Life, love, death and journalism

ARA has its own style. A way of doing things. A spirit which is shared by everyone who creates this newspaper every day. A style that belongs to its readers and an imprint that belongs to Carles and the editorial staff

Esther Vera
2 min
Comiat de Carles Capdevila de la redacció, el novembre del 2015

Editor-in-ChiefIn an interview with journalist Svetlana Alexievich, Carles Capdevila (1) wrote: "We speak of life with enthusiasm, we speak of love with curiosity and we speak of death with respect. The three major issues. Is there anything else?". Carles, leading and surrounded by talented individuals and unconventional, brave investors, launched a newspaper worthy of the best Catalonia. Of the nation that takes a frank look at the world. ARA was born out of enthusiasm, against the odds, and some seven years after its first issue, it is now a well-established, free, brave and beautiful undertaking.

ARA has its own style. A way of doing things. A spirit which is shared by everyone who creates the newspaper every day. A style that belongs to its readers and an imprint that belongs to Carles and the editorial staff. As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. And Carles certainly knew how to surround himself with people who saw the profession and life in a similar manner.

ARA is an unusual newspaper. In recent years, instead of believing that journalism has died and that print newspapers were soon to disappear, they came up with a new header and fought against pessimism and gratuitousness. In every sense of the word.

A newspaper is not a person. I think of a newspaper as an orchestra that sounds better the more skilful are its musicians and the more its soloists are virtuoso. Nonetheless, an orchestra’s personality and excellence owes much to its conductor, and Carles was exceptional in that regard. With a sense of humour and great talent he managed to surround himself with journalists who are in love with the profession, who challenged and continue to challenge those voices who drone on about the end of journalism. He was the greatest example of the fight against pessimism, with his tireless capacity for work and his desire to shine a spotlight on the truly important social issues. He encouraged ideas that were able to make the newspaper a place for a deep, valuable and beautiful reflection on the world. We also see ARA in this way in this new phase under my leadership. We will continue to see it as: free, beautiful and valuable for the marvellous country we wish to see.

Personally, I am grateful to Carles for a friendly handover. He continued writing throughout his illness. He maintained a careful balance between letting me get on with it and making his presence known. The first day that we met in the office with an Editor-in-Chief sign on the door, we made a pact in favour of the newspaper and we promised not to pay heed to gossip or sink to the lows of some in our profession. Thank you Carles. All my respect and appreciation for all your hard work and for having passed on the baton so generously. Today is a sad day for those who make this newspaper and for those who read it, but we know what we have to do. We will carry on.

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Translator’s notes:

(1) One of ARA’s founders and former Editor-in-Chief, journalist Carles Capdevila, was diagnosed with cancer and recently passed away, aged 51.

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