Networking is a task that journalists accomplish daily and alongside everything else. Meeting people, establishing contacts, is daily bread in the communications sector, and more than a century ago, in the Herculean city, unity was strength and strength. La Coruña Press Association (APC), a meeting point for all professionals in the sector which, in addition, aims to be their second “home”. In the home stretch of this year, celebrates its 120th anniversary with an appreciation of its heritage and heritage, but with an eye fixed on the present.
After a round table organized this month which served as a bridge between generations of journalists, the highlight of the event is an exhibition which will offer, from December 17 to 31, a look back at more than a century of history of the Association. A story which is also that of the Herculine city. “We have a lot of material which seemed interesting to us to make an exhibition and above all to highlight an institution older than many of the city’s classics“, for which three guided tours are planned, from the 17th to the 19th. “There was no Deportivo, there was no Academia Galega and the Press Association already existed”, summarizes Doda Vázquez.
The association he chairs is “by far” the oldest union in Galicia and one of the oldest throughout the country. Its “jewels” include a gallery with illustrious Galician painters of the 19th and 20th centuries, a “treasure” of its heritage and an extensive newspaper archive – open to the public from the websites of the Ministry of Culture and the APC – with digital editions of four historic local newspapers: El Noroeste, El Orzán, La Coruña Moderna and La Hoja del Lunes.
Its current pool is around three hundred members, who find in the Association many advantages for their profession. “We are trying to Any journalist who needs something can come to us. If you need employment advice, we refer you to the agreements we have with lawyers. We also offer training sessions on various topics requested of us. And we try to give work to our unemployed colleagues so that they can get back behind the wheel. Job offers are published as offers, but sometimes there are colleagues who call me and who simply have the requested profile.
As a smuggler, I know what they did and their experience,” says Vázquez. In fact, much of their work is geared toward mediation and labor diplomacy, even when there is friction or misunderstanding. “I like to see the Association as the ‘journalists’ house‘”, he says: a place where everyone feels “comfortable” and supported. On a larger scale, it is also linked to the Federation of Journalists’ Associations of Spain, which brings together some thirteen thousand professionals in the whole country.
With its philosophy, the APC is committed to solving problems and taking new steps as a community. “We have an annual meal that many people eat simply as a stew – a tradition maintained – but in reality it is a very important meeting point”, underlines its president: “It is for us all to get to know each other, to make faces and chat. For work, but also because always. It will be easier to find support if we are together“.
Past and present, united
“I am the first president of the Association, 113 years have passed until a woman held this position. The board of directors, in 2000, was composed entirely of men. Today there are three and the positions of president, vice-president, treasurer and general secretary are occupied by women,” explains Vázquez. It has rained since the launch of these institutions. founding fathers; among them, Manuel Lugrís, Francisco Tettamancy, Galo Salinas, Manuel Casás or Alejandro Barreiro. The current president cites them because she also remembers her most immediate predecessors: Manuel González, the former president, who took over the leadership of the board for the centennial, when there were about 60 or 70 members, and whoand brought the number to over 200; in addition to helping with digitization with César Antonio Molina. And to Ezequiel Pérez Montes, recently deceased, whom the APC had honored in 2022.
Then he looks back: “Sometimes I wonder what those gentlemen in suits and pocket watches in their vests – the forerunners – would think of the leadership we are today, almost all of us are women. Maybe we would seem a little crazy to them,” she thinks, without hiding her laughter. “But they would surely understand that times are different and that we must move forward, adapt. I think they would appreciate it if we kept what they wanted to create, its basis and essence“. The same people with whom the Association began 120 years ago and who continue to lubricate its gears today.
