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Updated Wednesday, March 27, 2024-00:13

The perverse use of the model that governs the management of RTVE has turned the public corporation into

an apparatus at the service of political power

. The pressures and interventions that the Government has been exerting for years on its Board of Directors - elected by Congress - to influence the contents have plunged RTVE into instability, which offers an image of undesirable politicized management. This is once again evidenced by the crisis that was revealed yesterday and that has already claimed the dismissal of

the acting president, Elena Sánchez, and the content director, José Pablo López. By trying to subject RTVE to its designs, Moncloa violates the founding principles of the medium, which involve guaranteeing rigorous, independent and plural information, and quality entertainment. Among these objectives is in no case the use of public resources to

compete ideologically

with a private network that is not aligned with the Government.

Elena Sánchez was promoted to the presidency of RTVE in 2022 by the Executive. This even granted him special powers to make appointments and sign contracts for high amounts, a fact that UGT - sister union of the PSOE - described as an "attempt to assault RTVE." However, recent disagreements between the journalist and Moncloa have caused an abrupt divorce that has a clear final trigger:

Elena Sánchez's reluctance to hire comedian David Broncano

. The operation is sponsored by the Government, which, obsessed with politically influencing even a comedy program, sees the presenter as an ideological counterweight to

The Anthill

by Pablo Motos on Antena 3. “Whatever it costs,” was Moncloa's slogan, as we reported today. Before being dismissed, Elena Sánchez proposed the dismissal of José Pablo López, who negotiated the signing of Broncano.

Interventionism is constant on RTVE. The Government opted for Elena Sánchez at the time after the resignation of José Manuel Pérez Tornero, also proposed by the PSOE, and also sacrificed when the Executive considered that he was not following its plans. And Tornero had been elected to end the mandate of Rosa María Mateo, another senior member of the PSOE, who had been the sole provisional administrator for 33 months, an appointment that was annulled by the Constitutional Court.

The Government must desist from its

desire to control public media

. The discredit in which he has plunged RTVE, orchestrating strongly ideological movements, is reflected not only in content that sometimes borders on propaganda, but in its small audience.

At RTVE there are real professionals who attend these assaults with shame. The capital of a reference public medium, such as RTVE was too many years ago, is its credibility and the will for pluralism that at least tried to preserve itself, although each Government always made its bias noted. The degradation of RTVE curtails a fundamental right for citizens such as access to information.

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