Parliamentary journalism, in all honesty, is not taught in the classroom, but by experiencing the Chamber's hectic pace. Deputies representing thousands of people recently sat down with students to discuss the current political agenda as part of University Parliament Week (Spuni), which took place from 13-19 July.
A total of 200 students took part in this activity, among them Adrià Solé, a Catalan Political Science student at Sorbonne University in Paris, who decided to study abroad. Like many university students, he is interested in politics and wants to improve it in the future, which is why he decided to take part in this parliamentary activity.
This initiative of the Parliament of Catalonia, to Catalan universities, such as UIC Barcelona, contributed, does not simply represent an opportunity for future members of Parliament, but also for the next generation of journalists, linguists and lawyers interested in seeing first-hand how the Parliament of Catalonia works.
For seven days, students like Adrià had to wake up early and be at Parliament by 9 o’clock. Here, he and the rest of the participants, credentials around their neck, headed to the hall indicated in the day’s schedule and immersed themselves in parliamentary life. The activities included simulations of parliamentary activities led by university lecturers and workers from the Parliament’s services, in which members of Parliament and representatives from other political bodies and Catalan institutions also took part.
In these simulations, the students were grouped by area of knowledge and interest, constituting groups that included parliamentarians, legal advisers, lawyers and journalists.
From the Parliament’s press room
After extensive negotiations, the 2019 Spuni government was established thanks to a coalition between Ciutadans and Junts per Catalunya.
One of the activities organised as part of this initiative was a visit to the press office for all journalism students, led by the head of the Communication Departments, Josep Escudé. The press room is located on the main floor, next to the room known as the “Hall of Lost Steps”. During the tour, the parliamentary journalists continued to perform their duties in the Spuni and analysed two committees via screens hung on the walls of the room.
During the visit, Escudé and the students reflected on the use of new technologies in the Parliament. “Before, we had to take notes by hand”, the journalist told the students, accustomed to using a laptop, tablet or the audio recorder on their mobiles and later transcribing the information. “Times are changing, and with them the way we do journalism”, he explained, and concluded by saying that, “Journalists will always be an essential part of real democracy”.
