Fred Karno, aka Frederick John Westcott, was the man who invented slapstick comedy. It was he who made the custard pie in the face famous. He lent his name to a phrase - Fred Karno's Army - used to denote a chaotic organisation. Silvia Cano did not invent slapstick. But in other regards, she shares something in common with Fred, not least - the most splendidly fortunate of circumstances - her surname. It sounds just like Fred's moniker.
Silvia, it needs to be pointed out, is not some sort of Mallorcan stand-up. She is a master (sic) of contemporary philosophy and also an expert in the psychosocial aspects of domestic violence. Furthermore, she is an avowed member of the sisterhood. All of which led many to wonder quite why she had launched the type of custard pie in the face that she did. She wasn't having a laugh, one needs to make clear. Her particular custard pie was aimed at a different type of sisterhood (and indeed brotherhood), that to be found within the orders of the Catholic faith. In fact, one might suggest that Silvia was rubbing the pie in the faces of the entire Catholic establishment.
In addition to her various other qualifications, Silvia is the general secretary of PSOE in Mallorca, a kind of right-hand (or left-hand) woman to sweet and friendly Frankie Armengol, president of a chaotic organisation sometimes referred to as the Balearic government. In her gen-sec capacity, Silvia offered her thoughts about local telly. Specifically, she was questioning the continuing live transmission of Sunday mass from Palma Cathedral by the public broadcaster, IB3. "Pornography," suggested Silvia, "also has its public". With this utterance, the pie was launched, swiftly followed by any amount of stuff hitting the fan.
As always, one needs to place her comment in context. She went on to add that no one would think to put sex programmes on public telly. What she most certainly was not suggesting was that mass should be replaced by some dodgy video with porn actresses dressed as nuns enjoying pleasures of the flesh with a group of midgets. But the context didn't matter. It was the porn reference which did.
There was something of the John Lennon Beatles are more famous than Jesus moment about all this. Lennon was of course totally misrepresented. As has been the case with Silvia. Misrepresentation or not, critics rounded on her. How, for instance, could a fully paid-up member of the sisterhood even think to mention porn? This was one line of attack. Had she said football instead it wouldn't have been half as bad. But no, it was porn. And so not long after she had offered her thoughts, Change.org was in full petitioning mode. It was being demanded that she retract her comments and issue an apology for having compared the Eucharist to YouPorn (or some such).
Silvia has thus far refused to apologise, maintaining that it's all down to interpretations made by others. Which is true, but unfortunately such interpretations do get made, even if they are out of context, while it was also unfortunate that the timing of the row should coincide with the Fred Karno-style chaotic organisation as displayed by the departure of someone else from the ranks of the sisterhood: the government's Esperança Camps discovered that all hope had run out and she resigned.
Showing posts with label Broadcasting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Broadcasting. Show all posts
Sunday, April 03, 2016
Thursday, October 08, 2015
The Biggest Prize Of All: IB3
Ten years ago, in September 2005, IB3 began regular broadcasts in the Balearics. It had first gone on air as a television channel on 1 March of that year as a trial - the day chosen having been Balearics Day. The radio station was fully operational from that day.
To say that IB3 has enjoyed a smooth history since its launch would be wrong. Things have been anything but smooth. But in order to assess IB3's contribution, one has to divorce the politics from the actual broadcasting. The two do most definitely collide, but the impression is of a broadcaster that has achieved modest success despite the politics.
Since its inception in 2005, IB3 has had seven director-generals. They include the former vice-president of the Balearics, Antoni Gómez, who was an interim appointment in 2011, and José Manuel Ruiz, who failed in his attempt to succeed Manu Onieva as mayor of Calvia for the Partido Popular in May this year. Of the seven, five have been from the PP, including the current one, Josep Codony.
He was recently hauled up in front of parliament, ostensibly to answer questions regarding the appointment of director of television he had made without consulting the politicians: it was swiftly withdrawn. It was evident that he went to this appearance prepared to have a scrap. He would have known what was coming and it did. Alberto Jarabo (Podemos): "IB3 has been violated and perverted". David Abril (Més): "Why have you not resigned?". Silvia Cano (PSOE): "You hired a straw man ... and have caused sectarianism at IB3".
Codony hasn't resigned because, as he points out, the government hasn't come up with anyone to succeed him and also because, if he were to resign, this would create great problems for the simple fact that the government cannot come to agreement regarding his successor. He's a dead man walking, but for now he remains. In the normal (sic) course of events, he would probably have already been replaced. Change of government means changes among the ranks of senior appointments for positions at the head of government-dependent organisations, of which IB3 is one.
