they were edited is a point worth criticizing: the complete sequence should have been demanded in order to analyze it as a whole. There are those who brandish issues such as privacy, that the case was under judicial investigation, or the disclosure of secrets. But if there is any judicial responsibility, it lies with whoever leaked the audios, not with whoever published them. And, in any case, those who are now exclaiming so much are the same ones who, the day before yesterday, applauded the appearance of the regrettable conversations of Ábalos and Cerdán. It would be naive to pretend that there are no journalists who are transmission belts for parties: it is the price they pay for access. At the same time, it would be hypocritical to deny that this system, however perverse it may be, has facilitated the airing of quite a few sewers.