BIO
José Luis Gallego (Barcelona, 1964) is head of the Environment section of digital newspaper El Confidencial and a contributor to the program Julia en la Onda on radio station Onda Cero. The jury has recognized him for an environmental reporting career spanning over thirty years. This journey has been marked not only by “scientific rigor and a commitment to the values of nature conservation,” in the words of the award citation, but also by the diverse range of media and formats he has worked in: the written press and television, radio and digital media; daily newspapers, general-interest programs and specialist magazines; news broadcasts, features, documentaries and opinion columns; and, on top of that, some thirty books.
The career of this environmental communicator is a rich mosaic that includes articles in magazines like Integral, National Geographic or GEO and newspapers like El Periódico de Catalunya or, notably, La Vanguardia, where he was co-founder with Antonio Cerrillo and Joaquim Elcacho of the environmental supplement Natural. It was also in La Vanguardia that he began his work as a columnist, which he would later continue in El País, El Periódico and eldiario.es. In the late 1990s he began a collaboration with Julia Otero on Onda Cero that continues to this day, which he combines with heading the Environment section of El Confidencial. In the interim, he has published more than thirty books and appeared frequently on television in diverse roles, including that of regular contributor, for eleven seasons, to Els matins de TV3, and director, scriptwriter and presenter of three nature series: Naturalmente (TVE), Terra verda (TVE Catalunya) and Riu avall (TV3).
In all of this, his guiding light has been “the passion, instilled since childhood by the work of Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, to observe, enjoy and inform about nature, so as to convince society of the need to conserve it and to work together to this end. For we only conserve what we love.”
Gallego believes passionately in the media because he experienced first-hand their ability to shape feelings about nature. “I am one of those kids who was forged by the figure of Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente. I was born in a working-class district of Barcelona and would run home from school to have afternoon tea in the kitchen listening to La aventura de la vida, the program he did on Radio Nacional, where through his voice and words alone, without any script or sound effects, he would take us on a journey to the African steppes or the frozen prairies of the Arctic.”
He considers that the keys to good environmental journalism “are the same as those that confer credibility in any other field: namely, to know, understand, check and inform. Unfortunately, there are people who inform without knowing and people who know but don’t check the facts… Environmental reporting calls for seriousness, truthfulness and rigor, and science is essential to all three. Almost all my sources come from the world of academia, because that’s where the knowledge lies. When it comes to checking your facts, you need to reach out to environmentalist groups, institutions, etc. And the understanding part comes from a love of the trade: every good journalist knows you have to be constantly learning new things. An environmental journalist must be fully prepped on the big events and issues like climate change, the biodiversity crisis, air pollution, sustainable mobility or waste management. These are subjects that require constant research. And that makes environmental news especially challenging for the reporter, because you have to inform the reader, listener or viewer about things that affect them: even though they may not know it.”
The main challenge Gallego sees for his journalistic specialty is “to reach the new generations, who seem to be permanently otherwise engaged: they are not picking up their cellphones, and the call is urgent. We environmental educators and reporters have a mark against us, and that is failing to reach young people. Increasingly they are acquiring information through their own circuits and channels, which do not always tell the truth and at times mix interests of diverse natures.” For the awardee, these youngsters suffer from what he calls “boredom and eco-fatigue, and that’s why they take to the streets to express their disaffection and anger at what is happening; for example, climate inaction. I believe protest is legitimate, but we can’t go to the extremes of damaging cultural heritage items. That kind of protest causes a conflict with society, and this is not the time for conflicts, but for alliances. We have to convince young people through our content that it is infinitely preferable to collaborate, to join forces and try to make things better.”
The journalist warns that it is vital to combat the weariness and sense of impotence that comes with so much news about environmental degradation. “Recently the WWF’s Living Planet Report stated that 73 percent of vertebrate populations are now in free fall. A disturbing statistic since the biodiversity crisis is a threat on a par with climate change, and the two feed off each other. How can we report on this alarming bioindicator in a way that is both informative and engaging? We in the media have to elicit those magic words from the reader, listener or TV viewer which are: ‘What can I do?’ We have to tell a story that is energizing, so the supposedly passive reader wakes up and says: ‘OK, this has really touched me, but what can I actually do?’ That’s the important thing.”
This social engagement, he reasons, demands a parallel response from those in power. “Without politicians there can be no progress on environmental matters. So it is urgent that they realize what is happening and not only act in consequence, but act boldly. We need to break with the tired routine whereby international agreements get signed then fizzle into nothing.”
Among the big stories he has covered, he highlights “all those to do with biodiversity, because I am a naturalist who has snuck into the news media.” It is the long-term campaigns that most impress him, “like the recovery of the Iberian lynx from as few as 92 heads in 1992 to over 2,000 today; the work of Fundación Oso Pardo, which has brought the brown bear back from the brink of extinction as far as a current population of 400 to 500 individuals; or that of Fundación para la Conservación del Quebrantahuesos, thanks to which the bearded vulture is now a settled species with populations in Picos de Europa, Gredos, Cazorla and the Pyrenees.” He also particularly recalls “the Prestige accident, which I had the chance to follow minute by minute for TV3. We went from chronicling an environmental catastrophe to telling the heartwarming story of the tide of volunteers who came to the beaches to scrape tar off the rocks with their bare hands, unaware of the health risk involved – which we learned about later. Showing a desire to help that inspires hope. By conveying the urgency and seriousness of what was happening, I believe the media contributed to this response.”
When José Luis Gallego is asked to say from experience which channel or format best connects with the public, he immediately cites two of his current occupations: “Digital journalism is undoubtedly the future and working in El Confidencial, with its almost three million daily visitors, allows me to bring the discourse of respect for nature to readers I couldn’t reach before. But the medium that is the best fit for environmental reporting is radio. Radio is immediate, it is a friendly voice that doesn’t overwhelm you. It accompanies you in the car, at the gym or when you’re busy at home, where you can have it on in the background. But when someone has the ability to seduce the listener – to get through to them – that person will stop what they are doing and focus on what’s being said.”
The awardee considers himself “an old-school environmental reporter: I still think a thousand words are worth more than an image.” This may also explain his lengthy and varied list of book publications; among them, Vivir mejor en un planeta mejor (2013), Circulando hacia una nueva economía (2020) and Naturalistas en zapatillas (2022): “The book speaks directly to the reader, far from the daily torrent of news. Books are for the weekend, with a cup of tea; back in the world of the personal.”