Making these appointments has become a poisoned chalice, with Podemos to the fore in challenging them, as is the case with Juli Fuster at the health service. IB3, though, is arguably the greatest prize when it comes to what is a political appointment. A public broadcaster, it is the very public face of government, which brings the implication of political interference.
With five of the seven director-generals having been from the PP, who created IB3 under the second Matas administration, the parties of the left now sense their chance to definitively stamp their mark on the broadcaster. Of the two other director-generals, one was from the old Unió Mallorquina, while the other, Pedro Terrassa, was from PSOE. For a period of some twelve months, there was a director-general from a left-leaning party. The left now want to redress this imbalance.
Codony has denied that there was interference from the PP while it was still in government. He contrasts this with how things now are. The political involvement extends, he says, to the choice of films that IB3 has to show. The commandment for this has come from Esperança Camps, the Més minister for transparency, participation and culture. Hers was an unusual ministerial appointment in that she had no direct political background, other than political views. Rather than a politician per se, she was and is an author and a television journalist. The suspicion, one that Codony has expressed, is that Camps could be his successor.
Though Codony says otherwise, there was interference from the PP, and it manifested itself in different ways. Groups like the environmentalists GOB were given reduced exposure, while there was the instruction to use the Mallorquín "the" instead of the Catalan "the" in news reports (something that has now been reversed). This interference is continuing, and Codony, who the left would be keen to see gone before the general election and all the reporting that this will entail, will have been the latest in the line of discontinuity at the head of IB3.
The broadcaster has had enormous amounts of money lavished on it, and it has been said to be the second most expensive regional public broadcaster in Spain. Given the expenditure, it should be performing well. A typical audience share of six to seven per cent is what it attains. At least its finances are now in better shape, Codony saying that it has been operating without a deficit for three years.
Despite the politics, it is not doing badly, but might it do better were it not constantly subject to interference? It is an important service, but the politicians are failing it and so failing also the public. The interference won't end though. It's too much of a prize.
To say that IB3 has enjoyed a smooth history since its launch would be wrong. Things have been anything but smooth. But in order to assess IB3's contribution, one has to divorce the politics from the actual broadcasting. The two do most definitely collide, but the impression is of a broadcaster that has achieved modest success despite the politics.
Since its inception in 2005, IB3 has had seven director-generals. They include the former vice-president of the Balearics, Antoni Gómez, who was an interim appointment in 2011, and José Manuel Ruiz, who failed in his attempt to succeed Manu Onieva as mayor of Calvia for the Partido Popular in May this year. Of the seven, five have been from the PP, including the current one, Josep Codony.
He was recently hauled up in front of parliament, ostensibly to answer questions regarding the appointment of director of television he had made without consulting the politicians: it was swiftly withdrawn. It was evident that he went to this appearance prepared to have a scrap. He would have known what was coming and it did. Alberto Jarabo (Podemos): "IB3 has been violated and perverted". David Abril (Més): "Why have you not resigned?". Silvia Cano (PSOE): "You hired a straw man ... and have caused sectarianism at IB3".
Codony hasn't resigned because, as he points out, the government hasn't come up with anyone to succeed him and also because, if he were to resign, this would create great problems for the simple fact that the government cannot come to agreement regarding his successor. He's a dead man walking, but for now he remains. In the normal (sic) course of events, he would probably have already been replaced. Change of government means changes among the ranks of senior appointments for positions at the head of government-dependent organisations, of which IB3 is one.
Making these appointments has become a poisoned chalice, with Podemos to the fore in challenging them, as is the case with Juli Fuster at the health service. IB3, though, is arguably the greatest prize when it comes to what is a political appointment. A public broadcaster, it is the very public face of government, which brings the implication of political interference.
With five of the seven director-generals having been from the PP, who created IB3 under the second Matas administration, the parties of the left now sense their chance to definitively stamp their mark on the broadcaster. Of the two other director-generals, one was from the old Unió Mallorquina, while the other, Pedro Terrassa, was from PSOE. For a period of some twelve months, there was a director-general from a left-leaning party. The left now want to redress this imbalance.
