Urgent Festival: How journalism is reinventing itself in the face of technological and political advances

Daniel Santoro , Gustavo Sierra , and Alejandro Alfie visited Urgente , the first edition of the journalism and book fair, to share their experiences investigating power on a prestigious panel . On the second day, the Ricardo Güiraldes Library (Talcahuano 19261) was packed yesterday to hear three leading figures from the world of photojournalism.

Such a letter of introduction for three great journalists and writers: Daniel Santoro (a specialist in political and judicial investigation, is Editor of Judiciales at Clarin ) has published more than 11 books of investigative journalism , including La ruta del dinero K and La batalla final de Cristina (The Route of the K Money) (Planeta). He is the founder of FOPEA and a member of the National Academy of Journalism. He also received the Maria Moors Cabot Prize from Columbia University (2004), the King of Spain Award, and the 2007 Konex Platinum Award.

Gustavo Sierra (formerly of Clarín , currently of Infobae) is an international politics analyst and war correspondent, notable for his coverage of various armed conflicts such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ukraine, as well as the situation in the Middle East, among other works. He is also the author of seven books , The Last: Berliner, The Avenger of Treblinka (Marea), in which he tells the story of the Argentine-Polish prisoner who killed a Nazi soldier in a concentration camp. A unique case in World War II. He also won the 2007 Konex Award.

Alejandro Alfie, a professor at the University of Buenos Aires and a journalist for Clarín specializing in media and freedom of expression, is the author of three books. One of them is "Los Agentes de Néstor y Cristina" (The Agents of Néstor and Cristina) (Margen Izquierdo Publishing House). He also hosts "Contacto Digital" on Radio Rivadavia and is a columnist on Radio Continental. In 2011, he received an ADEPA award for freedom of expression.

Explicit journalism: the perils of the profession for journalists investigating power , politics, and attempts to curtail freedom of expression, in an entertaining discussion moderated by Cristina Mucci.

Daniel Santoro opened this discussion on journalistic books and the investigation of power. "Books are the best platform for journalistic investigation because they endure over time ," he asserted.

" What we write and say on radio and television is actually very ephemeral , the same goes for publishing in digital editions because it 'dies' within minutes. I've written ten books of investigative journalism where I've analyzed things I can't do in a newspaper because of deadlines and time pressure," revealed the journalist and editor of Clarín .

He also discussed the current role of journalism and its direct connection to the public through social media.

“We are passionate about everything we do in journalism, despite the problems and threats. Contact with readers in the age of the internet and social media is valueless to us because it's direct feedback. Being able to exchange criticism and people telling us they've read our books is one of the greatest incentives journalism has.”

"I think there's a parameter to everything that's happening, and it has to do with the scientific and technological revolution that is leading us right now into a new era , at an extraordinary speed never before seen in history," said Gustavo Sierra.

Along these lines, he commented that " our brain is not capable of truly accompanying it or understanding what is happening to us and what is happening to us."

"This scientific and technological revolution is changing us, even anthropologically . We won't see the full extent of this for some time, but what we're experiencing is the chaos it creates. This makes many people angry, bewildered, and unsure of what's happening," added the Infobae journalist.

As an example, he cited the current feud between US President Donald Trump and entrepreneur Elon Musk, former presidential advisor and founder of SpaceX, the automotive company Tesla, and owner of the social network X, among other companies. An "unexpected" conflict between two former allies—now enemies—that is causing a real impact around the world.

“If anyone woke up this morning in the United States listening to the most powerful man on Earth fight with the richest man on Earth on the terms Trump and Elon Musk fought yesterday and today, it speaks to the total and absolute uncertainty in which we live.”

"The reaction to this is what we've seen from people who come to power: very angry people, who express themselves through social media . We see that power stops at nothing; it exploits this chaos, going against what they want to impose on it, in a certain way, certain parameters within which we operate. Above all, it's very anti-democratic and anti-cultural," he emphasized.

In this sense, he maintained that journalistic investigation is becoming increasingly rigorous , in keeping with the times, given the number of conflicts occurring across the planet, both in countries governed by the extreme right and those of the extreme left.

“In this confusion, we have to try to find our way through journalistic investigation, which must be increasingly precise, with a greater number of sources, with much more elaborate work than we have been doing up to this point, because what we have in front of us is very powerful and can derail any work we undertake.”

If we understand this, we can see where we're going, and where we're going is because investigative journalism has a very important ally that appeared just two years ago: Artificial Intelligence, used in many ways for good and in many others, most would say, for evil . It's a tool we have for investigation, but it's also absolutely dangerous. It brings us all those audios and videos that aren't real and try to alter reality.

