Esther Mucientes Madrid
Madrid
Updated Tuesday, January 30, 2024-09:11
Television A "own vision", high technology and a gigantic set for the return of Noticias Cuatro: "We must refine the border between news and programs"
On August 30, 2005,
Iñaki Gabilondo
made the leap from the radio waves to television. He left the direction of
Hoy por hoy
on Cadena Ser and embarked on a gigantic project: creating, training and directing the news of a new network,
Cuatro
. On November 7 of that same year,
Noticias Cuatro
started .
Iñaki Gabilondo
looking at the camera in front of a red background breaking the news of a terrible work accident in Granada. It was the birth of
Noticias Cuatro
. Five years later,
Iñaki Gabilondo
left for CNN+, seven years later, Mediaset decided to do without that news. Until this Monday.
The new Mediaset leadership and the new News management of the audiovisual group, led by
Francisco Moreno
, made the decision a few months ago, very few, that
Mediaset had to recover its essence and its informative soul
. And in that recovery it was necessary for
Noticias Cuatro
to return . Last night he returned and he did so with the only godfather who could be there, the journalist who created
Noticias Cuatro
and the man who gave meaning to the information of a new channel:
Iñaki Gabilondo
.
Television
Mediaset.
A "own vision", high technology and a gigantic set for the return of Noticias Cuatro: "We must refine the border between news and programs"
Editorial: SARA POLO Madrid
A "own vision", high technology and a gigantic set for the return of Noticias Cuatro: "We must refine the border between news and programs"
It was the surprise of the night at the premiere of the second edition of
Noticias Cuatro
.
Mónica Sanz
, after showing that video with
Iñaki Gabilondo starting in 2005, gave way to
Diego Losada
's interview
with
Gabilondo
. And, once again, Gabilondo, at 81 years old, did what he has done so many other times: say things loud and clear and whoever wants to hear them should listen to them, but apply them.
In 17 minutes of interview,
Iñaki Gabilondo
could not say more than what he said about the times we find ourselves in, about journalism, about the new generations and about what news programs should never lose their objective. And it was so clear that it is even embarrassing to hear it, because it produces a feeling of self-criticism, of conscience, of, to a certain extent, failure, that we should all make ourselves look at.
He has spoken in recent months that the media should reach an agreement to silence themselves for a few months, to regenerate, to re-emerge, and he knows why he says it, although he claims that it is "a kind of caricature", or not? ?
"It's a way of saying that
the formidable hubbub that is occurring in society makes it practically impossible to put something in common
," he said last night during the interview. "Democracy is discrepancy and confrontation of positions. That is why it was invented. It is a tool to manage divergences, points of view and conflicting interests. And divergence is something natural. But there are territories that have to be reserved for agreement , for the common", he continued stating that if there is something that makes him "nervous" it is that "we have the attic full of pending reforms that can only be carried out if there is an agreement and since there is no agreement to the attic they go: the educational reform, the constitutional reform, the reform of Public Administration...".
Because for
Iñaki Gabilondo,
"there is almost, almost no territory for the common, common sense has been lost." "That's why this is a madhouse," he said. That trite 'this is a crazy house' is becoming more and more real, at least, for
Iñaki Gabilondo
. It was not a catastrophic speech, but it was a speech to delve into the wound, to open the eyes, not only of those who were watching him, but also of those who are going to sit every day in the new
Noticias Cuatro
. But, especially, it was a sentence for them, for the politicians, for those who govern.
Gabilondo and the media pact
Iñaki Gabilondo
knows that it is "a bitch" and, furthermore, he doesn't really want the media to remain silent for a while, "but I present it as a kind of caricature to highlight this resounding mess, this impossibility of agreement on nothing, this impossibility of finding a common territory in anything".
When
Noticias Cuatro
was born in 2005 "we were aware that we were laying the first stone of a house." "Many people outside had the feeling that we were going to arrive to take on the world in five minutes, but we, who were very old dogs, knew that this was simply the constitution of a building whose first stone would be installed there. There was a lot of excitement and a lot of awareness at a time of great awareness of change," the journalist recalled just the same day he left his legacy in a box at the Cervantes Institute: the microphone with which he did his last program.