Codony has denied that there was interference from the PP while it was still in government. He contrasts this with how things now are. The political involvement extends, he says, to the choice of films that IB3 has to show. The commandment for this has come from Esperança Camps, the Més minister for transparency, participation and culture. Hers was an unusual ministerial appointment in that she had no direct political background, other than political views. Rather than a politician per se, she was and is an author and a television journalist. The suspicion, one that Codony has expressed, is that Camps could be his successor.
Though Codony says otherwise, there was interference from the PP, and it manifested itself in different ways. Groups like the environmentalists GOB were given reduced exposure, while there was the instruction to use the Mallorquín "the" instead of the Catalan "the" in news reports (something that has now been reversed). This interference is continuing, and Codony, who the left would be keen to see gone before the general election and all the reporting that this will entail, will have been the latest in the line of discontinuity at the head of IB3.
The broadcaster has had enormous amounts of money lavished on it, and it has been said to be the second most expensive regional public broadcaster in Spain. Given the expenditure, it should be performing well. A typical audience share of six to seven per cent is what it attains. At least its finances are now in better shape, Codony saying that it has been operating without a deficit for three years.
Despite the politics, it is not doing badly, but might it do better were it not constantly subject to interference? It is an important service, but the politicians are failing it and so failing also the public. The interference won't end though. It's too much of a prize.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Jeremy Kyle For IB3
It is of course one of the priorities identified in the manual for conducting a coup d'état. "Item 3: Storm the state broadcaster and take over the network. Item 3.1: Announce who you are - The United Freedom People's Liberation Army of (add as applicable). Item 3.2: Incite counter-rebellion by subjecting the proletariat to several days of unrelentingly tedious classical music combined with images of peasants tolling in fields under a baking sun working for the greater glory of the fatherland." Alternatively, if you have lesser ambitions, i.e. coups are not on your agenda but control of the broadcaster is, you simply insist on running it, thus making your governmental partners suspicious and incurring the opprobrium of a discredited opposition.
The Balearic Partido Popular does have some almighty great brass neck at times. Reduced to a parliamentary rabble by all the off-field shenanigans involving finding a temporary leader for the party, it has been left to Marga Prohens to womanfully fly the local PP flag with its seagull with newly clipped wings. Marga hasn't done a wholly bad job - getting the nepotism dig in about the health service, for example - but when it comes to the IB3 broadcaster she has been staggering with all the lack of credibility of a double amputee. She can stand on neither leg as both were long ago cut from under her, all the consequence of how the PP manipulated the broadcaster for its own ends: how it effectively airbrushed the likes of GOB or the Obra Cultural Balear out of Mallorcan political society; how it managed to turn the use of the definite article "the" into a rallying cry for Catalanists both moderate and hardline as well as normally otherwise indifferent; how it arranged for airtime to minimise pre-election exposure of Podemos (and others).
This latter factor does perhaps play a part in Podemos's ambitions for the broadcaster. Not a coup, just control of it. This, at any rate, is how Marga sees things. "The sole objective of Podemos is the control of public communication media," she declared last week. If this is indeed Podemos's heart's desire, then you can hardly say it will be the first time that a local political party has stamped its authority all over IB3. The PP did so with almost totalitarian effectiveness, installing first the vice-president, Antonio "Nipper" Gómez, as its director (albeit in a transitionary capacity when the previous director resigned), then he would have been mayor of Calvia but isn't, José Manuel Ruiz.
As Podemos's Dave Spart, leader Alberto Jarabo, used to have a day job making films, the IB3 takeover may well be all part of a wider plan to reveal Alberto's oeuvre. What might this include? Dull but worthy documentaries charting the struggles of the Bolivian working-class of the nineteenth century? A profile of jolly Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela? Who can say. But Podemos intentions - their proposed director for IB3 - come in the guise of their man in Manacor who is currently combining council duties for citizen service with looking after the town's cemeteries. Carles Grimalt is his name, and Carles, replete with not one but two earrings, and photographed wearing a fetching, flowery shirt, has all the looks of a member of the Bee Gees backing group circa the later "Night Fever" era. Indeed, were he to sport a beard, he would be Barry Gibb.
Not that earrings should bar someone from running a telly and radio station. But if Podemos are serious in wanting someone with suitable credentials, why not broaden the search? There must be all manner of potential candidates knocking around. Keith Chegwin perhaps. Or what about Jeremy Kyle? That'll be it. That's what he's been doing here in Mallorca. There had to have been some good reason. Jeremy's not bad on the old participation thing, getting idiots to make even bigger idiots of themselves and so on. Ideal for the new Podemos participatory era therefore. Kyle it is then.
