Logroño (EFE).- The president of the EFE Agency, Gabriela Cañas, defends that “serious and solvent (communication) media are more necessary than ever”, given that there has always been false news, but “now its diffusion is enormous and therefore its impact.
This is how he details it in an interview published this Wednesday by the newspaper La Rioja, on the occasion of his participation this Thursday in the Classroom of the International University of La Rioja (UNIR), where he will speak on “The EFE Agency in the era of disinformation: much more than an international news agency”.
“Agencies like EFE need to deactivate these hoaxes more than ever, using the dissemination power that we have (it is present in 110 countries),” added Cañas, who referred to the creation, in 2019, of EFEVerifica, “a unit of enormous success because there is a lot of demand for that, to tell what is true and what is a lie”.
Debate on artificial intelligence
He has recognized that artificial intelligence “can be very useful for journalists”, although “we are still very green on this issue, we are afraid, unaware…” and EFE has opened a debate on this issue.
This agency already uses artificial intelligence for translations of subtitles in videos and can help a lot to offer its services in other languages, but, “in the end, it is the talent and ability to discern of the human being that will determine the information”.
Cañas has alluded to EFE’s transformation process started several years ago to offer a multimedia product (combination of text, video, audio and photo), which requires “more media, more people and technology and, therefore, more money”. ; and what he tries now is “to be more efficient so as not to ruin ourselves.”
For her, the situation of the media is “bad because there has been a tsunami with the large digital platforms”, which have taken away all advertising, “a very important economic source”; and “this model is the one in question, not the information”, which she believes “has never been as widespread as now”.
“In terms of dissemination, our impact is greater than ever, but, in economic terms, we have a very complicated business model to disseminate,” he said, although “EFE Agency is in a different league because we are a public medium.”
Being public is what guarantees independence and economic independence is what guarantees editorial independence, which is seen in the private media, Cañas has indicated.
He has explained that EFE is “a state and non-governmental public media: the independence with which the agency works is a banner of freedom” and “that is in the DNA of its workers”; In addition, its Editorial Board watches over these types of issues to “avoid working at the dictates of anyone.”
“On the other hand, we have public powers that are very aware of the importance of press freedom,” said the president of EFE, an agency that is “a strategic piece of the Spanish State” and “a success story in itself.” the fourth in the world.