Wednesday, 8 July 2015

On Media


Besides the major daily newspapers, El País, La Vanguardia and El Periódico, our own L'Eco de Sitges is a main source of news and information in Sitges.

New in this arena, online entities VisitSitges.com and SitgesActui.com are the most comprehensive sources of local information about Sitges today, not to mention, Sitges.cat and Sitgestur.com


Again, although one can find information about Sitges online and at the library, you'd be hard pressed to find important facts and detailed historic events of this fascinating town accessible in English.


Of course, there are many Sitges-centric facebook pages and all sorts of related websites, but almost all are underserved and underdeveloped, including the SQ website. (We hope to remedy this soon!) 

This blog is also an attempt to help address this inadequacy and to give readers leads to other sources in print and online.

In addition to this lack of information, something that's always troubled me in media the world over is its almost total coverage of the negative aspects of humanity and life.

The constant barrage of negative images and news–homicides, political corruption, international crises, war, global warming and other weather disasters—is enough to make you not get out of bed every morning.

I remember watching the morning news on television one day, sipping my coffee and watching footage of a woman being executed in the Middle East; all because she allegedly had an extramarital affair...good morning to me! It image is forever etched on my brain...

Who says negative events are what people remember more or are moved emotionally more than by positive happenings? Look at Facebook, Instagram and the rest of what people post and share on social media. It doesn’t seem to be all doom and gloom to me; there seems to be lot’s of captured good times, food, pets, kids and smiles all ‘round.

This is a reality we consciously tackle at the SQAnd we choose to not contribute to this daily negativity. 

On our pages, not having the luxury of unlimited space, the subjects chosen to include in each issue are based on our readers’ ability to relate to the given topic, to its relevance to Sitges, and its contextual reach in terms of the world at large (the trilingual format also ensures our reach is maximized!).


And while we cover personal stories and events giving an overall view of Sitges, when we cover a negative event, we try to present a positive perspective or suggest solutions to our readers. 

In our opinion, what’s the purpose of only writing an article of what’s going wrong in our town, when we have the opportunity to potentially be part of a solution?