Gabriel García Márquez, the famous Colombian writer and journalist, speaking about the best job in the world said: “In the career in which journalists are involved, there must be a minute of silence to reflect on the enormous responsibility they have.” Therefore, this suggested break should be taken often, since journalism plays a fundamental role in building a strong democracy by generating free, verified and truthful information, which satisfies society’s basic need to be properly informed. The latter implies that there would be no true journalism without rigorous respect for the truth. Therefore, the master of magical realism clearly emphasized that ethics cannot be an auxiliary or occasional element in the development of this profession, but the light that guides its activity.

For this reason, the urgency of recognizing that information is first of all a human right that must be protected and guaranteed, and not just a public good that must be controlled and regulated based on the interests of those in power or the rulers of the state. days, especially those neo-populists, autocrats or apprentices of petty dictators, with redeemer pretensions, who see in the independent media an internal enemy that needs to be discredited, suppressed and fought against.

In the case of Ecuador, we must highlight the sacrificed and poorly understood work done by journalists and social communicators in traditional and digital media and other platforms offered by the development of new information and communication technologies. By the way, it is worth recalling that on August 7, 1992, the National Congress declared January 5 as the Day of the Ecuadorian Journalist, having as a reference the hero of our independence, Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Espeja and, of course,

to the newspaper from Quita Primicias de la Cultura, on whose pages there is an open space – albeit short, but important – for the introduction of ideas of freedom, as well as important moral and philosophical reflections, into the collective imagination.

It should be noted that the attempt to silence the press has been observed throughout history, whether with greater or lesser intensity, either openly or sometimes covertly, because the journalist sometimes turns out to be an unpleasant person for the authorities, since the Office has a dual function, both in the field of information and in the supervision of public authorities. For this reason, Ryszard Kapuscinski said that “the job of journalists is not to step on cockroaches, but to turn on the light so that people can see how the cockroaches run away to hide”.

At this moment, it is appropriate to recall the work of media such as EL UNIVERSO, Hoy newspaper, Ecotel TV, as well as communicators of the stature of Ramiro Cueva, Juan Carlos Calderón, Christian Zurita, Xavier Bonillo, among others, who led a frontal struggle against the despotic government and a firm defense of Ecuadorian democracy. (OR)