raining journalists, scriptwriters, directors, public relations professionals, and, in short, communicators is one of the objectives of UVic-UCC. The Faculty of Business and Communication (FEC) at the Vic Campus offers three professional degrees in which students not only learn communication: they practice it from day one. Journalism, Audiovisual Communication, and Advertising and Public Relations make up a complete offering in which future communicators are trained for a changing professional environment, putting into practice what they learn from the very first moment.

Besides the religious and political factors, the Pope's trip has had a spectacular media impact, to be studied academically; this is the space of the Reader's Advocate. I have received two complaints on the matter. The subscriber Teresa Maria Castanyer, who identifies herself as a linguist and interested in liturgy, begins with this phrase: “I am sorry to observe that there are often errors in information about topics of the Catholic Church”. And she gives very clear examples. Writing “cupons” (coupons), placed in quotation marks, instead of “copons”, that is, confusing lottery tickets or shares with the “valuable metal vessel in the shape of a cup for keeping the consecrated hosts” (IEC). The sender states that the error was corrected in the digital version. She also expresses that, in a photo caption, we say that Leo XIV was at a mass when in reality he was at the Vatican window praying the angelus. Finally, in another photo, we make cardinals of prelates who were not, based on a misinterpretation of the solidi. “These kinds of things –concludes the subscriber– denote a certain carelessness, little interest in providing accurate information. And I am sorry, because if I notice more errors than I would like in topics that I know... How many errors must I not detect in other topics?”Teresa Maria Castanyer is right. Journalism must be able to translate technical languages and transmit them correctly to readers, it is an ancestral divulgatory function of the profession. Liturgy is a non-verbal language loaded with meanings –Romano Guardini explains it in The Spirit of the Liturgy (Pòrtic, 2011) – and, faced with a media challenge of such magnitude as the papal visit, the media could have been more careful with ritual vocabulary and its hermeneutics.Xavier Albertí draws my attention to an Aena advertisement “with language that I don’t find appropriate enough”; he quotes and comments: "«Spain, meeting point. Four stops, one single destination (Madrid, Barcelona, Gran Canaria, Tenerife)». The text, intentionally or not, refers us to the well-known slogan of the unity of destination in the universal» and, at the very least, has an evident integrating and integrationist tone. Could the newspaper have saved itself from publishing it?"The CEO, Pablo Casals, responds to the reader: “At L’ARA, we clearly distinguish between editorial content and advertising spaces, which are the responsibility of the advertisers, but these spaces always go through a prior filter on the type of advertiser, product, or service advertised. This means we do not accept any advertisement: we have red lines linked to legality, non-discrimination, the absence of hate speech, respect for fundamental rights, and coherence with basic coexistence values. In fact, on other occasions, we have rejected advertisements or asked for them to be modified when we have considered them inappropriate for our medium, for example in areas such as gambling, dating, or certain services linked to addictions or practices not well aligned with L’ARA’s values. In this specific case, we understand that the reader may view it critically or feel uncomfortable with it, but we did not consider that the advertisement crossed any of these red lines in a clear manner”.The Pope as a media phenomenon is so evident that from the outset he has achieved hegemony – with non-ecclesiastical license from Antonio Gramsci – in most of the media. A mass leader who mobilizes crowds, with different scripts, dramaturgy, sets, scenography, costumes, actors... Without two thousand years of history, this ceremonial superproduction would be unthinkable, which culminated in the masterful audiovisual demonstration of the Sagrada Família, due, among others, to the director Paulí Subirà, the artistic director Igor Cortadellas, the composer Daniel López Pradas and the maestro Josep Pons, one of our great orchestra conductors, first-class artistic contributions. That ARA has managed the topic appropriately is evidenced by the mere two reported complaints and very few critical comments in the direct coverage of the digital articles. I emphasize, therefore, that our journalistic treatment of the papal visit has been factually correct, without falling into either the hooliganism that Mònica Planas properly points out regarding television, or into contempt, and that the opinion articles have offered a diverse range of visions of a topic that has always given rise to much controversy, between the opposite poles of our most ingrained anti-clericalism and the no less ingrained fundamentalist moralism. João Borges, editor of the opinion section, has counted about thirty articles, starting with José María Brunet's first one, "The Pope's visit and the virus ship" (May 9th). An exact figure is not necessary because there are pieces of interpretative journalism that border on information and opinion, and three editorials have been included in the tally, and not the three articles on the encyclical Magnifica humanitas signed by Ferran Sáez Mateu, Sebastià Alzamora, and Peter Singer.I have missed, however, enough journalistic echo from the civil part, which would have been a countermeasure for those who may have become imbued with the truce to the non-confessionality of the State proclaimed by their own representatives according to their political interests, based on who knows what constitutional interpretation that can absolve – let's say it ad sensum– their actions. I mention civil arguments:– its performance. I mention civil arguments:Le Monde, 1963, or the closure of intellectuals and artists in 1970, against the death penalty. The Pope enters Barcelona through the cathedral, from where the demonstration of priests against torture in 1966, harshly repressed, emerges. The Pope goes to Sant Agustí, where in 1970 the Assembly of Catalonia is constituted, the main unitary body for the fight against the dictatorship and for political and national freedoms. And the Sagrada Família is called Gaudí, but a very important interpreter of it was the architect Jordi Bonet Armengol, who directed the works for almost thirty years and was also a builder of Catalanism of great substance.All this has fallen out of focus, although the Catalan issue, unfortunately, has resurfaced “the Catalan problemAll this has gone out of focus, although the Catalan issue, unfortunately, has resurfaced “Monsignor Antoni Maria Oriol, who was a professor at the Faculty of Theology of Catalonia, collected and commented on more than nine hundred texts from contemporary pontifical magisterium on the national issue (Albert Bonet Foundation, 2014). The volume emphasizes the cultural factor that is based on language and that the Church has taken into account at least since the Second Vatican Council, which allowed religious celebrations in vernacular languages, and that John Paul II, the most traveled pope, developed and defended over a million kilometers and the twelve languages he spoke: the theological concept of "inculturation", which is the interpretation of Christianity according to each culture. The Reader's Advocate takes note of doubts, suggestions, criticisms, and complaints about the newspaper's content in its digital and paper editions, and ensures that the treatment of information is in accordance with deontological codes.To 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, surnames and DNI number is required.

