Photos: Sergio Betancort
25 years of island history, 25 years of experiences and 25 years of information. The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria presented this Tuesday at the Sociedad Democracia the digitization of the first 20 years of La Voz de Lanzarote (1985-2005). Through a digital portal called Jable: Digital press archive, you can access all the printed editions that this media outlet has published in its different formats over time. Thus, with a single click, the user can dive into Lanzarote's history, through thousands of news, reports and photographs.
The Sociedad Democracia, which has kept copies of La Voz for all these years, becoming the guardian of these publications, was the site chosen to present this project, which has the collaboration of the Cabildo of Lanzarote. And it all started almost two years ago, when the Data Center of the first island institution outlined this initiative, still in its early stages, to the owners of La Voz de Lanzarote, who agreed from the first moment to provide all their copies for digitization and made available to the general public.
Photographic library
In this same line of promoting digital access to the historical contents of La Voz, the publishing company has donated its photographic archive to the Cabildo of Lanzarote, probably the most important on the island, as highlighted during the act from the Data Center department that coordinates the project Memory of Lanzarote, which will now be responsible for its digitization and progressive publication.
This Tuesday, the digitization project of La Voz, as well as other historical publications of the island such as the extinct weekly Isla, became a reality and was presented to the public. Those in charge of presenting this initiative were the director of the Library of the University of Las Palmas, María del Carmen Martín, the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, the director of the Data Center, Miguel Ángel Martín, the director of the Sociedad Democracia, Ginés Hernández, and Mario Ferrer, coordinator of Digital Memory of Lanzarote, from where a viewer of old press is also available ([www.memoriadelanzarote.com->www.memoriadelanzarote.com]).
Through a projector, the attendees were able to observe different covers of La Voz that showed a quarter of a century of work by many professionals. In addition, the director of this media outlet, Isabel Lusarreta, was in charge of recalling the history of La Voz de Lanzarote, which has become a witness to "a profound social and economic transformation", which can now be explored through this new digital tool.
The memory of La Voz
Lusarreta recalled the four major stages that La Voz has experienced, since it was born on December 1, 1985 by "the entrepreneurial spirit of Agustín Acosta" to the present, when "it continues to be a family business, purely journalistic, where behind there is no other objective than that of communication". The first phase of this media outlet, according to its director, began in 1985 "with a weekly newspaper that aimed to be the printed medium that accompanied Radio Lanzarote, then the only radio station on the island". And from "that radio that had become the voice of this island, the name of the newspaper arose: La Voz de Lanzarote".
"Seven years later, in 1992, and once the weekly newspaper was consolidated, La Voz faced its second stage with one of the biggest transformations in its history, with the aim of becoming a daily newspaper. It was in September 1995 when Agustín Domingo Acosta increased the bet on the Internet and thanks to him, La Voz became one of the first newspapers in Spain to have a digital edition", said Isabel Lusarreta.
The director of La Voz de Lanzarote recalled that in 2005 "the definitive change arrived". "The commitment to the Internet was further reinforced and the printed edition was rethought, transforming it into a free weekly newspaper". Currently, the weekly newspaper has the evident support of readers and www.lavozdelanzarote.com has multiplied its number of visits by six. Last month, this digital newspaper had more than 140,000 unique users and more than three million page views.
A single objective: to inform
During her speech, the director of La Voz de Lanzarote reviewed some of the news that this media outlet has published and rescued one of the most memorable phrases that have been written in these 25 years of informative history: "As I do not remember at all when I was born, I could have lived in the first Egyptian dynasties, and as I do not know when I am going to die, I believe that I am eternal. I have great peace of mind, because I have fulfilled my duty in life". This phrase was pronounced by César Manrique in 1990, in one of the many interviews that the artist gave to La Voz. Just two years later he died in a traffic accident and "this media outlet gave one of the saddest news in its history, and without a doubt one of the ones that has most impacted Lanzarote society", Lusarreta stressed.
The director also rescued the first issue of La Voz de Lanzarote, from December 1985, in which the editorial left written its objective: " We burst today into the public life of the island with an unwavering objective: that of our modest, but determined, contribution to the insular good. We do not consider ourselves neither champions, nor redeemers, nor pompous defenders of the island. Those of us who constitute La Voz de Lanzarote aspire to defend our habitat and that of our children. We want the land in which we live to advance towards material improvements, but also moral ones".
"Today, 25 years after having burst into the public life of the island, we continue to aspire to the same thing", concluded Isabel Lusarreta.
In addition to La Voz de Lanzarote, during this act the first printed newspaper of the island, Crónica de Lanzarote, which dates from 1861 and only had one year of life, as well as Isla Informativa (1996-2005) and Tiempos Nuevos (1977-1982) were also presented.
Attendees to the event
In addition to the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, the Minister of Education, Francisco Cabrera, the mayor of Arrecife, Cándido Reguera, the mayor of Haría, José Torres Stinga, the island director of General Administration of the State, Carmelo García Déniz, as well as the island director of Education, Juan Cruz and the director of Waters of the Government of the Canary Islands, Mariano de León.
Also attending were regional parliamentarians Manuel Fajardo and Fernando Figuereo, as well as the general secretary of the PSOE, Carlos Espino, and the secretary of Organization of this party, Joaquín Caraballo.
Likewise, the councilors of Arrecife Luis Morales, Encarna Páez, José Montelongo, Alberto Morales, Víctor San Ginés and Joel Delgado were present. To them were also added many citizens and also professionals who have helped to write the history of La Voz de Lanzarote over the years.
