"The logical process of deduction is the most important: you cannot do research journalism based on intuition," said Pilar Urbano today at the University. The journalist gave a lecture on the occasion of the feast day of the patron saint of the School of Communication in which she reviewed the keys to research journalism, which she defined as "the way to communicate the people's right to know and the hermeticism of the different powers".

"There are no golden rules, only golden mistakes and golden experience," warned Pilar Urbano, who added that "each case requires a specific technique and develops at its own pace."

"The first thing to do is to forget about the clock," the journalist told the 300 people who attended the lecture, which she dedicated to Professor Luka Brajnovic, who recently passed away. "It is necessary to arm yourself with patience to set up waits, to talk to the same people at different times.... And the first person who has to be aware of this is the director of the media," he explained. In his opinion, " research journalism requires slowness, that's why it is impossible to do it overnight; and it implies a certain clandestinity".

Another issue to be taken into account, according to Pilar Urbano, is the observation of detail. "The absent-minded cannot be used for this work: you have to pay attention to everything because any detail can be revealing. If a person does not drink alcohol or suffers from insomnia, remembering an enrollment or a portal can be very useful at some point in the research," she said.

The journalist stressed that the most valuable tool is always the question, but she also mentioned other tools such as almanacs, memoranda, data instructions or the Internet, which provide the documentary background. "In addition, we have to start from scratch, quarantine all the information we have before starting the research and check the data".

Pilar Urbano also stressed the need to work with plural sources, even contradictory ones, to enrich research and avoid "the danger of one source intoxicating or teledirecting the work". "In addition, the professional should never cling to his or her thesis ," she said.

Finally, "the task of writing remains. And it is at that moment when the journalist, who knows that he is not the protagonist, must disappear," he concluded.