"The poor have understood many things", the Pope said in the Canary Islands on the same day that Space X went public and Elon Musk became the richest man in history. What we don't know is what the South African has learned humanly. Only the speed and vertigo of the changes we are going through explain that the confusion we are experiencing does not explode. In Spain, political confusion turns a pope into a moral reference in a Congress of Deputies poisoned by polarization, which applauds him unanimously for seven minutes. Each one ready to use him in their own way. It is the same confusion that turns Musk, a textbook unbalanced person with zero humanist capacity, into another reference of our times.

The Mediterranean Festival of Journalism and Photography, LASAL, will celebrate its second edition in El Masnou from June 11 to 13. The event will present a free program focused on current topics such as the war in Gaza, the climate crisis, or disinformation on social networks. One of the sessions will feature the deputy director of ARA, Carla Turró, who will have a conversation with journalist Agus Morales titled How to keep a print media alive. The head of photography for this newspaper, Ferran Forné, will also participate, in this case with a portfolio review workshop for professionals who want an external perspective on their work.

These days of end-of-year evaluations, the media echo how teachers go to great lengths to find out if those passing the tests are students, robots, or "earpiece" prompters, the College of Journalists of Catalonia announces a short course on AI and on top of that it turns out that the Pope, who is daily news for his coming, dedicates his first encyclical to ethically reflect on the subject, which will clearly go much further. There is a generally reactionary conspiracy of opportunists against that have been in the world, as an Augustinian friar like the Pope, Fray Luis de León, who was imprisoned by the Inquisition, wrote.Newspapers are starting to have problems with AI embezzlement and we are established in the field of the invasion of advertising ultracores in digital publishing, of which we are not, however, actors but only containers. Jordi Urpí points out this criticism to us: "It is quite unpleasant, to say the least, to have to see in the middle of all the reports, ultra-Spanishist-smelling advertisements with the Spanish flag included and, obviously, in Spanish... Do you have any way to avoid it/us?... I will be very grateful if you manage it". Subscriber Amparo Asensi writes to me about an ad for “easy local girls” that appeared while she was reading an article: “I am writing to you because the other day, while browsing your pages, an ad appeared that I don't think is in line with your editorial policy or the readers' interests. Especially with all the cases of sexual abuse that you have uncovered and helped report. I don't know what control you have over the advertising shown on the newspaper's pages, but if you can do something about it, we will be doing our bit to achieve a just world for everyone.” The same vein is the comment that reader Glòria Casals shares with me: “Good evening, any plausible explanation as to why when I'm reading an article about the fight between Merz and Trump I find a photo of a Korean lady who seems to be offering her services?” Finally, Xavi Campreciós comments: “I don't know if you are aware of the ads that appear within the articles because perhaps different ones appear for each person. The fact is that the ones that appear to me seem inappropriate in the context of the ARA newspaper. Lately, they advertise dates with Asian girls. In a single article, they can appear up to five times throughout the reading, and the truth is that it is disturbing and unpleasant. I attach a screenshot of one of them.”I have requested the newspaper's version, which the general director, Pablo Casals, transmits to me:“In the specific case of the dating ad, it took us a little while to locate it because we didn't have enough references and, at first, we didn't see how it could have bypassed the filters. We've finally identified it: indeed, it had managed to evade both Google's filters and ours, and it has already been blocked. As we've explained on other occasions, this is programmatic advertising. When we don't sell all our advertising inventory directly, some spaces go into Google's auction, always subject to controls and exclusions according to our ethical and editorial criteria. Among other categories, we block dating ads, pornography, gambling, and content that doesn't fit the newspaper's line.Even so –concludes Casals–, it is true that this type of service constantly tries to find ways to enter advertising circuits, and that is why we continuously review and update the filters. In any case, we greatly appreciate readers sending us screenshots or specific references, as they help us locate and block these cases more quickly. Furthermore, programmatic ads from Google incorporate a small icon in one of the upper corners that allows you to stop seeing them and indicate the reason, which also helps to improve filtering”.I have requested an authorized opinion from the lawyer Andreu Van den Eynde, whose firm specializes in cybercrime and information technologies, although he is better known for his excellence in criminal law, especially from his defense of Oriol Junqueras and Raül Romeva in the Procés trial.“The issue is complex because it affects advertisements that, without necessarily being illegal in themselves, can be inappropriate or annoying for some users. This problem – explains Van den Eynde – is particularly intense in the digital environment, where advertising insertion often works through automated systems or is managed by third parties, which makes exhaustive prior control by the media difficult.From a legal point of view, the medium's responsibility essentially depends on the type of content disseminated, the degree of intervention in the selection or promotion of advertising, and the effective knowledge it has of its potential unlawfulness or harmful nature.The main limits are determined by the protection of prevailing rights and interests, such as the protection of children and adolescents, the prohibition of misleading advertising, the protection of human dignity, the prevention of hate speech, or the protection of intellectual property.However, current technological reality means that even on relevant social networks, inappropriate or fraudulent advertisements can be disseminated.Media outlets must have reasonable mechanisms for supervision, filtering, and response to incidents reported by users, as failure to do so can lead to legal liabilities. Effective knowledge of an irregularity can place the person responsible for the publication in a position of guarantee, especially if inaction contributes to the production or maintenance of a certain harm.In any case –concludes the lawyer–, it cannot be forgotten that a medium's advertising policy is also part of its corporate identity: the content it decides to host, promote or tolerate directly contributes to defining its reputation, public credibility, and the ethical standards with which it wishes to be perceived by its readers and by society”.I have tried to address this topic in the broadest possible way, but I am aware that this scope is so immense that we will always risk falling short, and that the media industry, journalists and advertisers, and readers!, will have to learn to live with a technological hegemony that often overwhelms us; if anything, like when we fought against the dictatorship, looking for zones of freedom that allow us to bypass the system. If Martin Baron, eight years director of the Washington Post to the system. If Martin Baron, eight years director of the The Reader's Ombudsman takes note of doubts, suggestions, criticisms, and complaints about the newspaper's content in its digital and print editions, and ensures that the treatment of information is in accordance with deontological codes.To contact the Reader's Ombudsman 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, surnames and ID number is required.