* Podemos have since discovered that the law doesn't permit the appointment of a member of a political party's executive, so Grimalt cannot be IB3's director.
** And now they have discovered the law does permit it. Or something like that.
The Balearic Partido Popular does have some almighty great brass neck at times. Reduced to a parliamentary rabble by all the off-field shenanigans involving finding a temporary leader for the party, it has been left to Marga Prohens to womanfully fly the local PP flag with its seagull with newly clipped wings. Marga hasn't done a wholly bad job - getting the nepotism dig in about the health service, for example - but when it comes to the IB3 broadcaster she has been staggering with all the lack of credibility of a double amputee. She can stand on neither leg as both were long ago cut from under her, all the consequence of how the PP manipulated the broadcaster for its own ends: how it effectively airbrushed the likes of GOB or the Obra Cultural Balear out of Mallorcan political society; how it managed to turn the use of the definite article "the" into a rallying cry for Catalanists both moderate and hardline as well as normally otherwise indifferent; how it arranged for airtime to minimise pre-election exposure of Podemos (and others).
This latter factor does perhaps play a part in Podemos's ambitions for the broadcaster. Not a coup, just control of it. This, at any rate, is how Marga sees things. "The sole objective of Podemos is the control of public communication media," she declared last week. If this is indeed Podemos's heart's desire, then you can hardly say it will be the first time that a local political party has stamped its authority all over IB3. The PP did so with almost totalitarian effectiveness, installing first the vice-president, Antonio "Nipper" Gómez, as its director (albeit in a transitionary capacity when the previous director resigned), then he would have been mayor of Calvia but isn't, José Manuel Ruiz.
As Podemos's Dave Spart, leader Alberto Jarabo, used to have a day job making films, the IB3 takeover may well be all part of a wider plan to reveal Alberto's oeuvre. What might this include? Dull but worthy documentaries charting the struggles of the Bolivian working-class of the nineteenth century? A profile of jolly Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela? Who can say. But Podemos intentions - their proposed director for IB3 - come in the guise of their man in Manacor who is currently combining council duties for citizen service with looking after the town's cemeteries. Carles Grimalt is his name, and Carles, replete with not one but two earrings, and photographed wearing a fetching, flowery shirt, has all the looks of a member of the Bee Gees backing group circa the later "Night Fever" era. Indeed, were he to sport a beard, he would be Barry Gibb.
Not that earrings should bar someone from running a telly and radio station. But if Podemos are serious in wanting someone with suitable credentials, why not broaden the search? There must be all manner of potential candidates knocking around. Keith Chegwin perhaps. Or what about Jeremy Kyle? That'll be it. That's what he's been doing here in Mallorca. There had to have been some good reason. Jeremy's not bad on the old participation thing, getting idiots to make even bigger idiots of themselves and so on. Ideal for the new Podemos participatory era therefore. Kyle it is then.
* Podemos have since discovered that the law doesn't permit the appointment of a member of a political party's executive, so Grimalt cannot be IB3's director.
** And now they have discovered the law does permit it. Or something like that.
Tuesday, June 09, 2015
The Never-Ending Argument Of Language
There was this interview. It was with the philologist who is responsible for linguistic use at the IB3 broadcaster. At the conclusion of the interview she says of the Balearic language that it doesn't exist. To speak of a Balearic language is provocative, just as it is when one refers to the Catalan of Mallorca. It is the philological way, but she doesn't like it because, for centuries, we have called it Mallorquín.
In Mallorca, it can appear, there are more philologists than you can shake a dictionary at. These "students" of languages, be they actual students, professors or hobbyists, proliferate to an extent that is hard to comprehend for those of us brought up without an obsession with arguing over languages and their historical significance. Philologist was a word, a profession if you like, that I was well aware of before coming to Mallorca, but never had it occurred to me that there would be a place where the philologist seems as common as the town hall official, and as equally bloody-minded in all likelihood.
And the town halls have their own quasi-philologists, the councillors who are charged with the responsibility for what, through literal translation, is linguistic normalisation but which is better translated as standardisation. Either noun will do, as the whole term is a euphemism for Catalan. Or is it?
