Cuarto Poder was born in times of crisis and closed after another: interview with Sara Montero.

Interview with the deputy director of Cuarto Poder, Sara Montero.

While the global health challenge has had a positive effect on audiences, it has also contributed to further deepening the acute crisis of 2012 with the closure of new publications, salary cuts and even layoffs. Sara Montero has reflected on the recovery of the reputation of journalists, the difficulty of financing digital media and the constant exposure required from them, among other issues.

Sara Montero has been working for Cuarto Poder for four years, this media was born as "a blog newspaper made by journalists" with an innovative format and it has become consolidated as a platform where many people go. Before joining this digital newspaper, she worked as a collaborator at Yo Dona, El Mundo magazine and Público among others.

This young journalist has been able to break through after the crisis of 2012, which were times of structural changes in journalism. Today she has talked about her personal career, the closure of Cuarto Poder and the difficulty of financing digital media on.

On the threshold of the closing of Cuarto Poder and in the midst of a journalistic crisis, Sara has answered the questions from DigitalUs.

Q: I noticed that you have worked in many media, what conclusions have you reached after all these years of working in different digital media?

A: It is a type of journalism that is growing, it has become established and requires constant knowledge and flexibility. You have to update yourself on the last minute tendences or the latest analytics program, something that you have to learn in a self-taught way because the university is very far from these new scenarios.

There have also been profound changes that affect professionals: today journalists are not only in charge of selling the newspaper’s brand, but they are also responsible for selling their own individual brand, which means being permanently connected to the mobile phone, feeding social networks with their own content and exposing themselves a lot more personally.

On the other hand, digital journalism has sometimes been viewed in large newsrooms with a certain feeling of "inferiority" with respect to paper, but the truth is that it has its own continuous demands, in form and content. At Cuarto Poder we do life-long journalism (see, hear and contrast) in a format that is no longer new.

Q: Could you explain the evolution of the Cuarto Poder?

A: It started in 2010 as "a blog diary". It was innovative and added the best of journalism (rigor, professionalism, authorship) to a booming format that journalists and anonymous people were testing. However, in 2017 that structure became obsolete and Cuarto Poder was internally reorganized to “standardize” the rest of online newspapers, with a more classic structure, as the director Paco Frechoso explained then.

Q: Could you explain to me the structure of the Cuarto Poder so far, I understand that you are the deputy director, how are you organized?

A: Cuarto Poder has four regular editors, one person for accounting and another for advertising. We also have an extensive network of collaborators, but who coordinates, chooses, edits the content and programs the social networks is this group of four journalists. This requires that, in addition to being good journalists, they have to be up-to-date and learn every novelty that comes out.

It should also be emphasized that we have to bet on deeper issues, detached from the last hour, not only out of conviction but out of pure logistics and strategy: there are few of us and there is a lot of competition in this field.

Sources: La Marea (Photo: The 'Cuartopoder' team: Sara Montero, Sato Díaz, María F. Sánchez and Miguel Muñoz).

Q: What does Cuarto Poder do in order to reach a greater number of visitors?

A: On the one hand, we have a loyal reader, who is looking for a good reading or who wants to know the position of our columnists on certain issues. On the other hand, we have to compete every day to attract a new reader through social networks, sending newsletters, organizing events, etc. We have to update tactics periodically.

Q: I have seen on twitter that Cuarto Poder will stop being published on March 31. Has it been difficult to obtain the necessary income due to the digital modality of the media?

A: Yes, it is a media whose bulk of turnover depended on advertising, an investment that always suffers in times of crisis. It was already a tight project and the Covid-19 crisis had already affected us in 2020. Going into debt was not an option either. It is an issue that has always been a cause for concern.

Sara Montero inviting to participate in the crowdfunding of Cuarto Poder 2019.

Q: One of the difficulties of digital journalism lies in finding viable and sustainable business models over time. Do you think that covid-19 has meant a setback in the plurality of information?

A: Yes, we fear that the Covid crisis will end with less plurality of information. Not only because of the closure of digital media with its own and differentiated editorial line, as Cuarto Poder, but also because there are new cuts and layoffs in the newsrooms of large media: with fewer journalists and with worse working conditions, fewer topics are published and there is less time to investigate. The darker, the less free information.

But also Cuarto Poder was born in 2010, that is, in the middle of another crisis and was founded by veteran journalists with a lot of experience in other media. A small and humble media like this has employed several journalists for 10 years. This is an achievement and the digital media of that generation has lasted longer than could be imagined in this difficult context.

Q: In your opinion, what are the challenges to be faced by digital journalism in the upcoming years?

A: The challenges are almost structural: improving the working conditions of journalists and finding a business model capable of consolidating a journalism that is not dependent on the powers that be, which includes politicians, but also the large companies from which it is published very little critical information.

We have to regain prestige and credibility to once again be a sieve against fake news and misinformation.