In just over four years, artificial intelligence has managed to occupy a central place in our lives, but its current model threatens not only the sustainability of the media but also the foundations of democracy. This was argued on Monday night by A.G. Sulzberger, editor of the New York Times, during his intervention within the framework of the major annual meeting of Wan-Ifra, the main global press sector, which is being held this year in Marseille.

The subscriber Antoni Soler Ricart sends me a very detailed email in which he shows his disgust and disagreement with the editorial of May 10, titled “Defence and technology: a Catalan bet”, as it represents “the official position of the newspaper”. The reader understands that in the Opinion section there may be articles for and against the defence and security industry, but adds: “I find it very difficult to understand why a newspaper like yours, which has always been characterized by its sensitivity against wars and militarism, by a progressive vision of international relations and by its independence, should express itself so enthusiastically on such a sensitive and controversial topic”. Immediately afterwards, Antoni Soler, former president of the Fundació per la Pau (FundiPau) with an accredited pacifist trajectory, develops at length and with criteria his position, emphasizing the gap between, for example, the resources allocated to the military industry and those allocated to healthcare or education, in a Catalan society that has excelled in the “no to war”.The deputy director, Ignasi Aragay, specifies that the editorial "was indeed focused exclusively from an economic and business point of view". He highlights the "strong roots of pacifism in Catalonia from the Spanish Civil War onwards", but already coming from a tradition and looking to the future from Europeanism which, "strengthened after the Second World War, has also been based on the idea of avoiding new wars on the continent". However, "the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the fact that the United States is renouncing its role in ensuring, via NATO, security in Europe in the face of Putin's threat, has changed the situation", and it is considered that "Europe's need to assume its own defense means, indeed, having to think about the military industry", not only from an economic point of view but also for geopolitical responsibility. Aragay concludes: "Defending Europe against the danger of Russian aggression is, in ideological terms, defending social-liberal democracy and consolidating this democratic space globally. The alternative is to be at the mercy of the military and economic power of a United States that is no longer a reliable partner or of a dictatorial China".The head of Opinion, Toni Güell, reviews the articles that have profusely defended pacifist positions: “In the newspaper, the dissemination of opinions from experts in the antimilitarist and/or anti-armament line is mainly distributed between the Debate and International sections. In Debate, opinion articles by Vicenç Fisas or Jordi Armadans stand out in this regard, as well as those by analysts who, like Carme Colomina, David Fernàndez or Natza Farré, have pointed out from different perspectives the cost that European rearmament could entail for the maintenance of the welfare state. For its part, International monitors the reports and positions of organizations such as the Delàs Centre, the ICIP (Catalan Institute for Peace) or the SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute). The newspaper also dedicated a dossier to the position of pacifism in current Europe and created an interactive on unarmed civil resistance to the war in Ukraine”. The final sentence of the complaint that Antoni Soler Ricart has handed to me has made me think a lot and a lot: “If they continue down this path, my conscience will oblige me to unsubscribe.” We talk about the habit of the conscience clause of professionals, but little or nothing about that of users, who nevertheless also have it: a patient can choose to change doctors and the reader of a newspaper can decide to stop reading it or subscribing to it. Defending the reader is, therefore, proclaiming this right. Another thing is that, by synecdoche in the customary tradition of misappropriation of generalizations, a specific and thematically circumscribed editorial can be considered the editorial line of ARA, and that the newspaper has actually published articles of the opposite sign, as Toni Güell demonstrates. Based on all this, I thank the subscriber for putting their rights in black and white and I ask them to renew their trust in us and help us keep the ethical ceiling high.Of you or of usted and a consideration about Saint George's dragon

