Olga Viza, sponsor of the Master’s degree in Journalism BCN NY: “In today’s journalism we have confused debate with conflict”
Olga Viza
Interview
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Academic
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Interviews
(17/04/2024)
Journalist Olga Viza is the sponsor of the new graduating class of the master’s degree in Journalism BCN NY. During more than forty-five years of professional career, she has worked in several media, mainly in television, such as Televisión Española and Antena 3, where she led and presented the news. She is also a reference in sports journalism. Among the awards she has received is the Ondas Prize for communication professionals, in the television category.
Olga Viza
Interview
|
Academic
|
Interviews
17/04/2024
Journalist Olga Viza is the sponsor of the new graduating class of the master’s degree in Journalism BCN NY. During more than forty-five years of professional career, she has worked in several media, mainly in television, such as Televisión Española and Antena 3, where she led and presented the news. She is also a reference in sports journalism. Among the awards she has received is the Ondas Prize for communication professionals, in the television category.
“A proven truth is the best guarantee”, Viza told the new graduates of the Master’s degree in Journalism BCN NY. This degree, which has just opened the enrolment period for its twenty-fifth edition, is based on the collaboration between the University of Barcelona and the prestigious Columbia Journalism School in New York. It offers practical teaching that includes the development of skills and practices for a career in journalism. Students come from both communication and non-communication backgrounds, and the teaching staff is made up of Spanish and international professionals. On the occasion of the Master’s graduation ceremony, Olga Viza reflected on some aspects of the profession.
How do you understand training in journalism and what role should the university play?
I think journalism has a significant theoretical part, which is the foundation, and it has to do with the use of language and knowledge of history, sociology, law… But, then, there must be a part that opens up the practical world: you must do interviews; you must know what an editorial office is; you must know how to write a newspaper, how to write a newspaper article or how to post it on a digital site. And in the Faculty, they should teach you how to speak.
Looking back, what is the main difference from when you started in journalism?
Society is different. Your audience is different: they think differently, they have other tools to get information. When I started, there was only one television, there were few radio stations, there was no Google... I have lived through the spectacular evolution of all this. And I see the new needs and the new difficulties. Iñaki Gabilondo always says something when he talks about over-information: “In the event of a flood, the first thing that is scarce is drinking water”. True: when there is over-information, the only thing we have left are those who verify, who check.
What do you like and dislike about current journalism?
I like a lot of things. I think tools are wonderful. I can show you the attic of my house: it is full of archives. I like the language; you read the news from twenty years ago and the writing was very pompous. I like the way it is written. I like the originality, that there are people who dare to do different things. And I like that you are not just a press, radio or television journalist. Everything is interchangeable, the language is the same. What I do not like is that we have confused debate with conflict. That is what I like the least.
How do you understand training in journalism and what role should the university play?
I think journalism has a significant theoretical part, which is the foundation, and it has to do with the use of language and knowledge of history, sociology, law… But, then, there must be a part that opens up the practical world: you must do interviews; you must know what an editorial office is; you must know how to write a newspaper, how to write a newspaper article or how to post it on a digital site. And in the Faculty, they should teach you how to speak.
Looking back, what is the main difference from when you started in journalism?
Society is different. Your audience is different: they think differently, they have other tools to get information. When I started, there was only one television, there were few radio stations, there was no Google... I have lived through the spectacular evolution of all this. And I see the new needs and the new difficulties. Iñaki Gabilondo always says something when he talks about over-information: “In the event of a flood, the first thing that is scarce is drinking water”. True: when there is over-information, the only thing we have left are those who verify, who check.
What do you like and dislike about current journalism?
I like a lot of things. I think tools are wonderful. I can show you the attic of my house: it is full of archives. I like the language; you read the news from twenty years ago and the writing was very pompous. I like the way it is written. I like the originality, that there are people who dare to do different things. And I like that you are not just a press, radio or television journalist. Everything is interchangeable, the language is the same. What I do not like is that we have confused debate with conflict. That is what I like the least.
“A proven truth is the best guarantee”.
Looking back, as a news director, what were the most difficult pressures to resist?
