Four films of high realism certify the power of investigative journalism developed by the written press in the recent years, which underpins its credibility and enhances the true value of the truthful and proven information that constitutes the raw material of its contents.
I refer to “Spotlight,” based on the Boston Globe’s research on the cover-up of sexual abuse in the archdiocese of Boston; “The Post”, on the revelations made by influential Washington’s newspaper about the so called Pentagon Papers; “The President’s Men”, which unveiled the entire history of illegal espionage of the offices of the Democratic Party in the Watergate building, also of the Post itself and now “The mechanism”, the corrupt plot of Lava Jato in Brazil.
I’ve no doubt that after the scandal of the data leaks of more than 50 million users of Facebook, from which now are starting to emerge certain details of the articulation of such monumental manipulative operation, some producer is encouraged enough to make another film that shows the fine and patient investigative journalistic work of the newspapers during a year.
Neither do I doubt that other film versions of other two great and emblematic researches of the written press about wilkileaks will emerge, also the confidential emails of the US government collected by a worldwide consortium of newspapers, and those of “The Panama Papers”, also incubated in a group of Latin American newspapers.
These are examples that highlight the crucial asset that transparency and democracy represent in the exercise of a journalism of high quality, which is only possible when it complies with the rules of truthfulness and subject to the irrefutability of testings.
In each of these investigations, the norm has been met to contrast the findings and the evidence with the same sources that are eventually affected by those disclosures, a care that is not taken in other social communication platforms that operate without regulations.
Hence the importance derived from a responsible, diligent and courageous kind of journalism that can not be overshadowed or annulled in the hazy climate of fake or manipulated news circulating, as an avalanche, in the digital sphere, which has been quite profitable for those who run this great industry of falsehood.
The sieve of news, which is assumed as a sacred duty among those who manage journalism with a professional sense, is a guarantee of immunity against the fraudulent and deceptive nature that biases many of the contents found in the social media, which has largely caused this crisis of distrust they suffer of today.
Whilst it’s true that journalism evolves and the newspapers reinvent themselves to continue conserving their loyal readers, in this era of changes the good journalism must never disappear, that of quality, veracity and highly detailed, the same qualities of the journalism that has been reflected in those successful films that I mentioned at the beginning and that have glorified the free and independent press of the world.
Translated from spanish by Randy Rodriguez.
Director's Thoughts 