Reader Fèlix Tarrida sends me a reflection on the treatment between journalists and interviewees. He says: “Yesterday Monday [May 4th] was published "an interview with Mrs. Vania Arana, founder of the Las Kellys union, where the journalist addressed her using 'tu' and not 'vostè'. Yesterday, in an interview with a water polo player, he was addressed using 'vostè'. I would say that the newspaper should always use the 'vostè' form of address. I can't imagine an interview with any politician, for example, being addressed using 'tu'. In the case of Las Kellys, furthermore, someone could see a certain lack of respect for who they are and the work they do. So, Mr. Batista, what are the newspaper's criteria regarding this matter?”Newspapers, in general, have maintained the vostè at least formally in their interviews, in the spirit of the distance that is also proclaimed when we invoke the third informative person. It is distance rather than respect, because tu does not necessarily imply a lack of respect, one would have to impute the connotations and context to endorse the negativity. The criterion of ARA that subscriber Tarrida asks me is flexible, it varies according to people, generations, situations, formality or relaxation. Without this ad hoc criterion, there would be informal address as forced as formal address, and sometimes the corset makes interviews conducted on a first-name basis, for example due to friendship between journalist and interviewee, be transcribed as formal address. for familiar, friendship, colleague proximities...; tu (you, informal) for family closeness, friendships, colleagues...; vostè(you, formal) for elegant distance and vós (you, plural formal) as an expression of respect for those who, by generation or custom, were not new to a form that can be considered archaic in our habitat of “viral” informal address. And from the words to the image, Xavier Abertí writes to me: “It’s not that I want to give it any importance, and I think it’s more due to convenience than centralism, but the fact is that, in the Sant Jordi special where a good bunch of dragon images were inserted, I think they were all from Barcelona. And we have more elsewhere. Just to name three close to home and that I think are very successful: one from Cassà de la Selva, under the balcony of the house of Can Trinxeria (today municipal); the other, contemporary, in Plaça de Catalunya in Figueres. The first is the work of Enric Clarassó and the other of Mercè Riba. And still a third, the mysterious dragon of Sant Feliu de Guíxols. And surely hundreds more would be found.”Albertí elegantly dismisses the topic, but from this platform his commentary is valuable for highlighting what other readers have also reproached us for: the prevalence in the newspaper of a Barcelonian perspective of Catalonia, the "city of Catalonia" – I refer to the studies by Oriol Nel·lo, who was precisely Secretary of Territorial Planning appointed by Pasqual Maragall–. Newspaper mastheads explain the world from their national viewpoint, but this must begin by well explaining all possible registers of their own inner reality, which sometimes involves a dispute against the metropolitan potential for news creation. Let us leave to Saint Eulalia and La Mercè the patronage of Barcelona and, given that Saint George is the patron saint of Catalonia, it would have been more appropriate to look for dragons in the biodiversity that remains outside the walls of The City of Wonders.The Reader's Advocate takes note of doubts, suggestions, criticisms, and complaints about the newspaper's content in its digital and print editions, and ensures that the treatment of information is in accordance with the deontological codes.To 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, surnames and ID number is required.

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This article is a tribute and expression of gratitude to our readers. A very diverse and qualified jury, convened by the Generalitat, has awarded the National Communication Award in the press category to the director of ARA. But this is an award for all of us who make the newspaper AND especially for our readers, who are our reason for being. Free citizens, interested in the world around them, involved in their society and their time, and who consider it worthwhile to support a media outlet in stormy times and pay for the information we publish. 

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"We don't give sermons, we don't give propaganda, we don't do activism, we are not the opposition of one or another. We are an independent organization dedicated to informing. This obliges us to explain the facts as they are, even when they are uncomfortable", said Esther Vera, director of ARA, this evening when she collected the National Communication Award for the press. The jury awarded the prize to Vera "for having contributed decisively to consolidating the newspaper ARA as one of the leading titles in the country". The awards ceremony took place at the Teatre Principal in Sabadell and was hosted by Laura Fa and Lorena Vázquez, who advocated for more women in positions of power and leadership, using Vera's case as an example.

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It is impossible to understand the loss of credibility of journalism and experts as a conflict between the rationality of an elite and the stupidity of the majority, an incomplete and sterile framework that only exacerbates the problem. Faced with the obviousness that the far-right distorts facts to create the narrative that best suits it politically, one cannot respond with the idea that the center, the left, journalism, or academia are representatives of a neutral reality without biases and that people who do not accept it are malevolent and/or stupid. The reality is that we can distinguish between truth and lies at the elementary level of facts, but in social and political matters there is always a necessarily partial view that implies value judgments and taking positions that permeate everything, from the wording of a headline to the order and weight that an expert gives to each element of their supposedly impartial explanation. The crisis of journalism must be understood from a much more paradoxical and counterintuitive perspective than the narrative of good versus bad.

