Before turning on the presses, Byron checks that the rollers are clean and the ink wells are full. For the last time, listen to the rattle of the machines with the printing of the newspaper La Hora, which ceases to exist on paper, after 101 years of life.
"You can’t say no to the future"says Byron Cruz, 47, the newspaper’s Production Manager. A sigh cuts off her words. But there is no time for sorrows, the reels of paper keep spinning, like his life now.
"As far as I understand it is the only evening left" in Central America, explains the general director of La Hora, Óscar Marroquín.
It’s almost noon on Friday, November 12. In the printing house located in the historic center of Guatemala City, the ink dries on the still warm paper of the almost 10,000 copies of the print run.
In their best days they reached more than 25,000.
"The digital medium has grown exponentially. I would say that, of our current readers, maybe 10% were still with the printed newspaper. 90% of our audience is digital"says Marroquín.
"We believe that by concentrating all resources on the digital part and no longer being distracted by the printed part, we have more potential to grow"he adds. Life goes on, but on its internet platforms.
For the last time, a group of operators stacks the newspapers for transport. You must arrive at the newsstands and subscribers before 2pm. "Thanks for everything"says the cover.
– Folio change-
Since 2012, the newspaper made the decision not to invest more in printing equipment but in the development of the digital platform. But not only new technologies and forms of consumption hit the paper edition.
La Hora, says Marroquín, had specialized in publishing legal notices. But then Congress, in retaliation for the newspaper’s criticism, "decided to pass a law to make the notices electronic", leaving them without that income, he assures.
"Being part of La Hora’s 101 years was excellent, very good. And stopping printing is … it’s a step forward", Byron assures, although their steps do not necessarily go in the same direction.
The printed edition must be "say goodbye with nostalgia for all typography people, people who work in printing, we are very sorry and we are supporting you all", considers Marroquín.
The newsroom continues to work, but for the digital platform and social networks.
-"Stop the presses"-
Centennial, the newspaper lived through historical times of the country. The civil war (1960-1996), natural disasters. Marroquín recalls that the presses rarely had to stop. The most dramatic, he says, was during the government of President Jorge Serrano (1991-1993).
A state of siege was decreed and auditors were sent to the media. "How I did not want to receive it [al interventor]We were in full production when the police entered to stop the machines", remember.
Byron Cruz recalls episodes such as the attack on the Twin Towers in 2001, which occurred earlier in the day. Being an evening newspaper, they could not leave without that information in their edition.
But this Friday, everything is finished. The diary was printed sadly but without inconvenience. One of the shipments reaches the delivery men near the Plaza de la Constitución.
Leonel González, 70, has been buying it daily for 2 quetzales (25 cents) for a decade and he waits for it on time. You already know that you will not have it in your hands again.
"I sincerely regret it, it was a medium that I am used to, in the printed edition (…) It is a pity, I will try to follow the tracks through the internet", he maintains.
At the press, meanwhile, Byron has already closed production. In a world with virtual life, social networks, and multiverses, put down the paper "It is one more step forward, although in the course of technology we have to stay many".
.