When
Noticias Cuatro
was born, the iPhone had not yet arrived, a very small percentage of phones had a camera. There was no such thing as touch screens either.
"It seems like not that much has happened, but a lot has happened
," he said, remembering that in addition, "it was a time of economic euphoria." "We noticed that we were in a moment of great transformation and we knew that this change was going to occur and we wanted to be there with the hope of doing it. And with the nerves of someone who knows that something that seems like an Everest is beginning." The same enthusiasm and responsibility that they feel and, as
Diego Losada
pointed out to
Iñaki Gabilondo
, now.
"It is possibly the most exciting time to do journalism, but you have to have a lot, a lot, a lot of willpower because you have to swim through very turbulent waters from a business and economic point of view. In short, a
great time to do journalism and not a very good time to make a living from journalism
," stated
Gabilondo
, insisting on one of the phrases that he has repeated tirelessly in every public appearance he has made since his retirement.
Many will wonder or say why you have to listen to what
Iñaki Gabilondo
says . It is legal, but perhaps upon listening to him we will realize that what he says has that common sense that he claims we lack. "(...) because political positions have been taken to the extremes of sports fanaticism and fanaticism. There has been a radicalization of positions that, due to victory, practically lead them to place themselves in antagonistic positions." What does it sound like to us? And it sounds familiar to all of us, including journalists.
"It doesn't matter that we echo the polarization, the bad thing is that they end up associating us with political parties. El País, Cadena SER and the PSOE are part of an articulated unit. Cadena COPE, El Mundo and the PP, too and
that is a political and journalistic social catastrophe
." Hecatomb. You can say higher, but not clearer.
"That is why there is a discrediting of politics and, hand in hand, that of journalism. That is the task we have to do: mark a distance while maintaining our right to an ideology and a thought, but for people to see us as representatives of that thought, but
that they don't see us as part of the army of a party
. And that's practically all the media. That's a catastrophe." Yes, she repeated it herself. Just in case someone hadn't heard it.
The "fair play" that Gabilondo claims
And what solution is there? For
Iñaki Gabilondo
, at least when it comes to journalism, the key is to focus "on the man." "The man has stayed in the wilderness. For the people, we do not deal with the things that happen to the people. For the people, we deal with the things that seem to us to happen to the people because we and we political parties already have a distorted view. Let us not forget that our task is there."
"We are turning everything into a game of hooliganism," he repeated when
Diego Losada
reminded him of a phrase from the series
The newsroom
in which one of the journalists is asked if the US is the best country in the world.
Gabilondo
answered no, but clarified: "Spain is a great country, what happens is that if it is not the first it settles for being the last. Either the yellow jersey or the red lantern."
Iñaki Gabilondo
has never been one
to keep quiet or contain himself, although he has surely done so many times in all his years of professional career. He didn't shut up last night either. Not with politicians, not with journalists, not with journalism, but not with the future or with the new generations to whom he sent a message loud and clear: "Everyone has to fight their own battle. Each generation A bull comes out into the ring with which he has to fight. We don't go around telling our countries 'what a country you've left us'. Let them not waste time looking at the mistakes that have been made, but at the same time they should slam the door. Because it is considered normal that a generation cannot organize its own life, that does not stop the machine. It does not make much sense to ask for explanations from previous generations and on the other hand that they are not asked from current generations. A 35% of young people unemployed? That is not normal. There should be a political and social mobilization at some point."
"We decided to relaunch
Noticias Cuatro
, but with a great burden of responsibility," Diego Solada told him at the end of the interview. And read, read Iñaki Gabilondo's declaration of intent: "The responsibility is with any spectator who is going to listen to you. There is someone who is watching you and demands the best of your work, a person who believes in you or does not believe in you That you are going to have an opinion because of something you have said or seen.
There is no responsibility for a legacy, there is a responsibility to a viewer who has the right to the best of your work and maximum fair play
. Tell him, 'this What's happening, what's happening, I think this is happening, this is what I would like to happen.' And don't confuse those things." Above all, don't confuse things.