Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC): UC journalist Francisca Skoknic received the 2021 Lenka Franulic Award

In a ceremony held in the auditoriums of the Faculty of Communications and which was attended by the Minister Secretary General of the Government, Camila Vallejo, Dean Paulina Gómez, professors, colleagues and friends, the UC journalist Francisca Skoknic was awarded, who received the Lenka Franulic 2021 Award, from the National Association of Women Journalists of Chile.

In auditoriums of the UC Faculty of Communications , the Lenka Franulic Award ceremony was held , which highlights the work and career of outstanding communications professionals, and is awarded by the National Association of Women Journalists of Chile .

This year, the recognition went to Francisca Skoknic, a UC journalist, who has developed her career in various media, such as El Mercurio , Qué Pasa , El Mostrador and Siete+7, among others. She was also part of the founding and editorial team of the digital media CIPER and La Bot. She has also had a long path as a teacher, which led her to be director of the School of Journalism at the Diego Portales University .

The ceremony, as far as colleagues, family and friends of Francisca, previous winners of this award, such as Mónica González and Paulina De Allende Salazar, and professors and authorities of FCOM-UC, was inaugurated by the director of the National Association of Women Journalists from Chile, Verónica López, who highlighted the legacy of Lenka Franulic, known as Chile’s first journalist, who paved the way for the development of female communicators. Franulic worked in print and radio media, participated in the founding of the School of Journalism at the University of Chile and won the National Prize for Journalism, chronic mention, in 1957.

“Francisca embodies the old courage and the new strength that the exercise of informative work demands to maintain its necessary independence from political and economic power, also to resist the temptations to be condescending to certain audiences in search of new likes or to escape funas or cancellations arising from voices that consider their messages dissonant”- Paulina Gómez, dean of the Faculty of Communications UC

For her part, the dean of the UC School of Communications, Paulina Gómez, who acted as hostess for the ceremony, recalled that the year of Lenka Franulic’s death, 1961, coincides with the founding date of the School of Journalism of the Catholic University: “This issue, that of journalistic quality, that of rigor in the selection of sources, that of checking information, of the sense of responsibility in the construction of the common, that of neat writing, that of respect to intimacy, is an issue that as a Catholic University we have been passionate about for more than 60 years”.

In addition, the authority of the Faculty of Communications had words for the award-winning former student of Journalism: “Francisca embodies the old courage and the new strength that the exercise of informative work demands to maintain its necessary independence from political and economic power, also to resist to the temptations to be condescending with certain audiences in search of new likes or to escape funas or cancellations arising from voices that consider their messages dissonant”.

The Minister Secretary General of the Government, Camila Vallejo , also participated in the ceremony , who emphasized the relevance of the increasingly active incorporation of women in the practice of journalism: “Although there is no doubt that we have come a long way, we believe that it is also important to emphasize that communicating and informing with a gender and rights approach is essential to continue opening the way. Only in this way will more and more women be protagonists of the journalistic task, contributing to eradicate the stereotypes perpetuated by society. The more women there are in these spaces, the better it is for our democracy.”

“Communicating and informing with a gender and rights approach is essential to continue opening the way. Only in this way will more and more women be protagonists of journalistic work, contributing to eradicate the stereotypes perpetuated by society” – Camila Vallejo, Minister Secretary General of government

Journalist Mónica González, winner of the 2019 National Journalism Prize and 2016 Lenka Franulic Prize, also had words for Francisca Skoknic, with whom she worked closely for several years in media such as CIPER and Siete+7: “You are an exceptional woman, you are a great friend, you are partner. You are an extraordinary journalist, I thank you for the example you set, so that the young generations continue to do good journalism, whoever is in charge, because that is what we need when we face the worst crisis we have faced in recent history.”

“We have an alarming distrust of Chileans in the media, and a growing trust in social networks, where those who spread are people who have not been trained and do not intend to verify the truth of what they transmit. In the final equation, we clearly have a problem in which the media should have a responsibility”- Francisca Skoknic, award-winning journalist

At the end of the ceremony, it was the winner’s turn to address those who accompanied her today to receive her award. In her speech, she highlighted the importance of engaging with digital tools: “Journalism is digital,” she emphasized.

He also expressed his concern about the precariousness of journalistic work, emphasizing that it is important to be able to count on good professionals in the media: “I emphasize the precariousness of work not as a union defense, but because journalism in new technologies and new opportunities is useless if there are no good journalists behind. That doesn’t change.”

In addition, he stressed that journalism had never been as important as it is now: “We have an alarming distrust of Chileans in the media, and a growing trust in social networks, where those who spread are people who have not been trained or have the intention to verify the veracity of what they transmit. In the final equation, we clearly have a problem in which the media should have a responsibility.