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The subscriber Joan Talarn sends me a complaint about the conference Green energies: yes, but not in my town, co-organized by the newspaper and the IEC, and covered in a chronicle by Pol Casaponsa published last the 5th, the day I receive the reader's email, which I reproduce: “I thought it was a title to attract an audience and promote debate, because I couldn't believe that ARA would promote anti-renewables. To my surprise and that of some attendees, we found a table of retardist speakers who say “not like this”, but who don't know how to do the math to explain “how”. Luckily, some attendees expressed diverse opinions, because otherwise we would have been very disappointed. Please, have another talk with different points of view to correct this very biased talk”.I take note of the criticism and forward it to the management, which nevertheless specifies that “it is doubtful that the speakers invited by the newspaper should all be considered latecomers” and that the speaker Joan Nogué, a professor at the University of Girona, was simply advocating for a gradual approach: “One should start with urbanized areas, such as industrial estates, reservoirs, or roads”. The majority of comments addressed to me by readers follow this pattern, which, moreover, is the norm in the task of journalistic ombudsmen: a criticism and a request for correction or improvement, suggestions, a comparison with the corresponding section, and possibly an expert commentary from outside the newspaper. In the case of subscriber Talarn, the conventional dynamic is further refined because it appeals precisely to comparison, which is normative in all professional ethics. But I also detect a change in trend. In my two years as Reader's Advocate, I have received quite a few critical comments about the newspaper for having published certain articles. These complaints, added to the comments at the foot of the article, have been exponentially boosted around the publication of Elena García's article on Noelia Castillo's euthanasia. I dealt with this in my chronicle of April 12, titled "Euthanasia, journalism, tolerance". Following this piece, I have received criticism again, which now includes me for having defended its publication. Elena García's article on Noelia Castillo's euthanasia. I dealt with this in my chronicle of April 12, titled "Euthanasia, journalism, tolerance". Following this piece, I have received criticism again, which now includes me for having defended its publication. about the euthanasia of Noelia Castillo. I dealt with it in We live in a world where intolerance has gone viral; you only have to take a stroll through social media, to see day in and day out that society is becoming judgmental, the presumption of innocence has been reduced to ashes, politics lives in the courts and Parliaments in investigatory commissions and summary control sessions. Intolerance is neither created nor destroyed, it transforms, if you allow me to parody Einstein's reformulation of an old physical principle; religious sin has mutated into civil sin, and the spread of the far right urbi et orbi – as evident from last Sunday's ARA poll— is a breeding ground that favors and spreads it environmentally.In this extension, we find intolerances based on the usual reactionary principles – in the case of euthanasia, those vaunted by Abogados Cristianos – and in general the far-right, easily detectable; others that nevertheless express themselves from the progressive side, captured in the unwritten code of the politically correct; and, finally, the contradiction in terminis where defenders of progressive principles, on the other hand, invoke reactionary practices to limit the open expression of opposing positions. A social conquest, however advanced and legitimate it may be, must be open to criticism, and the medium that decides not to publish a criticism will have to resolve whether the non-publication is in accordance with the law or is censorship. Always following the maximalist guarantor principle in dubio pro reo, it is necessary to publish if the argumentative battery for non-publication presents doubts, and removing from the equation that the media have the right to choose whether or not to publish an article or even an advertisement, which is a commercial transaction, which they have not requested.Fortunately, however, the deployment of restrictions on freedom of expression in the journalistic field admits a protective umbrella which is the concept of veracity, which can prevail over other assumptions, and which is set out in Article 20 of the Constitution. Some of the drafters of the Constitution were very sensitive to this issue, because Francoism had eroded, persecuted, and repressed freedom of expression. Jordi Solé Tura, one of those "fathers of the Constitution", an excellent jurist expert in constitutional law, in addition to his knowledge, knew from personal experience what it was like to defy censorship from exile and the clandestinity of Radio Espanya Independent, the famous Radio Pirenaica. I am in this situation, I produced clandestine press very intensely, I dealt as best I could with the risks it entailed and, following Voltaire, Griffith, Todorov... I cherish the right to speak, even if I do not like it or detest it in substance or form. Being the Defender of the Reader a personal institution, I can conjugate this delicate subject in the first person, and I understand that the most honest way I have to exercise this function is by defending freedom of expression at its widest wavelength, even that of readers who will not agree with this article.Subscribers who wish to know my work live are invited next May 13, at half past four, in the Sala de les Sirenes of the Hotel Espanya on La Rambla. The Reader's Advocate takes note of doubts, suggestions, criticisms, and complaints about the newspaper's content in its digital and paper editions, and ensures that the treatment of information is in accordance with the deontological codes.To 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, surnames and DNI number is required.

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In their childhood innocence, a creature who used to watch the news (they didn't understand everything, but were fascinated by live broadcasts, images, and correspondents) asked how they would manage on television to broadcast the news on days when nothing happened. A few decades later, they still remember the impression the answer made: “There will be news every day because the world is very big and things always happen. In fact, today they could have explained many more than they said”.

