The Teatro Pavone was crowded with people listening to Ezio Mauro and Javier Moreno, the editors in chief of two leading newspapers in Italy and Spain: La Repubblica and El Pais. Their question: Do newspapers still have the power to create a public opinion in times of an exploding information jungle?

Javier Moreno is the editor in chief of the Spanish newspaper El País since May 2006. He holds a Master of Journalism of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the newspaper El País. Just after finishing the Master he worked for the Economy Section of El País and in 1994 he went to México to work as editor-in-chief for the Mexican edition of El País. He came back to Spain and coordinated the Latin American section of El País, where he covered the change of Government in México after many years of PRI´s government in this country. He was a special reporter for many international events like Venezuela´s elections or the International Monetary Fund summits. In 1999 he became editor-in chief of the Economy Section of El País.  After that he has been correspondent in Berlin and before being editor in chief of El País, he was editor-in-chief of the Economic newspaper Cinco Días.
Ezio Mauro is currently the editor in chief of La Reppublica. He began his career as journalist working with the newspaper la Gazzetta del Popolo di Torino in 1972, covering the news on terrorism and mafia affairs. In 1981 he moved on to the newspaper La Stampa where he worked as a correspondent in the United States until 1988. From that year on he has been the correspondent for La Stampa in Moscow. In the Russian city he wrote about the transformations of Perestrojka, travelling around the Soviet Union. After this experience in Russia, in 1992, he came back to La Stampa to work as sub-editor and editor in chief.
 
Public opinion: yes or no?
The panel discussion was entitled “Public opinion: Does it still exist?”, opened and moderated by Angelo Agostini, editor of the Italian journalism review Problemi dell´Informazione who asked both journalists whether the continuous flow of news online and on TV still leaves the space to create a public opinion.
Javier Moreno answered that in spite of the various new media platforms, a public opinion still exists. And he pointed out that for him the traditional printed newspapers continue to be the main creators of public opinion. are the main creators of public opinion yet. But is that assured for the future? “Absolutely not”, he answered, and, being pessimistic about the future of traditional newspapers, added: “They can disappear soon. Some disappeared already.” The reasons for the comedown, Moreno said, are the current economic crisis that hits the traditional media during their own structural crisis.

Italy: “Something special”
Ezio Mauro reaffirmed the predictions of Moreno and explained the particular situation of Italian media, dominated by the companies owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. “He controls 80 percent of the media. The public opinion is squashed in our country. Also the lack of organization of left parties has influence on this situation”, Ezio Mauro stated, “A similar status quo does not exist in any other western country: a system managed by one person!”
In that sense Javier Moreno told that Italy and Spain both suffer special problems because there is media that builds parallel universes confusing the public. He gave the example of a radio funded by priests in Spain (Cadena COPE). “They work against a free public opinion because they manipulate the information”, Moreno stated.
Any conclusion? Moderator Angelo Agostini gave a try: “In the newspapers one idea must be more important than one hundred pictures: the mission to create public opinion”, he said.