The Committee against the manipulation of information
01 January 2004
Workers from the Spanish public television broadcasting company Televisión Española (TVE) have set up a committee to report the pressure to which media workers are subjected. They have established the Comité contra la manipulación informativa en TVE (Committee against the manipulation of information in TVE) which has produced detailed reports on cases of manipulation and bad-practice in TVE news programmes since March 2003. It produced a "Catalogue of ill-practices that are customary in the TVE information programmes", with the goal of "contributing to the creation of a movement of professionals who reject such behaviour". The 24 aspects that are highlighted refer to: news that has no informational value, other than being propaganda for the government; the different treatment for the governing Partido Popular (PP) and opposition parties, including a disparity in airtime for current events or for replies to criticism; the stifling of information on disputes within the PP, whereas disputes within other parties are highlighted; the adoption of propagandist tones when reporting government initiatives, and of editorial content that systematically tows the government line; the silencing of issues that arouse criticism of the government from different economic political, social or cultural milieux; a partial, and positive, treatment of information on government policy; the highlighting of positive effects and ignoring or minimising their negative effects; the avoidance of possible mistakes or ill-planning by the government when unexpected events occur; ignoring corruption or mismanagement involving government or PP officials; the ordering of news items to benefit the government or PP; the misuse of images to create false associations that harm opposition parties; the confused presentation of opposition initiatives, amid suggestions of incoherence, flaws or internal disagreement; the right of reply of government representatives to criticism, contrasted with its absence by members of the opposition; the discrediting of opposition regional governments (especially in the Basque Country); and finally, in terms of international politics, the marginalisation of any views opposing the Bush government's unilateralist policies.
Alfredo Urdaci, the director of TVE's information services, was found guilty of "violating the fundamental strike and trade union rights" on 23 July 2003 by the Audiencia Nacional, for TVE's coverage of the general strike on 20 June 2000, after Comisiones Obreras (CCOO, a trade union organisation) pressed charges. Urdaci, who is also the leading TVE1 news presenter, said he would read a statement agreed with CCOO officials to inform the public about this sentence on 8 October 2003.
The problem does not seem to be limited to state-run broadcasters. The workers' committee of a private television station, Antena 3, issued a press release criticising the situation in the company. They argue that reports are affected by political interests and "the reporters are not allowed to have eyes or ears, but rather, just hands to type out what they are told". The committee stressed that, since 2001, it has been working on a statute for reporting to counter the manipulation of information, and to ensure the workers' independence and freedom of expression. However, the statute has not materialised and has been opposed by the channel's directors. The workers' committee claimed that Antena 3s recently appointed manager Carlotti has argued, "in working breakfasts with the workers, that a left-wing journalist cannot work in a right-wing media company". The response to the demand for a reporters' statute was the establishment of an editorial committee that, according to the workers, aims "to increase control over news contents even more, and to provide an apparent legitimacy to the suppression of fundamental rights like the right to information and the freedom of expression." Firing employees has been another way that the adminis