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Anyone who had the opportunity to see the monologue performed at the Teatre Gaudí titled Coses que només saps quan estàs morta, already knows perfectly well who Irene Polo (Barcelona, 1908 - Buenos Aires, 1942) is, the most daring journalist in Catalonia during the Second Republic and one of the key figures of that generation of female writers who brought a renewed perspective to both the press and literature. It so happens that Francesc Salgado, author of the monologue, is also publishing her complete journalism in Renacimiento, and we already have the first volume, Una intrusa en la prensa. Periodismo y república (1927-1931).

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Esther Vera, director of ARA since 2016, has been awarded the National Journalism Award, as announced this morning by the Generalitat. The executive council has agreed to recognize the journalist "for having decisively contributed to consolidating the ARA newspaper as one of the leading publications in the country". The award ceremony will take place on May 19 in Sabadell.

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Crossword puzzles are a pastime with a long tradition in the press because they allow the reader to write in the newspaper, even with the physical imprint of their stroke and the ink. It has always seemed beautiful to me, ever since I saw my grandfather reading from head to toe the couple of newspapers he was subscribed to and, after lunch, with coffee on the table, he used to do the "crosswords" when they were still called that, which was when cava was called champagne.I am aware that many readers do the puzzles of Mr. Ventura, and congratulate him for the ingenuity required to invent definitions every day in the colloquial register. But now I have received a complaint that speaks of sexism and, whether it is the flower that does not make summer or not, for its qualitative value I have decided to echo it and make it public. Marta Bausells writes (03/25/2026):“Good afternoon. I do Mr. Ventura's crosswords daily. For days now I have been seeing some definitions that I find in very bad taste, for being sexist and very unfortunate. I'll give you some examples:«From this one you can expect some bullshit»: vagina (26-03-26)«Figs and potatoes»: vulvas (22-03-26)It truly surprises me a lot to see these things nowadays. Perhaps a more careful review of the words would be necessary before publishing them (I also found some spelling mistakes). As a woman, I feel indignant, and right now I have no desire to continue doing them, and I'm sorry.I have no intention of offending anyone, but I feel it. I trust that you will value what I say and take some action.”Jordi Ventura attends my request to give his version:“The two definitions the reader comments on I do not consider sexist. I do not find any derogatory elements towards women in them, nor do I see unequal treatment with respect to men: I have published similar definitions such as «The sparrow and the cicada» penis (16-3-2020) or «A straw man» onanist (1-12-23).”It is true that the definitions use a colloquial register, but popular speech is an inseparable part of language. The uses of figa and parida that I use are collected in the DIEC. And many readers must remember the old song by La Trinca of La patata.To create crossword puzzles, in addition to the essential DIEC, I have works such as the Dictionary of synonyms of set phrases by M. Teresa Espinal, the Descriptive Dictionary of the Catalan language or the Comparative Catalan Paremiology, by Víctor Pàmies, among many others. All of them collect phraseology and slang that are a goldmine for the double meanings inherent in the playful sense of crossword puzzles. When two words coincide in more than one semantic field, we have found gold.If the reader believes I have used too colloquial words or expressions, I can respect that. But I like to think that crosswords are a space in the newspaper where, from time to time, this register can appear. Perhaps that's why, in the printed edition, they put us at the end.What I do regret is that you have detected spelling mistakes. Sometimes people believe that all crossword puzzle creators are academics of the language. This is not the case. I am a screenwriter (as a curiosity, in the profession there are also geologists, mathematicians, nurses, tourism technicians, or musicians). Of course, this does not exempt me from writing correctly, but it makes me fallible like everyone else. Both I and the rest of the newspaper's team take note of the errors to correct them in the future.” So far, Mr. Ventura's response.“Jokes bring water” is a very old Catalan proverb. If I were a crossword puzzle maker, I could use it as a definition, and it would give us two words as a result: one of five letters, rain and another of eight, tear. In the first case, we would understand jokes as mists, and in the second, in its playful meaning that can nevertheless hurt. Joan Maragall wrote two pieces about the Lliga del Bon Mot, the association that promoted speaking well and which had a very long life, from 1908 to 1963. In the first text, Maragall defended the purification of speech which is equivalent to the purification of the spirit; in the second, he shows himself critical: “Our word, which we wanted to purify, thickens with sad humors”. And he proclaims: “We do not want inquisitors, neither on one side nor the other”.In the domain of language, we fortunately have the entire palette from sanity to madness, and in the territory of entertainment –where crosswords reside– licenses are more permissive; one only needs to listen to the radio to verify this. Mr. Ventura's arguments are as respectable as those of the reader Bausells, whom I invite to continue doing our crosswords and enriching us with her reflections. I cannot refute Mr. Ventura according to law, which is shared by both parties in this debate, but I appeal to sensitivity, which must be balanced with a social segment that considers certain topics hypersensitive. Those who wish to know more and have more elements for judgment can read the Cardem vocabulary in Catalan (Rosa dels Vents, 2026), which stems from an academic work at the UB, directed by professor Neus Nogué –she writes the prologue--, by Roger Miras, Xènia Hernàndez and Laura Boj.Americans, North Americans, US citizens

