BarcelonaIt happens to me from time to time. Faced with relevant information regarding Barça, I ask myself this question: what would Puyal have said?
The last game that Joaquim Maria Puyal broadcast was in 2018. He had a good view, seeing everything that has happened since. It was the year of Roma’s comeback against Barça. Then, a crisis for Blaugrana was not being able to be European champion. Five years later, Barça is looking for a way to overcome any European qualifier, with a lot of debt, a stadium to redo and so many open fronts that it is difficult to follow the club’s current affairs. You get lost, in the thousand open fronts of an entity that never ceases to surprise.
What would Puyal have said about the Negreira case? And of Bartomeu’s last months? I’m not asking this to show that I’m disappointed with the current state of the media, because I’m not. I’ve always thought that in every generation there are brilliant people and embarrassing people. Honest people and people who sell for four rales. It happened during the 19th century and it happens now. The speeds, platforms, rhythms and languages change, but the essence is usually the same. Anyone who wants to find people creating quality content on the new platforms will find it. Whoever wants to discover young people with talent and a desire to prosper, will find them.
If I miss Puyal it is basically because of Puyal. For some reason he was the teacher. I miss his critical spirit and ability to analyze without stridency. Perfectionism, the use of language. And the fact that he was never in a hurry to be the first to throw a stone when a new scandal appeared. He listened, he asked, he reflected. And then, he had his say. In the era of the easy headline, of the obsession to attract attention, of having an opinion on the latest fashion issue, as if if you didn’t do it you didn’t exist, I miss Puyal’s rhythm.
Generational debates have always made me lazy. These trenches in which the veterans attack the young systematically. The generations have to learn from each other, instead of taking our eyes off each other. Someone who is in the middle, like me, learns a lot from young people. What I miss are the teachers. Every batch of journalists needs people with experience living with others who are just starting out. And I, every time the current situation overtakes me, I think about what advice those who have already seen it in all its colors would give.
We have good journalists in all generations, but very few teachers. Hopefully in the generations that come after Puyal we can have new masters who are not valued only with the coldness of the likesthe followers, four shouts and stats. Hopefully the teachers of the future, like Puyal, will be valued for their ideas and their questions.