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That familiarity that television gives makes one have the sensation when talking to Gloria Lomana that he has been home a hundred times, even eating and dining. Today is half past ten on a Thursday and, when the first woman to direct the news of a private network says dates like 1971, 1976 or 1981, these numbers take on special importance.

Dates, and numbers in general, have different importance depending on the time of day. At night, on the couch and in bed, ideas in any form shine brighter than numbers. At noon, in the morning, and at the times when the newspapers’ mobile alerts go off and when the news programs enter the homes, the numbers are shining truths.

Yesterday morning Gloria Lomana (Madrid, 1959) responded to WhatsApp from a Women for Africa event, just when the Queen and the President of the Government arrived. Today, the conversation begins with a girl in sneakers who enters through the door of a large cement hallway and has the illusion of the size of that brutalist building that “seemed very modern to me. The mere fact of entering there when you are 18 years old it was fantastic”.

“I always wanted to be a journalist”, he points out, “because I liked to write, but towards the world, not in an office. I loved telling stories. And I wanted to know them all, knowledge had always seemed fascinating to me, I wanted to travel and discover what was happening everywhere.”

When she talks about women, Gloria Lomana begins with those in her home and with the different generations. “Between my mother and my daughter there is an abyss. I really like to talk about my mother, a woman who had to give up her job because, like many, when she got married she imposed that role on herself. She, who worked, had four children and a life dedicated to the family, but she pushed me so that she could be independent, educate myself and be able to lead the life I wanted. I owe what I am to her, who insisted on supporting me and provided me with all my training and possibilities from a humble family.”

We must not forget that the study of journalism is very recent in Spain and it was not incorporated into the university until 1971, initially timidly. “When I arrived in journalism there were no women directing media. What’s more, there was something worse, that “The profession was not well regarded even by some families.”says Lomana.

In her case, she considers herself lucky because “they praised my choice, something I am very grateful for.” From the beginning, she remembers that “there was a common practice, that the meetings ended in bars, to which women were not invited. In sports, imagine, how were they going to send an editor? Well, I have known all that. Honestly, I believe that you are born a journalist and you die like that, it is your way of being,” says Lomana, who if she had not been a journalist, perhaps she would have studied architecture.

“There are two key historical dates that come as a result of a dictatorship.” So, Until 1976, it was not possible to “work outside the home without the husband’s permission.”, mentions. Until 1981 “there was no financial autonomy,” that is, women could not open an account or have a passport or an identity as “active equal subjects.” Lomana remembers, however, that even “women were not educated to inherit a family business, and the figure of that son-in-law who took care of the company was common.”

Lomana began his activity in parallel with his studies. “From very early on I thought that journalism was a lot of craft and that I had to train in the profession as quickly as possible, so A month before entering college I started working at a radio station. which later merged with Radio Nacional, selling advertising and they let me do an interview.”

Where did he find the time to study if he was already working?

I signed up in the afternoon and studied with notes from myself and from classmates who left them for me. Third, I already did it from Toledo when I was on Radio Toledo Informativos, so I had to do it at night. My classmates wanted to share more moments, but I had to reserve leisure for the weekends and not all.

He has had many positions in his career…

Yes, my career has been from step to step, I have done all the positions in an editorial office. Local in Madrid, local outside of Madrid, courts, events, health, wherever they put me, my goal was to meet the objectives and have them trust me. In the end you are the result of your own life, your experiences… I have incredible memories, I met fascinating people and I also lived through very hard moments.

One of them?

The Carabanchel women’s prison. The day I went in to do a report and learned how they left their children to organizations to take care of them, and how shocked I was to meet a prisoner who died before the interview I did with him came out. Many experiences with girls and girls’ organizations have led me to learn about the circumstances of the victims, and I have dedicated a lot of time to Navy Blue being the best on TV. You will realize how women incorporate color into our lives in a different way.

What is it referring to?

I’m wearing yellow, yesterday I was wearing orange, they are colors that give me light. The feminine way of incorporating everything and not wearing uniforms has to do with absorbing the nature of life. Furthermore, men in previous centuries dressed in a less uniformed way, now the canons of the 20th century lead to an increasingly neutral man. I celebrate that men are joining the world of emotions and colors, it is missing, there is a lot left.