Reader Xavier Huguet calls our attention to the American denomination that we sometimes use at ARA. It is not insignificant, in a historical period when we have to talk about Americans every day, even if it's because of a psychopath. He writes me this email:“I note with some perplexity the systematic and forced use by ARA of the adjective estadounidenc/estadounidenca. United States of America is the official name of a country –the first independent country on the continent– which has always called itself simply America, and its citizens are Americans.I understand that the term American may sound abusive and exclusive to some foreigners, although Canadians also use this adjective, but in all European languages the normal adjective is American or North American. Currently, an Institute of North American Studies still exists in Barcelona which at one time was of great importance.The American invention is ridiculous, cumbersome and discordant –concludes the reader–. It has not yet occurred to anyone to refer to the British as United Kingdomers, even though the British Isles are two. Finally, and the strongest argument, is that no one says American, but American or North American, just as no one says United Kingdomer. Do not be more Catholic than the Pope, please”.Pau Domènech, head of the Language section, gives me his argument: “Indeed, the adjective North American continues to be the most common to refer to the inhabitants of the United States of America. However, as the dictionary says, the form statunidenc has exactly the same meaning. Why, then, can't we take advantage of its existence to use more precise language? Just as we went from a very general American to a somewhat general North American: now we should be able to make better use of the language by calling them statunidencs. I am convinced that it will become increasingly widespread, starting with the journalistic world (where there is an obligation to be precise with language), and that, perhaps, one day we will have an Institute of American Studies here.”As Maragall said in the text mentioned supra, “against the word we want no other weapon than the word”; a writing from 1909 in which, beyond curiosity, it speaks of the “north Americans”. There is a conventionally established synecdoche that connotes those from the United States as “Americans”, the famous “Americanos, vienen a España guapos y sanos” from Bienvenido Mr. Marshall, and the DIEC admits the meaning. It also admits estadounidense, as Domènech points out; therefore, the language of ARA is within correctness and, effectively, the word is more precise or, in academic terminology, it narrows the corpus.Another thing is whether it is legitimate, if not, to philosophically question the norm and, taking into consideration the opinion of the reader Xavier Huguet, we rhetorically ask ourselves if it is appropriate to mix the system of political administration, the state, with an identity that precedes it built on proximity semantics such as nation, which Latin etymology refers to where one is born, and homeland, which Greek etymology refers to the father and mother, which Thucydides, Polybius and Euripides extend to ancestors and from Herodotus we arrive at the current concept (references from the very complete Greek-French Dictionary by Anatole Bailly, 1915); a concept that nevertheless contemplates concentric identities (Havel) and the rootedness/will binomial so well developed in Catalonia by the Campalans-Candel- PSUC-Pujol line.The Reader's Advocate takes note of doubts, suggestions, criticisms, and complaints about the newspaper's content in its digital and paper editions, and ensures that the treatment of information is in accordance with deontological codes.To 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, surnames, and DNI number is required.

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The journalist, historian, and writer Jaume Clotet (Barcelona, 1974) grew up in a family of bankers – both his father and mother worked there –, but that world never appealed to him: “They had a good understanding of family economics, finance, investments, bonds, stocks... and I’ve been quite uninterested in that in life”. He did inherit the values of saving and prudence: “If my mother invested in the stock market, it was in very controlled and prudent things”, he explains in statements to Empreses.

