Our summer reporter flies, sails, drives and walks across Europe, looking for stories about creativity in journalism. Third stop, Spain.

A journalist is looking for news and novelties are looking for media attention. That’s how news often finds its own way to the journalist, usually through his personal network or through press releases. The editor only has to make his selection based on topicality, exceptionality and social relevance.

But the fact is that some populations produce less news than others. Take the elderly, for example. Because they usually aren’t as socially active anymore, you can hardly find any news on them at all. Logical, perhaps. Yet they make for an important part of the population: here in Spain almost one in five inhabitants is older than 65. Should that be a reason for the media to give them more attention? In Barcelona, I talk to proponents of that idea. If only for their life experience and their knowledge of history, the Spanish elders deserve a louder voice in the media and thuis in society, they feel.

Better 95 than never
Three years ago María Amelia López made an inspiring example of a senior who made herself be heard. On her 95th birthday, this spanish grandmother started a blog. She says it changed her life. “From now on I can communicate and interact with the world”, she writes in her first post. Until her death, two years later, López wrote about all sorts of things: commentary to world news, memories of the Spanish civil war and the days of Franco and ponderings on her own physical deterioration.

Navel-gazing of a senior citizen? Apparently it was interesting enough for the 70.000 visitors who read her blog every month, or more than 1.5 million readers in two years. From the moment her story hit the media, she could count on worldwide interest. Perhaps because a lot of readers hardly have any contact with seniors in their daily lives, her words gained an almost mythical value. López cleverly made use of that popularity to promote internet and the blogosphere as a means to stay informed and to share your experiences with others, especially in your old days.

Wrinkles
Not encouraged by López, but working from a similar motivation, Lola Rodenas has been blogging fanatically the past two years. This vivid Spanish señora started Bohème at the age of 74, after she got the blog as a present from her son. Lola writes about politics, social issues, literature and more. To my question on if it’s important that the elderly have their voices be heard through blogs, she answers beautifully philosphically, “We may be old, but we’re a part of a world in motion and so we have to move with it. If we stop, we cease to be. As seniors we have to shout out that we exist, that we still use our brains and that we do not want to be discriminated against because of our wrinkles.”

She goes on, “I believe the media glorifies the youths and forgets about the elderly, while we have so much knowledge and experience that could serve the younger generations well. Our voices sound weak, but thanks to initiatives like my blog, we will have them be heard eventually.”

Do-it-yourself media
Lola believes that the elderly are no longer dependent of the attention that professional journalists give them, as thanks to their blogs, they can now communicate with the world directly and independently. Spanish seniors who do, like her, are still an exceptionally small group as of now. It’s a generation that grew up without the internet and for a lot of people her age, taking the e-step now feels like it’s too late, and too big of a step. But that could change fast.

The next generation of Spaniards is much more familiar with the possibilities in communication the internet offers and many of them use it to the fullest. Chances are they’ll keep doing that when old age strikes just as well. Once they’re retired and have more free time, but leaving the house becomes harder, a blog is the way to stay involved with society.

You have a story to tell
From another perspective, but with the same ideals, the project “Tienes una historia que contar” (You have a story to tell) was created. Five years ago journalist Alberto Alvarez and program manager of Fundació Caixa Catalunya, Mònica Duaigües, launched the idea to have Spanish journalism students write down the life stories of people over 70. It became a nationwide succes.

From her office in La Pedrera, the famous appartment building of architect Gaudí, Mònica Duaigües explains how the project works. “Every student gets in touch with one person over 70 in the vicinity of where they study. They don’t get to choose who that is themselves, because we didn’t want everybody writing about their own grandmas. Those duos meet a couple of times to get to know eachother a little better and to talk about the experiences of the senior. By now thousands of those meetings between students and the elderly have taken place for conversations about Franco, work during the economical boom of the 90’s or a romantic adventure with an African marine.”

El País on your cv
The stories that the students write based on those conversations are sent to a national jury. The best articles appear in the Spanish papers El País and El Mundo. “That way exceptional stories gain the attention of a large audience and the young journalists get the chance to be able to write ‘El País’ on their cv’s,” explains Duaigües. “Above that this project should contribute to the realisation among journalists that the elderly can be a rich source of information.”

The question remains of course if these kinds of projects will have a real influence in the long run. Maybe the summer reporter of 2020 could look into that. What is certain, is that these kinds of initiatives can count on a lot of attention from the media. Several of the participating duos have been on Spanish tv and radio by now. “A few weeks ago a journalist even called to ask if he could make an entire television series about the winning duos,” Duaigües says excitedly. Even if it took a detour, this way the Spanish seniors do get attention in the media. And the rest, they’ll do themselves.

Translation: Steven Jagers