The philologist of the interview, Mariantònia Lladó, has a contentious responsibility at IB3. Anything to do with language has the potential to be contentious - which is one reason why there are so many philologists knocking around - and at IB3 it has been just this. It has all had to do with an issue that will, for the great majority of you, seem impenetrable and arcane, but that is because you will not be obsessed with the detail of language, one that is so micro-scrutinised that there are arguments which haggle over the use of the word "the". At IB3, "the" became a politico-philological battle. The Partido Popular, which ruled the broadcaster through its government vice-president Antonio Gomez and then José Manuel Ruiz, who failed so spectacularly in becoming mayor of Calvia, insisted that the Mallorquín "the" should be used and not the Catalan "the". Mariantònia, elsewhere in the interview, reveals her "the" preference, lamenting the fact that, except out in the villages of Mallorca, the "new generations" use the literary "the", i.e. the Catalan one.
For the Bauzá PP, so desirous of distancing itself from anything marked with the stamp of Catalonia, the intervention over "the" at IB3 went to the heart of its linguistic politics, and the very notion of there being a linguistic politics can strike many as being somewhat absurd. But that's because they are not bound up in the ceaseless polemic that can appear to define all politics of Mallorca.
The PP line, and that of Mariantònia (and I hope I'm not misrepresenting her), is to promote the languages of the islands at the expense of Catalan. Yet this can appear to be - in political terms - contradictory. The PP disassociates itself from notions of nationalism - those which are not Spanish nationalist - but it advocates a distinct language, Mallorquín. And what, as far as nationalism is concerned, is more nationalist than a language? But then, it isn't contradictory if it is accepted that there are minority languages/dialects within the framework of the grand nationalism of Spain and it also isn't contradictory if this acceptance is one to cock a snook at the pretensions of Catalan nationalism which involve a geographically broader area than just Catalonia - the mythical Catalan Lands.
Inherent to this line is an argument that the languages of the islands, and each island lays claim to having one, are the products of some form of separate development. Well, quite clearly there has been. When there are 250 plus kilometres of sea that divorce Mallorca from the Catalan heartland as well as a history of Arabic language and Vulgar Latin (and it is this which is the root of the "the" argument), there was bound to have been linguistic modification. But the mother tongue is Catalan (and/or variants that themselves influenced and created Catalan). To refer to the "Catalan of Mallorca" is, however, says Mariantònia, provocative. And in this, for many Mallorcans in my experience, she is right. Mallorcans speak Mallorquín and not Catalan, albeit there are obvious, very strong similarities.
So, one comes back to this business of linguistic normalisation, sometimes determined at town halls by councillors who proudly speak their Mallorquín (and nothing else) but within an ideological framework of Catalan nationalism and with responsibility for the normalisation of Catalan. And ditto the schools, where the argument is over the promotion of Catalan, not of Mallorquín.
Still, this all helps to allow philology to flourish and for there to be never-ending arguments, and the fact is that they will never end.
In Mallorca, it can appear, there are more philologists than you can shake a dictionary at. These "students" of languages, be they actual students, professors or hobbyists, proliferate to an extent that is hard to comprehend for those of us brought up without an obsession with arguing over languages and their historical significance. Philologist was a word, a profession if you like, that I was well aware of before coming to Mallorca, but never had it occurred to me that there would be a place where the philologist seems as common as the town hall official, and as equally bloody-minded in all likelihood.
And the town halls have their own quasi-philologists, the councillors who are charged with the responsibility for what, through literal translation, is linguistic normalisation but which is better translated as standardisation. Either noun will do, as the whole term is a euphemism for Catalan. Or is it?
The philologist of the interview, Mariantònia Lladó, has a contentious responsibility at IB3. Anything to do with language has the potential to be contentious - which is one reason why there are so many philologists knocking around - and at IB3 it has been just this. It has all had to do with an issue that will, for the great majority of you, seem impenetrable and arcane, but that is because you will not be obsessed with the detail of language, one that is so micro-scrutinised that there are arguments which haggle over the use of the word "the". At IB3, "the" became a politico-philological battle. The Partido Popular, which ruled the broadcaster through its government vice-president Antonio Gomez and then José Manuel Ruiz, who failed so spectacularly in becoming mayor of Calvia, insisted that the Mallorquín "the" should be used and not the Catalan "the". Mariantònia, elsewhere in the interview, reveals her "the" preference, lamenting the fact that, except out in the villages of Mallorca, the "new generations" use the literary "the", i.e. the Catalan one.
