There are two genres that are the essence of journalism, opinion and reporterism. Artificial intelligence (AI) in the hands of Google threatens the journalistic profession, as the technology giant hopes to generate direct answers to user queries, which could translate into a decrease in web traffic, which Google redirects to the creators of contents. But it will hardly be able to replace the journalist’s freedom to interpret reality and his ability to tell stories that move us.
I read that the ABC newspaper has brought together opinion columnists at the CÃrculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, who reached two hopeful conclusions: that the newspaper continues to be essential to bring order to the messy world of news and that journalistic columns are essential to arouse affection with the readers.
In the US, commentators are real stars, many of whom become swanky speakers. A few months ago, the prestigious The New York Times invited some of its most sought-after columnists to write their biggest mistake in recent times. Few refused, but quite a few went off on a tangent. Memory is perishable in a world installed in instantaneity, so there was not much self-criticism.
This was not the case with Bret Stephens, who declared that the worst lines he could possibly have written are the ones he wrote about Republican voters: “If by now you don’t know that Donald Trump is unpresentable, you are the unpresentable one.” In his mea culpa column, he assured that with this demonstration he contributed to Trump’s candidacy instead of damaging it, since the former president is not seen by many as an uneducated fanatic, as the enlightened classes consider him, but as someone who likes to laugh. of the intellectual elites, which people like Stephens embody.
For this reason, the best advice for being a good columnist is still from José MarÃa Pemán: “Believe only in one or two fundamental things and make fun of everything else.” The AI, which lacks irony no matter how hard Google tries, will not be able to compete there.
