Juanma Lamet and Pablo Lago, journalists from El Mundo, receive the Luis Carandell Awards from the Senate: “Long live the news!”

Big day for journalism and for this newspaper. For the first time, two journalists from the same newspaper have had their work recognized at the awards ceremony. Luis Carandell of parliamentary journalism. This Thursday, the editor Juanma Lamet and the director of El Mundo Castilla y León, Pablo R. Lagohave received their awards in a ceremony presided over by Queen Letizia in which the profession was the protagonist.

“There is a success here and a chance“, Pablo R. Lago began his words after collecting the award in the Territoriality category. “The success is Juanma Lamet,” he stated, praising his fellow winner. “The coincidence concerns me,” he said humbly.

“He has brought me this far vocation and conviction. But also the effort, the sacrifice, the determination, the perseverance and the tenacity… And the insistence. And a lot of work,” he assured, and then stated: “I have worked a lot, and sometimes without rest, on something that I like it as much as football. A job that I respect and for which I feel devotion.”

Lago recalled his beginnings in the newspaper Bierzo 7, and quoted Saramago in his speech: “Not only do I not want to forget my origins, but I I want to keep them present“, in addition to Serrat and Benedetti.

Before concluding, Lago said that journalists should not “succumb to temptation of anti-politics” and recalled the values ​​that drive this profession. “I don’t know at what moment we decided to squander trust. But we have no choice but to recover it. It doesn’t belong to us. We inherit it from others before us they sacrificed a lot for her,” he asked.

“We will continue to inform” was the formula used by Lago to end his speech. A brooch complemented by that of Lamet, who has pronounced a festive “long live the news“.

Lamet, awarded in the parliamentarism category and classified by Lago as “a fighter in life and in journalism”, has assured that he “always” dreamed of writing news in Madrid: “There is no journalistic ecosystem“like that of the capital. “Journalism is a destiny. Journalism has to put the lamp in the dark areas of the world, to illuminate, as I told you, to listen, to see, to contrast and to tell”, he stated.

“And to be a good journalist, it seems to me that the most important thing is not so much talent as professionalism. I believe that the best thing you can be in journalism is a good professional. And professionalism, of course, involves an independence bombproof, for a desire for honesty without acronyms, without partisanship, I believe that journalists they have to attestnot profess faith,” he stressed.

Lamet has assured that “news is always like a thaumaturgic revelation, like a miniature miracle. May they recognize me for this with one of the great awards of the profession.”

“A journalist is not worth the hollow accounting of his tweets, nor the viral reach of his zascas television. A journalist is not worth the amount of slapping he receives from the powerful. a journalist worth what the newspaper library that he leaves behind. Your work and credibility are worth it. His professionalism,” Lamet reflected.

Journalism “threatened”

At the opening of the event, the president of the Senate, Pedro Rollan has pointed out that freedom of the press is “a fundamental pillar” of democracy. “And although we thought that it was always going to be assured, that it was going to survive sine die, today we can affirm that it is more threatened than ever. This is not a circumstance that occurs only and exclusively in Spain. It happens at the global level and it also occurs in large nations and in nations with a consolidated democracy,” he warned.

Regarding Juanma Lamet, the president of the Upper House has highlighted that he is “one of the greatest exponents of a new generation of journalist.” Regarding Pablo Lago, he highlighted that “he is a journalist forged by the work he has carried out since he began his professional career.” “He has always covered the current situation in Castilla y León and is one of the people who best knows its daily life and, of course, its political news. Pablo is the example that the rigorous workconstant, continuous and work well done always leads to success,” he remarked.