The Minister of Territorial Policy and spokeswoman for the Government, Isabel Rodríguez, has highlighted as very necessary the support and protection of the independent media: “If we do not have free and truthful information for everyone, democracy cannot work.”
Isabel Rodríguez, who has closed the International Congress of Media Publishers Europe-Latin America-Caribbean”, said that we must be clear: “Disinformation attempts to undermine and delegitimize our democratic systems and the values of freedom and pluralism.”
The minister praised the role of the media and journalists during the pandemic and vaccination, with a special role alongside essential workers, and recalled that, according to Reporters Without Borders, “freedom of expression is totally blocked or hindered in 73 countries and restricted in 59 others.”
Isabel Rodríguez stressed that we share ties, history, culture with the Latin American peoples and “we can not consent in any country of Europe or America steps backwards in the conquests in coexistence and human rights”. “The Government of Spain is well aware that democracy and information are two key elements,” which is why our country committed itself at the United Nations Assembly to the Pact for Information and Democracy.
The minister also referred to the role of new technologies and young people, who “must be the future but must build the present”. And he stressed that the budgets for 2022 put the focus on youth “to improve their opportunities in the present and their future prospects”, with 12,500 million euros for youth, 84.8% more investment.