"True journalism is intentional" - Kapuscinski

Here is a rough translation of an article recently published in El Universo, Guayaquil's major newspaper, on the media project. It's exciting to see the thirst there is for this kind of work here in Guayaquil, and the receptivity of the local media population!

(Translation from Spanish)
"Transformation is the key word. Promoting change in life. Proving that history of hope can be created when we transmit anything in the media.
That concept is getting deep meaning in Guayaquil, one of the three spots around the world that the Baha’i community chose as part of their pilot Media Project.
The Baha’i faith, a religion born in the ancient Persia over 160 years ago and whose philosophy is to advocate for tolerance, diversity of beliefs, and humanity’s spiritual unity, selected Guayaquil, Ecuador, together with Canoas, Brazil and Toronto, Canada, as part of a concept: Media to transform. How can transformation come from the media? Are the mass media the only ones that can do this? Katy Simistierra, a journalist from Guayaquil and head of the program here, believes in the positive potential of the media, in their power to create reaction. The work, at present focused on pre-teens aged 12-14 in the area of Chongon and ready to be carried out with teenagers at Steiner high school, is not on high rating TV shows broadcast nation wide. Three full-time persons and five volunteers produce TV dramas that are shared with adolescents in order for them to reflect.
Entering a community via its adolescents, guiding them to deal with so common issues such as the pressures of fashion, helping family, being responsible and honest, are parts of the contents.
The theme of this Baha’i project must get journalists to reflect, but not only journalists, but also every one who is so wonderfully lucky to be able to communicate in diverse means. Questions and self-criticism pop into my head: What else can we give other than the everyday-issues that torture us in the editing rooms? How can we creatively squeeze ourselves to propel much more the transforming essence that the media has? How can we demand ourselves even more to go beyond the rottenness that we have to make public, too?
Before the theory that journalists ‘only present bad news’, I can only say that aseptic journalism does not help a society, which also has to see its pains because by not making them public, they will not disappear.
Before this doubt, I have to go to the master; the universal Polish man Ryszard Kapuscinski, the journalist who understood and created a school that teaches how to live journalism as a trade with too many responsibilities, that always has to be in other people’s shoes, that has to try and live with extreme sensitivity for others. Two of his quotes to sum and wrap up: ‘when one decides to describe reality, his writing has an influence on that reality.’ ‘The true journalism is intentional, i.e: when it sets an objective, it tries to provoke some kind of change. There’s no other possible journalism.’