The speaker stated that talking about independent journalism "is a tautology," since if a journalist isn't independent, they aren't a journalist. "The worst form of dependence is on ourselves, on our narrow-mindedness, on our prejudices," he argued.
"The only way to write well is to read. You have to read fiction and poetry because they make you a better person," since they open your sensitivity to the world around you, and that allows you to write better, he said. Lanata advised the journalism students in the auditorium: "Read more, study more, learn English, read in English, read in French, read in Portuguese, read more than one newspaper a day, read more than one book a week; if you want to be journalists, write, experiment, throw away drafts, argue with everyone. Never take anything for granted; we’ll be studying our whole lives and we’ll still fall short.”
Journalist Lanata founded the Cooperative of Independent Journalists in 1985. He served as editor-in-chief of "El Porteño," founded the newspaper "Página/12," where he was editorial director until late 1995, and founded the magazine "Veintitrés." On television, he hosted and produced "Día D," a weekly news program broadcast on América TV. He published the books "Vuelta de página," a collection of articles and editorials written throughout his journalistic career, "Argentinos I" and "Argentinos II," and the investigative journalism book "El ADN de los argentinos." In 2004, he released his film "Deuda."