Grayscale

One of the ways in which the School of Communication defends journalism and truth today is by promoting values of honesty among the students who fill its monochromatic classrooms year after year. It also does so through its research, with various projects and groups of professors who ask themselves about the challenges of the profession. 

The last rays of autumn sunshine sparkle on the grass still visible under the dead leaves. They pierce the dusty windows of the gray-green-brown corridors of the Ismael Sánchez Bella Building. This deceptive light almost makes one believe that it is not freezing cold outside.

How would the campus shine 66 years ago, when its students first aspired to become journalists? In 1958, the first course began at the University of Navarra's Institute of Journalism, which would later become one of the first two Schools of Communication in the country. Even for its historians, the beginnings are still tinged with a certain mystery.

"The exact date for the start of the course is not known," admits Professor Carlos Barrera, pushing his glasses up his nose. He sits behind his desk, with his back to the window on the leave floor that overlooks the evergreen lawn. He sets aside some books in front of his computer and turns on the screen, as he recounts how that date for the start of classes was never officially recorded in the archives. "There is an article in Diario de Navarra, but it doesn't say exactly what day either." Maybe those students and professors didn't know they were making history.

Inspiring beginnings

During Franco's dictatorship, to become a journalist, one had to enroll in the Official School of Journalism, where professionals received training and control from the State. "There were no formal university programs of study ," says Carlos Barrera. Everything changed when Antonio Fontán, Latin and Greek teacher, journalist and, from then on, hero of freedom of the press, set foot in Pamplona for the first time.

According to Carlos Barrera, the initiative to create an alternative and above all university training channel came from St. Josemaría Escrivá himself, founder of Opus Dei and of the Estudio General de Navarra, which was to become the University of Navarra. "St. Josemaría had a great concern for the social transcendence of a profession like journalism, which could be a channel for transmitting the truth, but also for its potential to achieve the opposite: to share disinformation, although at that time that term was not used."

Before becoming an institute, and later a School, Fcom was a summer course given by Antonio Fontán in 1958. "Escrivá and the University were quick to communicate to the government that they wanted this initiative to become permanent and to propose training in journalism," says Barrera. After obtaining all the necessary authorizations, the Journalism Institute officially opened its doors in November of that year.

It was not until 1962 that the institute became totally independent from the Franco regime -until then, journalists had to approve the official exam of the School of Journalism- and not until 1971 that it became a real School. The School of Communication of the University of Navarra became the first in the country, together with the School of Information Sciences of the Complutense University in Madrid.

For Carlos Barrera, it is not necessary to go back that far in time to recognize the groundbreaking nature of the School: "Although those programs of study did not lead to a licentiate degree, future professionals were immersed in a university environment, rubbing shoulders with students of letters, law and medicine. It was the first time in Spain that journalism was included in the academic curriculum . The Instituto de Periodismo was, therefore, a totally disruptive organization". 

The Institute began with "the idea of training journalists away from the political component that had the school of the Regime to tell the truth in an ethical way". A purpose that continues to be pursued in the classrooms of the gray building, and the offices.

Multifaceted concepts

On the second floor, at the end of the corridor, next to the conference room where he sometimes drinks coffee, a pensive figure in a striped blazer attends us. The blinds are half lowered, so that only part of the windows opposite can be seen. A ray of sunlight illuminates a black-and-white photo of David Beriáin hanging by the door. "He was a very journalist," comments Mónica Codina. "I ask him for a committee from time to time."

Behind her oval glasses, her caution when it comes to defining the truth is grade . Perhaps because the professor of journalistic ethics knows the consequences of a misspoken word. "It is a concept that responds to different things. On the one hand, there is the factual truth, the facts that occur. Then, there are truths that have to do with a context or a story, a narrative of facts. Then, truth is given when it can be told through a story and responds to what is really happening, without distorting reality or omitting relevant information. It is never about finding an expressed truth that can cover 360 Degrees everything that is happening.

On the contrary, disinformation responds to deception. "It is achieved by omitting information, decontextualizing data or issuing statements that are interpreted with a meaning different from the one they had when they were pronounced".

		Mónica Codina: "Journalism is more necessary than ever, precisely because there is so much misinformation. Being a journalist should be a guarantee that what is being told is true".

