Catalans who aren't Barça fans
Subscriber Ricard Casas sends me a comment, which he elegantly refrains from elevating to the category of complaint, about the echo – rather little echo – that the newspaper gives to RCD Espanyol de Barcelona.
"I'd like to discuss (this isn't meant as a complaint) the way non-Barcelona Catalans are treated in the media. Right now, we're talking about ARA, but you'll agree with me that this is an endemic problem in our society. It always makes me think to read Barça-centric columns by the not-so-admired Antoni Bassas. Espanyol fans? That playing the victim is completely gratuitous (the powers that be will always favor the powerful)."
Not to mention the Sports section. One of these days they'll run a double-page spread about what time the Barça first team players eat their meals... And speaking from a feminist perspective, there's no comparison between the treatment given to a prefabricated team like Barça Women and that of the oldest women's club in the country, Espanyol. I won't even get into other sports, because I'm sure people from Penya, Girona, or Lleida have plenty to say about that too."
I forwarded the comment to the head of the Sports section, Xavi Hernández, to get the feedback required by my position. I appreciate his response, especially during these days of heightened activity due to today's elections. He replied:
"All things considered, acknowledging the extraordinary attention given to Barça in recent weeks, given that the club is competing for everything and is currently undergoing an election process, the thematic selection for the Sports section attempts to be balanced, taking several variables into account. One of these variables is web audience, which is the only empirical and measurable way to measure our metrics. Barça is by far the preferred topic for subscribers, registered users, and occasional readers of our newspaper. (sports news, institutional news, etc.) In fact, we have two contributors dedicated exclusively to these clubs: Marc Mosull and Jordi Bofill, respectively. The key to a general-interest newspaper's approach to creating a Sports section lies in using the competition as a pretext for telling stories."
I studied the case by focusing on the men's and women's teams of Barça, Espanyol, and Girona, comparing all the newspapers from February, and the results are conclusive, although I should point out that there may be a margin of error, given that I did the count manually, but at least they are indicative. The Sports section, according to my calculations, published 85 articles about Barça, 11 about Girona, and 6 about Espanyol. By page count, that's 48 for Barça, 6 for Girona, and 3 for Espanyol. To avoid the distorting, one-off increase caused by the Barça elections, as the Sports editor points out, I also counted 28 days in January (for the 28 days in February), and these are the results: 57 articles about Barça, 13 about Girona, and 7 about Espanyol. In pages, 46 for Barça, 7 for Girona and 6 for Espanyol.
To contextualize my data, I consulted AI. For January (entire month), it estimates between 80 and 110 articles about Barça, 14 about Girona, and between 15 and 20 pieces per month about Espanyol.
It is clear that the volume of news generated by Barça is higher than that of Girona and Espanyol, primarily due to the number of competitions they participate in. However, in addition to quantity, which also reflects quality as they progress through the Champions League, the social—and political—impact of the "more than a club" phenomenon, exceeding 140, must also be considered. The Readers' Advocate ofThe CountrySoledad Alcaide tells me that she has received similar complaints from supporters of teams from different autonomous communities who feel slighted compared to the attention given to the two big teams in the capital.
All of this may justify, according to journalistic standards, the coverage figures in the newspaper, which, however, are subject to review given such marked differences. The question is whether to dedicate more space to the "non-Barcelona Catalans" that reader Casas encourages us to discuss. Perhaps by reporting on the league matches of the three Catalan men's First Division teams, as well as their respective international competitions. And to bring the Espanyol women's team out of the shadows – Girona competes in lower categories that remain outside the media spotlight – for the same reasons that laws and regulations, and even common law!, take into account the need for gender equality.
Jeffrey Epstein and Noam Chomsky's sweater
Reader Josep-Manel Alarcó, a senior history professor, raised the Epstein issue with me through an interesting and thought-provoking reflection. Based on his email, I rhetorically pose a twofold question: Is Noam Chomsky, a profound intellectual with a notable influence on thought and activism, and committed to the humanist struggles of our time, also mired in corruption? Tu quoqueChomsky? I give the reader their word:
"In the edition, I think, of this past Sunday [February 8], they placed Noam Chomsky to the left of a deplorable scheme of corrupt networks. Reading the article, they only find him guilty of having received a cashmere sweater." From your perspective, I find it ridiculous to mention one of the few left-wing intellectuals still in the world, who even mentioned (and declared dead) Hugo Chávez, may he rest in peace. I suppose they know he's an anarcho-syndicalist and that a university bears his name, and that, like Bukowski, he's more widely read in Europe than in his home country (the US), where he's never been taken seriously—though they have paid for interviews with him, only to keep them unpublished. Chomsky himself warned a few years ago that criminal interests lurked beneath the surface of pedophilia and terrorism, even drug trafficking. Please, show some cultural fervor before you smear a figure of reference like Chomsky.
Quim Aranda, our correspondent in the UK, knows the subject well and explains to me that Noam Chomsky's name appears in 3,794 of the three and a half million documents published by the US Department of Justice, and he reminds me of a few. Chomsky's own wife, Valéria, self-critically admitted an interaction with Epstein that went far beyond the gift of a sweater, but in no way linked to criminal activity. Aranda also considers:The way the documents have been published makes them very difficult to work with. You have to look at them one by one. It's a mess how the DOJ [Department of Justice] has published the information. Among other things, it makes any search extremely difficult. It requires a lot of time and resources.
LThe article referred to by Professor Alarcó is a very complete report by Cesc Maideu and Albert Llimós And the topic has been extensively addressed in the ARA, I understand, after reviewing all the texts, with professional rigor and the deontological distance that does not criminalize for the greatest extent of the offense beyond what is prescribed by criminal law regarding the scope of authorship, evidence, and the presumption of innocence. In this system, Natza Farré writes (February 6)"I am convinced that many people who were associated with Epstein did not commit any sexual offenses. Just as I am sure that we cannot vouch for many people we know, nor can we trust the supposedly innocent who claim that 'it's all a lie'."
Certainly, doing journalism in this maelstrom is extremely complicated, and it's compounded by the inevitable contamination of an increasingly judicialized/justice-driven political system, where adversaries become enemies and the mudslinging begins, establishing the "us" versus "them" dynamic – I continue and recommend–and I endorse the Blackstone's ratio (1760) of the guarantee law, which prescribes that it is preferable to acquit a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one. In the Chomsky case, moreover, the presumed innocent person cannot defend himself because he is 97 years old and a stroke in 2023 left him with aftereffects in mobility and speech, the essential tool of the linguist.
The Reader's Advocate pays attention to doubts, suggestions, criticisms, and complaints about the newspaper's content in its digital and print editions, and ensures that the handling of information is in accordance with the codes of ethics.
By contact the Reader's Advocate You can send an email to eldefensor@ara.cat or record a message of no more than one minute to the WhatsApp number 653784787. In all cases, identification with name, surname and ID number is required.