And he concluded: "In this context, we journalists have to move forward and try to understand how the world works, and try to write some books or journalistic investigations in the media to try to transcend the issue. This is very difficult; we don't understand the scale of the change that is taking place right now."

“Has the credibility of journalists decreased?” asked Cristina Mucci.

“Surveys show that journalism has lost credibility . In 1983, when democracy began, journalism was the profession with the highest social esteem. Today, we're below priests. In football terms, we're 'in the middle of the table.' According to a Poliarquía survey last year, the Armed Forces are the most highly regarded today,” revealed Daniel Santoro.

And he continued: "These engineers of chaos believe they are riding on this and believe we are dying enemies and they take advantage. We are the last frontier for this thing that has created a hegemonic power . Since there are no opposition forces that can confront Milei's government in political terms, they see professional and independent journalism telling them 'this is not so. Inflation is true but not microeconomics.'"

"There are virtually no attacks on the press when the narrative is: 'We're going to beat Cristina Kirchner in the third electoral section,'" he warned.

According to Alfie, also the author of his recent book, El lado B de Telefónica , “investigating power isn't just about investigating political leaders or the current government ; it's also about investigating companies when they do things that are against the law, and that's very difficult to publish. My book was published by La Crujía, a small publishing house, since it was difficult for large publishers to publish an investigation into a company that is one of the largest, and also a major advertiser in all media outlets,” he stressed.

Alfie announced that he is writing a book about the attacks he's received , "but it has to do with Milei's trolls, with the communications apparatus created by the government, which is part of the government's strategy. That apparatus fundamentally includes this harassment of journalism, journalists, and the media. Since I write about these issues related to the media and freedom of expression for Clarin , the truth is that I feel it personally because that's what I do," he revealed.

He also stated that " the government doesn't want me to write about these topics . For me, it's inevitable; it's my specialty."

He then listed the problems he had with Milei's trolls : "They've taken me to judicial mediation, demanding 20 million pesos to stop me from talking about them. They believe we can't write about them. Milei retweets these trolls every day," he concluded.

According to Alfie, the threats from Milei's trolls come after she supposedly revealed her true identity : "They tell me 'you can't mention me because you're 'docsing' me: you're revealing my identity and I just use a nickname so they don't know who I am."

Alfie revealed that some of Milei's trolls "receive a salary, others don't because they're millionaires; they work from the Government House. They're part of the government's parastatal ecosystem."

Along these lines, Santoro warned that "this machine to destroy the prestige of journalists so that we lose credibility is run by both left-wing and right-wing populists."

“ Cristina Kirchner started this; before it was 678 , now we have 876,” he joked. He continued: “Cristina had her own media group; she had more media than Grupo Clarín . She even had the state media. She also used the intelligence service to persecute us. They had an army of lawyers. They wanted to put me in jail,” added Santoro , author of La Ruta del Dinero K.

"What is the libertarian government doing against journalists? What are the differences compared to what Kirchnerism did?" asked journalist Silvia Mercado, curator of Urgente.

“ The libertarians have the same goal, but with a level of insults that increases in an era of social media dominance. I have no evidence that they have issued search warrants for journalists. As Gustavo said at the beginning, we have to be precise,” Santoro asserted.

Clarín 's Judicial Affairs editor is a member of the Academy of Journalism and president of FOPEA. "We have to fight with Milei over the things we've proven Milei actually did."

"The SIDE's plan for this year's targets doesn't specifically mention journalists, historians, and economists. It says its function is to identify and gather information on strategic actors. The truth is that the opposition is very concerned; it's a very broad umbrella on that issue . Just as they've learned other methods from Cristina, they may use the intelligence apparatus in the future," Santoro stated.

"But it's a private intelligence agency. The SIDE doesn't have the monopoly on intelligence as it did during Menem's time. Now, any private security firm or consulting firm has equipment to tap phones and emails. Milani's famous suitcases sell in Miami for $2,000-$3,000," he noted.

“Is there censorship?” asked Cristina Mucci.

"I don't see any evidence of censorship. Right now, we're in the self-censorship phase ," Gustavo Sierra commented.

“Freedom of expression is contemplated in international human rights treaties and includes not only the right to disseminate ideas and information without prior censorship, but there is a second part of that paragraph that includes not being harassed for disseminating information, opinions, etc. Therefore, there is a restriction on freedom of expression. This second part, which appears in the National Constitution on freedom of expression, would not be fulfilled in Argentina because there are restrictions ,” Alejandro Alfie analyzed.

"There are also two types of censorship, direct and indirect: there is no direct censorship here, but I believe there is indirect censorship through various government tools to prevent this robust debate from taking place in some situations," Alfie concluded.