56 | nº 31, pp. 41-61 | doxa.comunicación
July-December of 2020
The decline in reputation of communication professionals following the crisis of Valencia’s media system
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
This exercise in “self-knowledge”, which is necessarily self-critical, is essential for understanding the reasons for the lack of relevance of communication, not only in professional contexts that are close to communication, but also for understanding the causes of the disaffection and lack of appreciation of the importance of communication for society.
In the field of journalism, “The best recipe for alleviating the effects of the crisis on the sector and reversing the loss of credibility, reputation and intermediation... is to follow the path of journalistic excellence, which entails quality information and compliance with the highest ethical and deontological standards” (Valera, 2016: 116). In other words, “... The solution lies in providing journalism of excellence, and in carrying out the essential task of guaranteeing truthful and contrasting information” (Ortiz, 2015: 99). In this sense, it is necessary for associations in the audio-visual and advertising fields to make an effort to be more transparent before their public (institutions, companies, public administration, audiences, and society in general), and to communicate to society what is involved in the activities they carry out and why they are important for economic, social and cultural development.
To achieve these objectives, the association framework must be strengthened and, although it may seem paradoxical, professional associations in the field of communication must improve the management of their own communication (Torner-Ventura, 2014). They must also devote more resources to corporate communication and develop more effective communication strategies, in addition to promoting the culture of communication and collaboration among the different associations, and among the professional fields of journalism, advertising and the audio-visual realm. In this sense, in the opinion of those surveyed, the creation of the Valencian Audio-Visual Sector Board (MESAV) has been very useful in bringing together the problems and difficulties of different professional fields, all of which are within the general framework of communication at a historical moment in which everyone involved, without significant differences, has suffered the effects of an economic crisis of unprecedented magnitude. In the questionnaire carried out in 2019, it was noted that once the communication field had returned to a relatively normal state of functioning, there was a loss of overall vision that had made the creation of the MESAV possible, which is increasingly being forgotten at the present time, as confirmed by the last survey. The founding of the Valencian Audio-Visual Academy (AVAV) has been a welcome initiative among audio-visual professionals, which was undoubtedly necessary, although it is outside the fields of interest of journalism and advertising, which are areas that seem fundamental for having a complete vision of the professional field of communication.
On the other hand, the professionals noted that restoration of the new public media, the Valencian Media Corporation (CVMC), and its trading company À Punt Mèdia, cannot be viewed as a finished project. On the contrary, it is necessary to learn from the experience of the decline and closure of RTVV. In this sense, communication professionals believe it is essential to reactivate common meeting spaces in order to reclaim the importance of communication, audio-visual diversity (Albornoz & García-Leiva, 2017), and the quality of the Valencian communication system (CECUV, 2015).In the new context, À Punt Mèdia must make a strong contribution to reputational improvement of professions related to communication due to its status as the most important audio-visual company in the Valencian Region (in size, budget, coverage, etc.), which acts as a “driving force”, not only of the Valencian audio-visual sector, but also of the culture industries of the territory (López-Olano, 2018). The demise of RTVV was largely due to neglect of the institution’s reputation, which in turn was closely linked to the low level of commitment to the organisation by its employees.