Pedro Piqueras: “We need to return to a more human life”

In his lecture “An Image Is No Longer Worth a Thousand Words”, Pedro Piqueras called at the 4th Fuerteventura Summer University for a return to reading, conversation and critical thinking in a society that is becoming increasingly isolated despite being constantly connected. The journalist warned of an “empire of falsehoods” and defended truthful journalism as a bulwark against disinformation. We spoke to him in an interview for La Voz de Fuerteventura.

Piqueras set the debate against the backdrop of a changing era that is having a profound effect on journalism and the public. “An image used to be conclusive,” he recalled, referring to a time when what people saw on television was accepted as proof of reality. “That is no longer the case,” he warned, because society is now subject “to an empire of falsehoods, but also of deepfakes”—images created using artificial intelligence that “in many cases pass as real”.

The journalist stressed that the problem is not merely technological, but social as well. “A lot of people believe them; that is the problem,” he said. He therefore argued that AI-generated content must be identified and that the media must be especially vigilant. In his view, journalists must be “much more critical” and “much more alert” to a reality that threatens to undermine the credibility of the entire news system.

Piqueras was particularly critical of those who help amplify false content through media outlets or platforms that present themselves as journalistic. “The truth is, we journalists do a bad job when we lend these things credibility and give them space. We do that terribly,” he admitted. He also said that “in many cases, untrue stories are given prominence simply to get a click”.

He warned that this dynamic directly leads to a loss of trust. “Ultimately, all this creates a serious lack of confidence in the media in general,” he said. The constant presence of “rubbish in the news”, he explained, means that even the work of rigorous journalists is met with caution by some members of the public.

More conversations with people and fewer ‘information bubbles’

The veteran broadcaster also focused on algorithms, which shape how people perceive reality even when they do not create fake news themselves. “You pay attention to something and the algorithm repeats it hundreds of times. In the end, you believe that everything happening there is true,” he explained. Piqueras said these dynamics create “information bubbles” for people who think alike, ultimately reinforcing their own beliefs.

His response to this situation went beyond fact-checking. “We need to start living by reading, talking to people and putting our phones aside,” he said. In his view, returning to these habits would help us get back “to a somewhat more human life” and move closer to “a more real world”.

Piqueras also linked this loss of humanism to the deterioration of public debate. “It’s a disgrace,” he said of certain behaviours seen in politics and among the elites. “Those at the highest levels, as you say—the elites, politics, journalism—should set an example and serve as role models,” he argued.

“We can’t leave everything in the hands of those who lie”

The journalist firmly defended the continuing importance of his profession. “Truthful journalism is more necessary than ever,” he said. “We can’t leave everything in the hands of those who lie.” While acknowledging that some editorial lines are not “precisely seeking the truth, but influence”, he defended the profession’s underlying purpose: “I don’t know anyone who became a journalist to be a propagandist.”

Pedro Piqueras ended his reflections by appealing to the public’s sense of responsibility as well.

He called on people to “check things, make a bit of an effort” and, above all, to “return to reading”. Because, he warned, “we are isolating ourselves” and there is “more disinformation than ever, despite being so connected”.

After the lecture, the journalist signed copies of his book *Cuando ya nada es urgente. Llegar, estar y saber irse*, in which he recounts his more than fifty years in a profession he loves. If he were born again, he would become a journalist again.