It is with both sadness and gratitude that I type these lines.
After 2,305 days, we have decided to shut down RED/ACCIÓN. This marks the end of a media outlet born in April 2018 with a mission to explore opportunities for constructive journalism by adhering to the principles of solutions journalism. Over six years, we developed our method of human journalism, focusing on telling the stories of the people and organizations solving our most pressing social challenges.
We managed to create a consistent editorial concept (we published 14,687 news pieces) and a loyal audience (in April 2020, we reached our record of 1.1 million unique readers). Still, we did not develop a business robust enough to withstand the storms of the media industry and Argentina's economic turbulence. When we founded the company in December 2017, a dollar was worth 18.65 pesos (today, it costs $1.335), and inflation since then has been 4,990 %.
In this short history, our editors and journalists developed innovative formats and quality journalism of the classic kind. Our community of readers and the industry recognized that work: more than 35 awards in Argentina and Latin America. We pioneered the author newsletter offering in the region, developed journalism with purpose and impact, and made our journalistic style a cause.
We can also be proud of what we did not do. We did not seek clicks at any price (exaggerating or hiding information from headlines), we did not lose focus on the challenge we took on, nor did we flood the ecosystem with noise. On two occasions, we said "no thanks" to funding proposals of political origin that would have solved our sustainability but compromised our editorial independence.
We would have loved for the project to grow and consolidate, but even so, shutting down RED/ACCIÓN is far from a failure.
The fruits of these six years are many.
Among them, I choose to highlight the special projects, the 56 campaigns of the month, the two seasons and 76 episodes of the FOCO podcast, and the productions with civil society organizations, such as the award-winning video "Mi casa es tu casa," which we made together with TECHO. Also, the fold-out magazine MONO (which circulated during our first year of life), the incredible section Sie7e Párrafos (which later became a book and then a newsletter) and the two alliances that allowed us to expand the reach of our stories: with the newspaper Río Negro, and with Infobae (there, the article on how to "create" energy at home to contribute to the energy transition exceeded one million pageviews). Also, the Human Journalism Network, a network created by RED/ACCIÓN where 28 media from around the world share content, I will continue to focus my efforts.
And at the heart of these fruits are the 570 solutions journalism stories we run.
When we were born, the discussion about news avoiders (people who avoid the news because of its extreme negativity) was absolutely marginal in the industry. Today, the serious crisis of trust in the media finds in the practice of solutions journalism one of its antidotes. We are proud to have been pioneers of this transformation.
The people who took part in our membership program, with their own opinions, their feedback and their contribution helped us to make better journalism. Thank you very much for that.
The more than 80 journalists and editors who went through our newsroom in these years shone with their talent and took some of our mystique with them. At some point, we recognized ourselves as a "school" of journalism, where the conversation about the exact verb in a headline, the sharp focus on a certain topic, or the need for a particular source became common practice to push a journalistic piece to its best version. That is why, at the end of this text, I thank each of them for their commitment to human journalism.
I have a very special word of thanks for the RED/ACCIÓN core team this past year: David Flier, Elizabeth Maier, Victoria Mendizabal, Delfina Montagna, Guadalupe Mestas, and Natalia Sarramone, who left everything on the field. It was a privilege to share this part of the journey with you.
Finally, a huge thank you to the silent group of shareholders who accompanied the project, dreaming of better journalism for Argentina. When, in 2019, we received in Rio de Janeiro the award for the best media start-up in Latin America, I thanked "the crazy people who believe that it is a good idea to found a new media in this time, in this region". I was thinking of them. And a final message to our Advisory Board. Roberto Costa, Vero Cheja, Juan Carr, Carlos Pérez, and Álvaro Rolón: thank you for being there whenever needed.
May the story of RED/ACCIÓN inspire journalists and editors to update with their work our conviction: journalism not only serves to tell the world, but also to change it.
Here are the people who wrote the history of RED/ACCIÓN (in order of appearance):Javier Drovetto, Agustina Campos, Stella Bin, Javier Sinay, Iván Weissman, Lucía Wei He, Pablo Domrose, Maxi De Rito, Joaquín Sánchez Mariño, Juan Melano, Adriana Amado, Florencia Tuchin, Ariana Busadoff, Belén Quellet, Luciana Coraggio, Delfina Campos, Natalia Zuluaga, María Quinzio, Axel Marazzi, Roberto Giovagnoli, Lucía Castro, Juan Iramain, Paula Rodríguez, Daniela Noguera, Florencia Cabral, Marisol Echarri, Lucía Fortín, Ivo Eguizabal, Juan Mascardi, Florencia Ure, Tristán Rodríguez Loredo, Denise Belluzzo, Renata Berra, Agustina López, Nicolás Adamowicz, Rocío Viñes, Vicky Guyot, Inés Casserly, Ayelen Pujol, Lautaro Torres, Daniela Aza,Cristian Calavia, Irina Sternik, Francisco Argerich, Dina Perez, Rosario D'Imperio, Pablo Argento, Mercedes Sciprioni, Denise Fevre, Agustina Heb, Juan Schwindt, Francisco Carr, Paula Felgueras, Clara Mastronardi, Julieta De la Cal, Cintia Perazo, Ximena Beilin, Verónica Sukaczer, Daniela Chueke, Lucía Oliverio, Daniela Carrizo, Eduardo Jorge Blanco, Guadalupe Sánchez Granel, Jorgelina Hiba, Matías Miguens, María Gabriela Cisterna, Alfredo Dillon, Franco Gastón Nieva, Gabriela Alejandra Tijman, María Andrea Albertano, Diana Lelia Malizia, Ignacio Nicolas Cagliero, Gabriela Cerioli, Verónica Podesta and Eva Marabotto.
