We writers are invited, around Sant Jordi, to talk about the paper-paste article that we have had the joy and audacity to create. “I haven't finished the book”, Basté told me, apologizing. I know authors who get offended or upset if the journalist hasn't read them. But does the journalist need to have read a book, seen a movie, listened to a record, or gone to a restaurant to interview the author? It seems to me that it's not necessary. That, sometimes, it is, perhaps, desirable. Cultural journalists often make this joke: “We are eternal readers of half a book”. Tomorrow they will have another one, and the day after tomorrow another one. Books should be enjoyed calmly (without eternity) and abandoned if necessary, because sometimes it's necessary, like series. The journalist's questions don't necessarily have to be about the plot. It seems to me that an interview with Melville (I love Melville) shouldn't be about cetaceans, even though, of course, on a day like today we would ask him about that extraordinary video we saw on ARA, which shows that whales, my goodness, help each other to give birth. Interviews are advertisements, and it doesn't matter if the author talks about their childhood or what they think of Donald Trump.

I've only seen David Uclés once, on the day of this year's Nadal Prize ceremony. When he gave his acceptance speech, I found that he spoke like no one I've ever heard anyone speak, that he expressed himself in a way as singular as his attire. Something unusual in our field: we're all quite original. When I was young, I used to say that I only wanted to be a "normal" writer, until, after meeting many colleagues, I realized that "normal" writers don't exist. There are mediocre ones, of course: the efficient mercenaries of the written word who churn out a book every year and produce novels like they're churning out sausages. I don't consider these writers—you'll have to forgive my professional purism, but I say this more as a reader than a writer. When I read, I want access to a consciousness, a world, a perspective on life, and an artistic work created with words and with the pieces and mechanisms inherent to literature. If I want to be entertained by stories told in a flat, soulless style, I already have afternoon soap operas. Anyway, I don't want to talk about books, since I haven't read either of the two novels Uclés has published; I want to talk about writers, the press, and all that part of the work we usually call "promotion."

A good correspondent is a guide for newspaper readers. Enric González (Barcelona, ​​1959) has been one for decades, reporting from London, New York, Rome, Paris, Jerusalem, and Buenos Aires. A journalist for publications such asThe Catalan Post,Monday's Page, The Catalan Newspaper,The Country,The World,Jot Down and theNOWAnd in contexts as decisive as the Rwandan genocide and the Gulf War, González has learned to explain the world by observing, listening, reading and, often, drinking.

2025 will close with yet another stark reminder of the dangers faced by journalists. According to the latest report from Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 67 journalists (3 women and 64 men) have been killed this year. This data reaffirms that journalists continue to be persecuted and threatened, most often under authoritarian regimes and governments that violate the right to information. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been responsible for the deaths of 29 journalists, making this region the most dangerous in the world for this profession. Meanwhile, organized crime has positioned Mexico as the second most dangerous place in the world for journalists, with 9 deaths. RSF emphasizes that 2025 is the deadliest year for journalists in Mexico in the last three.

"When Donald Trump was returning from his morning prayers and heading towards the golf course, he slipped while hitting a ball. At that very moment, a member of his staff pushed another, who ended up falling on top of a third worker carrying a tray with a glass of wine. Trump bled to death. Why, curiously, was there no doctor on duty? Quim is in fifth grade and is one of the children who participate in the after-school program." Little journalists At the Baixeras School, near Via Laietana in Barcelona, the program, which began this school year and is subsidized by the Catalan Government's Department of Language Policy, is organized by Fundesplai in collaboration with ARA. It takes place in eight schools, serving a large number of newly arrived students between the ages of 9 and 12 who are interested in learning about the journalism profession. Four of the schools are located in Barcelona and the other four in the metropolitan area. "I have two types of students: those who are passionate about journalism and those who struggle with the Catalan language, and the course helps them improve their writing and speaking skills," explains the instructor, Oriol Domingo, a fourth-year journalism student at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). "What I do is adapt the different activities to all levels," adds Domingo, who has worked in various local media outlets and also teaches this extracurricular program at three other schools.

Aside from the systematic killing of Palestinian journalists, Israel has effectively blacked Gaza by barring journalists from around the world from entering the country. This Thursday, the Catalan Journalists' Association officially endorsed the "Open Gaza to the International Press" appeal, urging Israel to allow journalists to work freely and independently. "Now more than ever, it is essential that international journalists be able to enter Gaza and document everything that is happening, denouncing how Israel violates the peace plan it committed to every single day," said Llúcia Oliva, the event's presenter.

The recent decision by the Israeli security cabinet to formally occupy Gaza City marks a new chapter in the genocide against the Palestinian people. It is not an improvised twist, but the formalization of a plan laid out from the beginning: to destroy, starve, occupy, disarm, and ultimately expel the population to realize the project of the so-called "Greater Israel." In 1948, the justification was also a war; the real objective was the Nakba: a plan of ethnic cleansing to guarantee Jewish majority and supremacy in the new State of Israel.