El Debate, Entrambasaguas and a feeling I longed for in the world of journalism

I've been writing this blog for 21 years and many times some people have mistaken me for a journalist, and my answer to that is always the same.

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I'm a blogger, not a journalist. I always say this when I'm asked because, to begin with, I don't make a living from this, and Contando Estrelas is more of an opinion piece than a news site. Furthermore, I've had many disappointments with the world of journalism, a profession that in many cases has been degraded due to a relationship of dependence on political power, which forces many reporters to neglect one of journalism's great duties: to hold those in power accountable and not be bought off by them with more or less covert subsidies.

In these 21 years, I have published almost 1,300 articles in Spanish about the world of journalism and communication. Many are dedicated to criticizing falsehoods or manipulations I have seen in the media. Amidst so much criticism, I often forget that it is also necessary to recognize a job well done, that kind of journalism that makes you feel delighted reading a news story and listening to a communicator who fulfills their duty admirably. A feeling I have often longed for in the world of journalism and that I am now recovering thanks, especially, to a very specific media outlet and a journalist who was just a little boy when I started this blog.

On October 1, 2021, the historic newspaper of the Catholic newspaper El Debate, founded by Ángel Herrera Oria (1910-1936), reappeared as a digital newspaper, funded by the Catholic Association of Propagandists (ACdP). Since then, I have followed it daily, and it has become one of my go-to sources of information. Directed by Bieito Rubido, its readership has grown spectacularly and deservedly.

From their team of communicators, I want to highlight Alejandro Entrambasaguas, a young man from Madrid specializing in investigative journalism who is producing truly admirable news pieces. I often see him on Iker Jiménez's program "Horizonte" on the Cuatro channel, and he never ceases to amaze me with his rigor, his prudence, his memory, and his ability to connect very diverse facts and draw accurate conclusions.

In a world where journalism has entered a crisis of credibility for various reasons, the case of El Debate and Entrambasaguas has, at 50 years old, restored my faith in journalism, in its capacity to seek the truth and to bring to light relevant facts that political power prefers to keep hidden. So, for once, this article is not a critique. Many thanks to El Debate, to Alejandro, and to the rest of the professionals at that newspaper for giving me back the joy of reading the news when I thought I had lost it. Please keep up the good work; you're doing a great job.

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Image: El Debate.