Don’t you think that we are already educated in equality?

Although we believe that we educate in equality, the roles continue to persist and consequently mark inequality.

“I have met incredible women on a daily basis,” he says with intensity, “and I look for many references, we have to rescue them from history, from that tunnel where women have been.” In relation to the term of female leadershiptakes her to Women for Africa in her head, “where I am part of the Advisory Council, and where I have been able to see very powerful leadership by women with enormous capacity, with a lot of effort, convinced that if they do not work in that direction things will not happen.” They are going to change”.

Is there much difference between the public image and the people behind it?

That has happened to me more with men, I have found male leaders who have disappointed me a lot, who had a very good image and were covered. I have also been able to discover some that were more worthwhile. But in the case of women leaders, they have rarely disappointed me. Perhaps having achieved it with more effort, less visibility, less networking and having to demonstrate exceptional worth, I have rarely met women who do not deserve their position.

And in relation to feminism, how do you relate it to your experience as a journalist?

I don’t know any intelligent women who don’t support other women. Then I would say that there are men who are afraid when it comes to feminism. And I would respond with two arguments: on the one hand, fear of what? If we really eliminated men who are not brilliant from the top positions and Councils, we would automatically leave the gap for women with more capacity and training. Incompetence has reached high levels due to the automaticity with which men tend to choose similar ones.

And what other argument did he mention?

The definition from the Royal Academy dictionary. “If, according to the RAE, feminism is equal opportunities for women and men, who denies that? Recently at an event I said ‘I’m going to challenge you all: all of you here are feminists, because I’m not going to appeal to your self-sacrificing mothers, nor to your colleagues, but to your daughters, do you want your daughters to work with equal skills? , but they charge less… that they cross a park and feel more insecure… that they have more burdens and less leisure?”

Gloria Lomana establishes a clear difference between the spheres of life: “The personal, the family, the professional and the social.” However, she believes in a holistic concept of the person. “When I talk about leadership, I mean that a person either moves in that concept in all areas of their life or they cannot fulfill a comprehensive mission and have balance.”

“Power is the best tool to transform things”says Lomana. “What we want is to accelerate change in society to build it more fair and equal and for women and men to participate in that power that is transformative. It is necessary for women to reach decision-making positions on an equal basis so that perspectives are diverse. “Education and roles weigh too much.”

The future

He states that He would like, if possible, to “close 50&50 and dedicate myself to inclusive leadership.”. That 8-M was a tribute to the women of history and not a protest. That girls could walk safely on the street, that group rapes no longer happened and that news did not have to be reported…

When we say “empower,” for Gloria Lomana “it is a verb that we have used without giving it the real value it has… We want a 50-50 society. “I have a son and a daughter, and I want all the rights for my daughter, not at the expense of discrimination against my son, obviously.”

How do you see the future of media?

When I talk about the future of professional information I confuse desire with reality, but I don’t care, only by dreaming can you build the future, if you don’t get carried away by inertia. I sincerely believe that journalism is needed, it is the pillar of a democracy, an educated and well-informed citizenry. So we need rigorous and economically viable journalism that is financially possible, but there is no clear business model in the media.

How could this profitability be ensured?

We have jumped from the traditional model to the digital model without having achieved a clear business model that makes it profitable, because journalism needs to be financed to have independence and to have rigorous, well-paid professionals who can work with all the media that are necessary to cover a news story. information. It is a complicated moment because that model does not exist and it does not seem that we will see it clearly soon, especially in a country that is accustomed to “non-payment.”

What role do social communities have in this?

The networks have rushed over us and journalism has been tempted to compete with it in immediacy and not verification, that is why we must return to the roots of journalism, verify, prioritize… That is the essence of journalism.

And at European level are directives needed?

In Europe it is already being debated, it is a task that is urgent and necessary, without delay. Because the time we lose, we run the risk of having a citizenry with less critical mass, we must act now, educate to value journalism… This need is at the basis of liberal democracy.

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