I worked in the company of a journalistic entrepreneur. The television belonged to Antonio Asensio, who was a man who had invested money in the press, in the media, just like Polanco did. They were the only two. At that time, I was in good company. Asensio had problems with the government, and he testified. I remember I called him and said: “Antonio, I’ll open the news with the image of you entering the prosecutor’s office”. And he replied: “Whatever you think”. Who says that nowadays? He has gone totally backwards with this. What we have now are not journalistic entrepreneurs: they are big companies. What we do have are good editors and competent directors who put out the fires. I didn’t have big audience pressures either, because it was a new television and we had room for manoeuvre. And we were doing well, because we were doing journalism that was not mediatized.
In this year’s Master’s degree in Journalism BCN NY, the vast majority of students are women. To develop a professional career, do they have to consider anything more than their male classmates?
I hope not. I hope that, by the time they have been in the profession for eight years, they will already have female directors. The secret here is the croupier, the one who deals the game. If the dealer is a man, and he is a man who thinks in black and white, he will deal to men. However, if there are women who are handing out the game, who have responsibilities in the editorial offices, there will be no problem of differentiation.
For many years, you worked as a sports journalist, what feelings have you had about the big push for women’s sport?
I had to pinch myself. When they won the World Cup, I had to pinch myself! With Carolina Marín, Garbiñe, Ruth Beitia, the handball players, the waterpolo players, Mireia Belmonte... It is true that when you go see evolution, you know what will happen. The 1992 Barcelona Olympics were the turning point, absolutely. Until then, there were only two women... It was difficult for me to find sportswomen who stood out. At the Games, for the first time in its life, Spanish sport followed a method. They brought in the best coaches and psychologists, they set up high performance centres... And men and women trained there. It was clear that women, with the same possibilities or training facilities, would come out on top. And then came the first gold medal for women’s sport in the Olympic Games, which was won by Miriam Blasco in judo. And what happened? That summer Gemma Mengual was a volunteer at the games, Mireia Belmonte was starting to swim... There were already references. It was just a matter of time.
I worked in the company of a journalistic entrepreneur. The television belonged to Antonio Asensio, who was a man who had invested money in the press, in the media, just like Polanco did. They were the only two. At that time, I was in good company. Asensio had problems with the government, and he testified. I remember I called him and said: “Antonio, I’ll open the news with the image of you entering the prosecutor’s office”. And he replied: “Whatever you think”. Who says that nowadays? He has gone totally backwards with this. What we have now are not journalistic entrepreneurs: they are big companies. What we do have are good editors and competent directors who put out the fires. I didn’t have big audience pressures either, because it was a new television and we had room for manoeuvre. And we were doing well, because we were doing journalism that was not mediatized.
In this year’s Master’s degree in Journalism BCN NY, the vast majority of students are women. To develop a professional career, do they have to consider anything more than their male classmates?
I hope not. I hope that, by the time they have been in the profession for eight years, they will already have female directors. The secret here is the croupier, the one who deals the game. If the dealer is a man, and he is a man who thinks in black and white, he will deal to men. However, if there are women who are handing out the game, who have responsibilities in the editorial offices, there will be no problem of differentiation.
For many years, you worked as a sports journalist, what feelings have you had about the big push for women’s sport?
I had to pinch myself. When they won the World Cup, I had to pinch myself! With Carolina Marín, Garbiñe, Ruth Beitia, the handball players, the waterpolo players, Mireia Belmonte... It is true that when you go see evolution, you know what will happen. The 1992 Barcelona Olympics were the turning point, absolutely. Until then, there were only two women... It was difficult for me to find sportswomen who stood out. At the Games, for the first time in its life, Spanish sport followed a method. They brought in the best coaches and psychologists, they set up high performance centres... And men and women trained there. It was clear that women, with the same possibilities or training facilities, would come out on top. And then came the first gold medal for women’s sport in the Olympic Games, which was won by Miriam Blasco in judo. And what happened? That summer Gemma Mengual was a volunteer at the games, Mireia Belmonte was starting to swim... There were already references. It was just a matter of time.