For the Bauzá PP, so desirous of distancing itself from anything marked with the stamp of Catalonia, the intervention over "the" at IB3 went to the heart of its linguistic politics, and the very notion of there being a linguistic politics can strike many as being somewhat absurd. But that's because they are not bound up in the ceaseless polemic that can appear to define all politics of Mallorca.
The PP line, and that of Mariantònia (and I hope I'm not misrepresenting her), is to promote the languages of the islands at the expense of Catalan. Yet this can appear to be - in political terms - contradictory. The PP disassociates itself from notions of nationalism - those which are not Spanish nationalist - but it advocates a distinct language, Mallorquín. And what, as far as nationalism is concerned, is more nationalist than a language? But then, it isn't contradictory if it is accepted that there are minority languages/dialects within the framework of the grand nationalism of Spain and it also isn't contradictory if this acceptance is one to cock a snook at the pretensions of Catalan nationalism which involve a geographically broader area than just Catalonia - the mythical Catalan Lands.
Inherent to this line is an argument that the languages of the islands, and each island lays claim to having one, are the products of some form of separate development. Well, quite clearly there has been. When there are 250 plus kilometres of sea that divorce Mallorca from the Catalan heartland as well as a history of Arabic language and Vulgar Latin (and it is this which is the root of the "the" argument), there was bound to have been linguistic modification. But the mother tongue is Catalan (and/or variants that themselves influenced and created Catalan). To refer to the "Catalan of Mallorca" is, however, says Mariantònia, provocative. And in this, for many Mallorcans in my experience, she is right. Mallorcans speak Mallorquín and not Catalan, albeit there are obvious, very strong similarities.
So, one comes back to this business of linguistic normalisation, sometimes determined at town halls by councillors who proudly speak their Mallorquín (and nothing else) but within an ideological framework of Catalan nationalism and with responsibility for the normalisation of Catalan. And ditto the schools, where the argument is over the promotion of Catalan, not of Mallorquín.
Still, this all helps to allow philology to flourish and for there to be never-ending arguments, and the fact is that they will never end.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
The Manipulation Game: Spanish broadcasting
In 1968, Tony Benn launched an attack on the BBC and gave us a memorable quote. "Broadcasting is really too important to be left to the broadcaster." Benn went on to call for the establishment of "representative broadcasting" instead of that controlled by the "constitutional monarchs" at the BBC.
What Benn was referring to has long been and in truth always has been behind the media's conduct, namely the wielding of influence over the output. Arguably, there is no such thing as true freedom of the press (or wider media) and never can be. To offer another quote, that by A.J.Liebling, an American journalist who died 50 years ago: "freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one". Even then, the freedom is subject to influence.
Interference, ideology, bias all collide in massaging the message, with influence bordering on being synonymous with interference and determining the ideology or bias. Yet, is this influence as strong as it once was? When Tony Benn was making his speech, communications media were limited. The internet has changed the rules of the game and has made the more overt use of influence in manipulating the messages of the conventional media subject to far greater scrutiny and potential ridicule.
Theoretically, the democratisation of information that has been enabled by the internet exposes the ways in which influence is brought to bear. This hasn't stopped the peddling of influence or the degree of interference, but because of the existence of a present-day media-savvy, cyber-connected public and bloggerati, this influence is shown up for what it is, to the extent that one wonders whether some of those who seek to wield influence really understand what world they are living in.
In Spain, there are some troubling examples of seeking to influence and of outright interference. They are so obvious that one is left to conclude that certain politicians are either ignorant of the changed rules or are perfectly well aware of them but choose to thumb their noses at them in acts of craven disregard.
The interference at the national broadcaster, RTVE, has already been chronicled. It has manifested itself in the sidelining of certain journalists and in the downgrading of importance attached to specific news items; these journalists and news items not being to the liking of the government. Last weekend, the Partido Popular government attempted to interfere with what was entitled "The Great Debate" on Telecinco. The debate was to be about the scandal that has erupted regarding the party's former treasurer. During the programme's broadcast, a text message was sent by the PP which made it clear that it was threatening to sue.
In effect, the party was looking to stifle the great debate, yet seemingly nothing that Telecinco raised wasn't already in the public domain. Crucially though, the scandal is massively important; it required debating, not neutering.
Once upon a time and under a former regime, such a debate couldn't have occurred and the public wouldn't have been aware of any alleged or actual corruption. The PP seems to be living in the past not just because it lumbered in with its heavy, censorious boots but also because it neglected the scrutinising other world of the media on the internet. It might want to take on the conventional media, but it only succeeds in web-viralising its actions.
