The Provincial Council and the SEAP promote a conference for reflection and debate on democracy, journalism and freedom of expression

The Provincial Council of Malaga and the Economic Society of Friends of the Country (SEAP) are organising a conference for reflection and debate on democracy, journalism and freedom of expression. They will be held from 17 to 26 October, starting at 19.00 hours, at the SEAP headquarters. 

This was announced by the deputy for Culture, Manuel López Mestanza, together with the president of SEAP, José María Ruiz Povedano, and the coordinator of the series, Salvador Moreno Peralta. 

The conference will begin on Monday 17 October. The official opening will be followed by the first colloquium, "Does quality of information equal quality of democracy?", with Andrés Rávago 'El Roto' and Miguel Ángel Aguilar. 

On Tuesday 18, Julio Rey and Ángel Idígoras will talk about " Journalism in vignettes. Humour, criticism and satire". 

The activities will continue on Monday 24 October with a conference by Juan de Oñate on "Risks and threats to freedom of expression in Spain. Yesterday and today". 

The round table "Journalism and freedom of expression" with Elena Blanco Castilla, Pedro Farias and José Manuel Atencia will bring the series to a close on Thursday 26 October. 

Those interested can book their place at seapmalaga@gmail.com or by calling 952 226410, or come directly on the day of the events. Admission is free until full capacity is reached. 

The programme is completed with an exhibition by "El Roto" and Chumy Chúmez on freedom of expression, which can be visited until 29 October. The exhibition consists of 56 cartoons with the authors' incisive and complementary views on journalism, its uses and abuses, as well as manipulation and lack of freedom. The exhibition is organised by the Diario Madrid Foundation, the Association of European Journalists, Turismo Andaluz and the Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Malaga. 

Miguel Ángel Aguilar, graduate in Physical Sciences. He started as a journalist in the daily Madrid. Correspondent in Brussels for Cambio 16 and La Libre Belgique. He edited Diario 16 until his dismissal for publishing in 1980 a report on the coup d'état staged by General Torres Rojas. Political correspondent and member of the editorial board of El País, director of Information of the EFE news agency, director of the daily El Sol and of the news programme Entre hoy y mañana on Telecinco. Editor of the weekly newspaper 'Ahora'. Author of several books, including "Las últimas cortes del franquismo", "El vértigo de la prensa", "Sobre las leyes de la física y la información", "España contra pronóstico", "¿Pero, qué broma es esta?" and "En silla de pista". 

Elena Blanco Castilla, graduate in Information Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid. Professor of Journalism at the University of Malaga and deputy director of the UNESCO Chair of Communication at the UMA, president of the Malaga Press Association. Member of several research groups and of some projects of the National Research Plan. Author of the books "Málaga XX. Historia de un siglo (1999)"; "Información local y franquismo. El caso del diario Sur" (1937-1975) and "Tendencias del Periodismo Especializado, (2010)", and co-author of several collective books. 

Ángel Rodríguez Idígoras (Málaga, 1962), graduate in Psychology, cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and graphic humourist. He began his career as part of the Clowns Without Borders project. He has worked with his brother Pachi since 1982, with the firm Idígoras y Pachi, in the magazine Puta Mili, in El Jueves, in El Mundo. On his own, he has been publishing for many years the series Actualidad local, in the newspaper SUR. Illustrator of children's books. 

Andrés Rávago "El Roto" (Madrid, 1947), painter, cartoonist and illustrator. During the seventies and eighties, under the pseudonyms "Jonás", "Ubú" and "OPS", he contributed to numerous magazines such as Hermano Lobo, La Codorniz, Triunfo and Madriz. With the arrival of democracy, he acquired a new pseudonym: "El Roto", under which he has published in newspapers such as Diario16, El Independiente, El Periódico de Cataluña and currently in El País. Parallel to drawing, and under the signature A. Rábago, painting has always been present in the author's career. 

Juan de Oñate Algueró (Madrid, 1975), director of the Association of European Journalists, trustee of the Diario Madrid Foundation.  He has coordinated nearly 800 informative colloquiums with personalities from the fields of politics, economics and culture. He has also directed more than 250 international seminars on the media, culture, security and defence, and employment. As an art historian, he has curated 65 exhibitions. The most recent was On Freedom of Expression. 

Pedro Farias Batlle, Professor at the Complutense University of Madrid until 1995, Professor of Journalism at the University of Malaga. Coordinator (1999-2004) of the reports on the media system in Spain for the Zeta Group, from 2005 to 2012.  He has been a member of the Communication Committee of the Spanish Commission for UNESCO (2002), Academic Secretary of the UNESCO Chair of Communication at the UCM (2004) and in 2007, after the creation of the UNESCO Chair of Communication at the UMA (of which he is a founding member). Evaluator since 2009 of research projects of the national research plans, Principal Investigator in publicly funded projects since 2005 on the journalistic profession and the credibility of information. He has been deputy director general of Information, director general of Communication and from 2012 to 2016 vice-rector of Communication and International Projection of the UMA. 

José Manuel Atencia, a native of Vélez-Málaga, has spent almost his entire professional career at Cadena SER, of whose staff he has been a member since 1988, when he joined with a scholarship while studying journalism at the Complutense University of Madrid. For the last fifteen years he has been director of content at SER Malaga. From 1990 he was correspondent for the Malaga branch of the newspaper El País, where he worked for more than a decade as an opinion columnist in the Andalusian edition. With this newspaper, and for a joint work, he has been awarded the Andalusia Prize for Journalism. He also received the Jerez Perchet prize awarded jointly by the Ateneo and the University of Malaga. In 2012, the Malaga Press Association awarded him the Journalist's Medal of Honour for his professional career. In 2021 he received the Caleta Prize awarded by the Government Subdelegation in Malaga. 

Submitted by José Antonio Sierra, Hispanismo advisor.