The rise of disinformation, according to the professor, comes from the variety of voices affecting public opinion. "There may be deliberate disinformation strategies that come from people who want to intervene in social movements. But there is another subject of disinformation that does not necessarily come from a deliberate political or social intentionality. There are people who do not have professional journalistic training and set themselves up as opinion influencers and, not having all the necessary knowledge , have practices that can generate disinformation".

Disinformation does not have to be a complete lie. "Sometimes, half-truths or lack of data are used to generate disinformation processes. Opinion channels can also be established at inappropriate moments that generate noise by relying on sources that do not have sufficient authority to talk about a topic".

Asked whether journalists can also be vehicles of disinformation, the professor agrees. "When journalism does not do its work well, for example, when it does not check where the information on social networks comes from, when it uses data to position itself politically in non-transparent ways, it is not fulfilling its function well".

Codina grips the armrests of his desk chair and enhances himself. Despite all the challenges facing this profession, he is clear that "journalism is more necessary than ever, precisely because there is so much misinformation. Being a journalist should be a guarantee that what is being told is true".

Guardians of democracy 

So does the law. " article 20 of the Spanish Constitution recognizes, along with freedom of expression, the right to truthful information," explainsAna Azurmendi, professor of Constitutional Law . A few steps away from Mónica Codina's office, she sits elegantly with her back to her books and a sun-faded Botero print.  

The same article 20 also defines journalistic or informative truthfulness as "the truth that the journalist has reached by fulfilling his obligations with professional diligence", explains the expert. "The Constitution offers protection to those professionals who have respected professional ethics, have obtained information from relevant sources, have elaborated information with their journalistic criteria and have disseminated it in a way that coincides with what they have come to know of a reality".

With her back straight, she adjusts her green blouse to match the small emeralds dangling from her ears. "I tell my students not to gamble, that spreading false information can have serious legal consequences, as it deprives them of the protection of the law."

In addition, it also highlights the political role of journalism: to monitor and supervise the activities of institutions to prevent abuse of power or corruption. "The European Court of Human Rights affirms that journalism fulfills the role of guardian of democracy." How do journalists fight back? For Azurmendi, the answer has nothing to do with swords or guns: "With truthful information."

On the other hand, according to Ana Azurmendi, "when we talk about disinformation, we have to talk about hoaxes. Its real purpose is to deceive". The law does not provide for measures to fight against it, but it does provide for measures that affect digital platforms. "By law of the European Union, they have the obligation to have a plan against disinformation and publish a report that communicates annually what risks or what situations of disinformation they have had to face during the year and how they have done it."

Verification and vocation

"Let's see, journalists." Heads rise, laughter and conversations stop dead in their tracks, eyes leave the computer screens and settle on the Chair. None of the students who have ever sat in Fcom's gray classrooms could forget Ramón Salaverría's characteristic greeting. 

Outside the School, he is best known for his research in digital journalism and disinformation. After the success of the RRSSalud project , which analyzed the impact of social networks on public health in the middle of a pandemic, the European Commission decided to entrust the University of Navarra to lead a media observatory in the Iberian Peninsula.

		Ramón Salaverría: "There is a lot of disinformation... about disinformation. Rather than ending it, we aspire to understand exactly what it is and how it works."

Ramón Salaverría has been coordinating Iberifier for three years, a project that brings together researchers, journalists and fact checkers who study and combat disinformation in Spain and Portugal. They are in charge, for example, of receiving the reports mentioned by Ana Azurmendi. For the time being, their activity should continue until 2026, following the extension of funding last year with Iberifier Plus. "There is a lot of disinformation... about disinformation," the professor admits, laughing. "Rather than ending it, we aim to understand what exactly it is and how it works."

He also smiles as he unveils the behind-the-scenes of his mythical greeting. "A few years ago, it occurred to me to start all my classes like this," he recalls from his office in the Ismael Sánchez Bella Building, his back to his window, whose views are obscured by a magnolia tree still without blossoms. "It's not just a simple greeting," he explains. "It's become a little ritual, but it's also motivational. It has a point of challenge. It reminds students of what they want to be." This is how the teacher understands teaching: "To bring out the best in the students."

Go out on the street, tell the truth

The light that streams through the corridors also illuminates the gray stone of the esplanade, almost dyeing it blue. It whitens the concrete of a much more recent building, built without paint because, according to the legend that has circulated among those who have been coming and going from the School of Communication for generations, "the students add the color". 