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Euthanasia is a very delicate, very intimate topic, in a society that fortunately protects privacy, legislated by the Constitution and the Estatut, which, twenty years ago, anticipated its time and in article 20 argues the “right to live the dying process with dignity”. Journalism must refine itself to address its complexity, to combine respect for the ethics of people in such a critical situation and the deontology of the profession, knowing how to moderate its approaches, Criterion 6 of the Code of Ethics of Catalan journalists.The controversy over euthanasia has reached our pages following the media uproar generated by the case of Noelia Castillo. ARA's position has been in favor of her right to a dignified death, according to the law of March 24, 2021, and the published opinions have largely gone in this direction: articles byEmpar Moliner, Mònica Planas, Josep Ramoneda, Ester Busquets, David Miró, Àlex Gutiérrez and the appeal for a calm debate that Antoni Bassas proposed to us. Elena García Dalmau joins with a different perspective in the article, titled “Euthanasia for psychological pain?”, published on March 28 in the section very appropriately defined as “Debate”, which she knows very well as a text editor. I note some of the reader complaints about her reflection.Subscriber Sonia Garcia describes the article as “sectarian, deceptive, and offensive to many people who understand euthanasia as a right”, considers it the result of “profound ignorance”, and concludes: “The publication of pieces like this harms the reputation of a serious newspaper that, until now, I considered the ARA to be, and on a personal level, it makes me consider unsubscribing”. In a similar vein, reader Xavier Clèries states: “How can such an article be published? The author expresses imprecise opinions without knowing the reality of psychological disorders”. Of the forty-seven comments below the article, seven question us for having published it.Founding subscriber Albert Martín starts from a place of respect for some of the opinions, but he does not find it correct that, in the byline, Elena García “adds to her condition as a philologist, that of “editor of the Opinion section”. The argumentation in this case points out that being a philologist does not qualify her to offer expert opinions on the subject and that, consequently, “by adding her position at ARA, she seeks to reinforce her auctoritas”. Albert Martín then details the core of the criticism:“But what is completely inadmissible and serious, and even more so when dealing with a philologist, is the perverse use of language when, at the very beginning of the article, she states that “And she is dead because the state executed her”, in a crude manipulation of language to influence the reader, worthy of a “Stop the presses” and unworthy of ARA.In law, and according to the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, to execute is to compel the fulfillment of a debt or sentence, and in criminal justice, as we all know, the application of the death penalty. It is not the consequence of an act of free will authorized by a resolution (not a sentence) that must be legally and medically motivated by a body composed of prestigious professionals and following all the legal procedures.Evidently –concludes the subscriber– there is an acceptation of the concept “to execute” as “to carry out something”, but if Ms. García’s excuse were that this was the meaning she intended, please, do not make it worse by trying to pass off an ox for a cow and have more respect for the intelligence of the readers you have tried to manipulate”.I have asked Elena García Dalmau for her contrasting view, which is necessary in my role as arbitrator, and she replies:“The debate about euthanasia and the role the State should play in its application has been going on for decades and does not have an easy answer. Proof of the difficulty of establishing an irreproachable moral standard is the diversity of forms that euthanasia laws take in countries with long democratic traditions. The hesitations do not only affect the case of patients with psychological pathologies, to which my article alluded. The German Constitutional Court ruled in 2020 that the right to self-determine one's own death exists at all stages of human life; Spanish law restricts it to a very specific context. That two advanced democracies reach such divergent conclusions is the best proof that there is no single technical answer.The question, however, is whether the technical perspective in moral matters – continues Elena García – should be the only valid one. I believe that the debate on ethical issues of this gravity cannot be confined to the authorities of medicine, nursing, and law: it concerns all citizens. And it is as a citizen who has dedicated a lot of time to thinking about the issue for personal reasons that I wrote the column. That my background—philologist—and my work—editor in the Opinion section—appeared is a convention of the newspaper; I in no way wanted to reinforce an authority to which, moreover, I could not and do not believe it necessary to appeal in this debate”.Regarding this last aspect, the byline with her position within the Opinion team, the head of the section, Toni Güell, points out that The Defender's criterion, already stated in other chronicles, is that a democratic and generalist newspaper must prioritize informational interest and publish all types of opinions expressed with respect, and even more so on such sensitive and controversial topics. Euthanasia admits many readings, interpretations, legal and conscience considerations. On one hand, there is Catholic fundamentalism, sadly notorious for its activism which is too often invasive and inappropriate. But without leaving Christian doctrine, there are nuances that we can trace back to Thomas More (Utopia, 1516), who leaves the question open, where Scholasticism preaches that “de internis, neque Ecclesia”, which means that privacy cannot be interfered with by canon law, one might say in a free version. Beyond the advances in medicine and bioethics, between therapeutic sedation and palliative sedation, believers who have to face cases of this nature have an interpretative space that allows them to circumvent dogma. On the other side of religious beliefs, there is also no monolithic thought beyond defending the right to a dignified death and the guaranteeing legislation that supports it, legal texts that they themselves collect varied records in their initial drafts.It is possible, in this dimension of such open diversity of criteria, that not all opinions are respectable in the opinion of each reader, but it is certain that what is always respectable is the right to express an opinion. Journalism should be tolerance in a pragmatic way, less grandiloquent than ethical dominance: by profession, we listen to and disseminate messages – not just opinions, but also when we inform – with which we disagree, in the conviction that those responsible for the opinions are those who sign or express them, not the newspaper. In reciprocity, readers have the right to choose what they read and what they do not read, to praise and to criticize. They also have the right to tell us not to publish information and opinions that they may detest – I have seen very negative comments, for example, when we interviewed a politician from the PP; the most recent, Ana Pastor – but I appeal for understanding that, in these cases, the journalistic sender and the reader recipient can manage a healthy disagreement that activates feedback and improves us all.The Reader Advocate takes note of doubts, suggestions, criticisms, and complaints about the newspaper's content in its digital and print editions, and ensures that the information is handled in accordance with the codes of ethics.In accordance with the codes of ethics.To contact the Reader 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, surnames, and ID number is required.

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In 2008, George Steiner published The Books I Haven't Written (Arcàdia), a collection of seven chapters on seven very personal themes that the English philosopher would have liked to write a book about but, in the end, never did, and in each chapter he explains why. One of them, titled The Languages of Eros, explains that he had had the “privilege of speaking and making love in four languages”, that each has its own charm in bed, but he didn't go into details, because the chapter put his intimate life at risk and that, if anything, he reached the conclusion that “shared orgasm is an act of simultaneous translation”.

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The rise of far-right narratives is one of the common threads in the new Anuari Mèdia.cat, which was presented this Tuesday. The report, edited since 2011 by the Ramon Barnils Journalists Group and celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, compiles analyses and reports that address issues such as the emergence of podcasts that criminalize a supposed woke ideology, the rise of the techno-reactionary elite, and the access of pseudojournalists to institutions.

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WAN-IFRA, the World Association of News Publishers, has announced the finalists for the Digital Media Awards 2026, considered one of the most prestigious international recognitions in the sector. In this edition, ARA has been selected as a finalist in two categories: Best data visualization, for the interactive SOS: el Montseny se ahoga, and Best marketing campaign for Descarta el cuñadismo.This year, the awards received 811 submissions from around the world, of which 278 have reached the final stage, representing 78 countries. The winners will be announced on June 2 in Marseille, as part of the World News Media Congress 2026.

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