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Joaquim Puyal: the passionate communicator

Could you think of anybody better to open the festivities than one of the most prestigious communicators of the city and the hole of Catalunya? He was the voice that brought back Catalan into the sports world with the arrival of democracy, as well as the man who introduced new TV formats into our screens.

The person to inaugurate this year's Mercè festivities is a master of communicators who set a standard on Catalan journalism. With a constant work and a clear will to explaining and sharing, Joaquim Maria Puyal has become a referent even if he never wanted to be the center of attention or a star of any kind. Doctor in Linguistics and Graduate in Media Studies, he got to Journalism by passion, has been awarded with the prize Ciutat de Barcelona, the Vázquez Montalbán, the Premi Nacional twice, three times the Òmnium Cultural, and four the Ondas among others, and keeps closely following radio and TV's day to day. And he thinks about these worlds that in these hazy times seem more an industry when they should be, rather than any other thing, a tool to serve the interests of the people. Luckily he is not alone on this task; lots of young journalists go all around today with his books under the arm, with the same determination and passion as some years ago he used to carry a dictionary and a grammar in case he had some spare time.

THURSDAY 22nd / 19h
BARCELONA CITY HALL
(PL. SANT JAUME)

There will be a service of sign language interpretation and on-screen transcription for Mercè's opening speech.