If the PP nationally is engaged in overt attempts to influence or interfere, its regional wing in the Balearics is acting in an even more overt fashion. President Bauzá, likened by opposition parties to Berlusconi because of his rewriting of the law on political transparency, is taking the comparison further by acting like Berlusconi in controlling a television station. Or so it is being alleged. The charge has been made that the public IB3 channel is being manipulated by the director of Bauzá's cabinet, Javier Fons.
It has been suggested that certain organisations are in effect banned from IB3, and Fons has been vetoing the appearance of some individuals. He had previously prohibited one particular journalist from being involved in an interview. He is also said to have interfered with an interview with the president of the Fundación Kovacs, a research organisation that has clinics for the treatment of neck and back complaints. A grant of a million euros was one topic for the interview. President Bauzá is on the foundation's board.
Broadcasting may indeed be too important to be left to broadcasters. Faults they may have, influence they may be unable or unwilling to reject, but broadcasting is too important to be left to politicians in whose hands it becomes undemocratic. The PP would do well to understand this.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
What Benn was referring to has long been and in truth always has been behind the media's conduct, namely the wielding of influence over the output. Arguably, there is no such thing as true freedom of the press (or wider media) and never can be. To offer another quote, that by A.J.Liebling, an American journalist who died 50 years ago: "freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one". Even then, the freedom is subject to influence.
Interference, ideology, bias all collide in massaging the message, with influence bordering on being synonymous with interference and determining the ideology or bias. Yet, is this influence as strong as it once was? When Tony Benn was making his speech, communications media were limited. The internet has changed the rules of the game and has made the more overt use of influence in manipulating the messages of the conventional media subject to far greater scrutiny and potential ridicule.
Theoretically, the democratisation of information that has been enabled by the internet exposes the ways in which influence is brought to bear. This hasn't stopped the peddling of influence or the degree of interference, but because of the existence of a present-day media-savvy, cyber-connected public and bloggerati, this influence is shown up for what it is, to the extent that one wonders whether some of those who seek to wield influence really understand what world they are living in.
In Spain, there are some troubling examples of seeking to influence and of outright interference. They are so obvious that one is left to conclude that certain politicians are either ignorant of the changed rules or are perfectly well aware of them but choose to thumb their noses at them in acts of craven disregard.
The interference at the national broadcaster, RTVE, has already been chronicled. It has manifested itself in the sidelining of certain journalists and in the downgrading of importance attached to specific news items; these journalists and news items not being to the liking of the government. Last weekend, the Partido Popular government attempted to interfere with what was entitled "The Great Debate" on Telecinco. The debate was to be about the scandal that has erupted regarding the party's former treasurer. During the programme's broadcast, a text message was sent by the PP which made it clear that it was threatening to sue.
In effect, the party was looking to stifle the great debate, yet seemingly nothing that Telecinco raised wasn't already in the public domain. Crucially though, the scandal is massively important; it required debating, not neutering.
Once upon a time and under a former regime, such a debate couldn't have occurred and the public wouldn't have been aware of any alleged or actual corruption. The PP seems to be living in the past not just because it lumbered in with its heavy, censorious boots but also because it neglected the scrutinising other world of the media on the internet. It might want to take on the conventional media, but it only succeeds in web-viralising its actions.
If the PP nationally is engaged in overt attempts to influence or interfere, its regional wing in the Balearics is acting in an even more overt fashion. President Bauzá, likened by opposition parties to Berlusconi because of his rewriting of the law on political transparency, is taking the comparison further by acting like Berlusconi in controlling a television station. Or so it is being alleged. The charge has been made that the public IB3 channel is being manipulated by the director of Bauzá's cabinet, Javier Fons.
It has been suggested that certain organisations are in effect banned from IB3, and Fons has been vetoing the appearance of some individuals. He had previously prohibited one particular journalist from being involved in an interview. He is also said to have interfered with an interview with the president of the Fundación Kovacs, a research organisation that has clinics for the treatment of neck and back complaints. A grant of a million euros was one topic for the interview. President Bauzá is on the foundation's board.
Broadcasting may indeed be too important to be left to broadcasters. Faults they may have, influence they may be unable or unwilling to reject, but broadcasting is too important to be left to politicians in whose hands it becomes undemocratic. The PP would do well to understand this.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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