The rays shine behind the windows of the leave and fall through the skylight of the mezzanine. On the second floor, it feeds a few red trees placed in hanging gardens, small courtyards full of pebbles that are observed from the corridor full of closed doors. One of them, however, is always open. From there you can hear an eighties chorus.

		María Jiménez: "We want students to be passionate about the idea of telling the lives of others".

From the walls of the office, 100 eyes look at you with pride: Luka Brajnovic, Paco Sancho, Juan Antonio Giner and many other great names hide the white of the walls, next to photos of students, posters in tribute to the written press and a framed and decorated Atlético de Madrid jersey, not of a name, but of the acronym MAJ. Everyone calls Professor Miguel Angel Jimeno by his three initials. 

Sometimes, the door to the office directly across the street also opens. Maria Jimenez, wearing a flowered dress and bright red lipstick, waits behind a desk strewn with books. Always with a smile, she expresses herself with delicacy and a southern accent. 

Miguel Ángel Jimeno and María Jiménez share much more than a hallway, initials and passion for journalism; both are professors of the subject Generos y edición de diarios y revistas, of which the alumni remember one thing above all. A project that evokes fear of the unknown, hard work , but also going out into the street and good stories: the supplement. 

At the origin of the subject, in 2006, the entire promotion produced a single newspaper supplement. "We soon realized how crazy it was to manage 80 people," says MAJ, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his plaid shirt. Four years later, they divided the class by groups of ten. "The basic idea is still the same: to go out on the street and do journalism." 

More than a simple work in group, the supplements are a pure journalistic product, with clear purposes. "Our worlds seem bigger to us than they are. We want to encourage students to break that boundary, to make them see that right next to where they spend every day, there are stories that have nothing to do with them, but have a lot to do with the real world," says María Jiménez. For the teacher, the subject 's goal is clear: "that the students become passionate about the idea of telling the lives of others.

Journalistic culture

According to both professors, this task has a lot to do with the search for truth. María Jiménez is of the opinion that "basically, the search for truth is based first on asking questions about the world and trying to answer them". MAJ is convinced: "If you decide to dedicate yourself to this, you come here to tell the truth. The big words that a journalist must always keep in mind and that we try to instill in the kids are honesty and honesty when looking at reality.

MAJ says that they try to convey the same values with the Degree assignments, which she is in charge of. Although it is also possible to submit individual projects, the journalism "tefegés" are very much a group effort. Students divided into teams of "minimum nine, maximum eleven" work on new journalistic products to be launched on the market. However, the professor emphasizes that he wanted to go a step further. The Degree projects require the search for a community, for a potential audience, which is not the case for the supplement.

		Miguel Ángel Jimeno: "The big words that a journalist must always keep in mind and that we try to instill in the kids are honesty and honesty when looking at reality".

In addition, MAJ founded its journalism culture seminar last year, which is held every Tuesday and Thursday for especially enthusiastic third-year students. "I wanted it to be a seminar so that every week, the students would have a drip of good journalism, of who are the referents in Spain and of the journalistic power that our country represents".

And many of these references have also passed through our classrooms. James Harding (BBC), Martin Baron (former editor of the Washington Post), Paul Steiger (former editor of The Wall Street Journal), Jill Abramson (former editor of The New York Times)...

In 1997, a year after opening the building that is now our home, Miguel Delibes inaugurated a walk of great figures of communication who received the Luka Brajnovic award . After him came many more: David Puttnam, British film producer; Antonio Fontán, journalist and teacher of journalists; Ettore Bernabei, Italian journalist; James Nachtwey, photojournalist... and among them is David Beriain, journalist, former student and posthumous award winner. The recognition of these people values their trajectory, in which a solid defense of the dignity of people and the human values of freedom, tolerance and solidarity stand out.

We often hear that journalism has nothing to do with fiction, that the only information that can be considered news is that which is one hundred percent real. However, in a 2018 interview, David Beriáin himself explained that journalists have a lot to learn from it. "Good current affairs series are full of people who are neither good, nor bad. They are gray. [...] Because they are human. And we humans are like that".

If the true finding of truth requires talking to the protagonists of a story, journalists must be able to discern in them its multiple facets. Beriáin asks himself: "Why has fiction discovered this fascination, these details, and journalism, which should be the true expert in the grays of human nature, has not?" For the professional, instead of making journalism whiter or blacker, with a unilateral definition and leaving no room for the unknown, "we must constantly navigate in the grays". To protect the truth is also to do journalism that transcends, that captures the infinite aspects of what it means to be human.