MEXICO CITY (Process).– Process It is not a slogan, nor the head of a magazine, nor a lost legend, much less a closed chapter. Process it is, above all things, a set of voices that have accompanied each other over time in the form of a loop.
The novel Journalists by Vicente Leñero opens on its first page with the voice of a shared canon:
“(W)ith the weight of the world on our backs… loaded with problems, with enormous work ahead of us every day of the year because every day, and at all hours, news is produced that must be discovered, won, collected from the sources, seize the enemy and above all provoke if you want to compete with dignity in this market of the press where everything is measured”.
Leñero’s story is dedicated to Julio Scherer García, whom he places there as the “protagonist and cause” of that canon. Pronouncing the names of Leñero and Scherer is doing so, at the same time, with that of so many other people who have sunk their elbows and knees over the last 46 years on the future of a country whose biography could not be conceived without resorting to the pages of Process.
Whoever says that journalism is going through its worst crisis is that they don’t understand anything. The people who officiate within this canon do not know that utopian haven without crisis. Just as Leñero wrote, it would be impossible to practice the job disregarding the weight that the world places on the shoulders of journalism. It is not the informant’s task that is in crisis, but rather the means that at this time serve to transport it. That is why it is essential to distinguish between the company and the object undertaken, although sometimes the two things are often confused.
This newspaper will not stop circulating because its already published pages will continue to be read to understand the path taken.
Who now directs the magazine Process they made the decision to lighten the weight on paper in hopes of getting around the obstacles that could one day put our canon at risk. There is nothing in it that can be judged as an error when in this trade “edit” and “correct” are two of the most used terms.
Scherer and Leñero transcended their time because they knew how to treat their peers with respect and also because in their day they convinced them of the sincerity of a collective project. Without the voice of Father Maza, the commas of Miguel Ángel Granados Chapa or the points of Armando Ponce, the canon would not have existed either. This braiding of voices is at the origin and will surely build the future.
for the canon of Process the teaching of journalism to the following generations has been significant; a commitment made by the founders even before the magazine existed. Process It has not only been a vehicle for information, it has also trained professionals who have colonized most of the contemporary media in Mexico.
On the way, some strayed, but they could not forget the starting point. The various generations of journalists who deposited many hours of their lives on the written page have as their main trophy having achieved, with this canon, that power be held accountable.
It is not a trivial anecdote to remember the powerful despots who, in order to evade their responsibility, dared to buy the entire edition of the magazine as soon as it reached the newsstands. Others tried to bribe with money, canonries, businesses and publicity. There are also those, more recently, who have chosen to undermine the collective’s reputation.
All these attempts have failed and will continue to do so because, while power is hopelessly finite, our journalism is a continuous loop.
On this page I embrace the difficult decisions that Rafael Rodríguez Castañeda and Jorge Carrasco had to make in the last stage for survival. To them we owe, in part, the long life that will lie ahead. I also recognize with fraternity those who make up the Board of Directors, main custodians of the inherited canon and, above all, of the many voices that still comprise it. They and they know that Process it is a style of journalism without which an enormous diversity of voices would cease to be a counterpoint for the future of Mexican public life.
