17 September 2021
The director of TV3, Vicent Sanchis, traveled to Brussels to meet the former president of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, on July 26, 2020
Three out of every four people interviewed on public media of Catalonia, TV3 or Catalunya Radio, on issues related to the political and territorial debate in Catalonia are independentists and the number of interviews by these media with representatives of entities that are not in favor of independence is testimonial. These conclusions are extracted from the data of the “Report in relation to the fulfillment of the specific missions of the public service of competence of the Generalitat of Catalonia”, corresponding to the year 2019 and that was analyzed by the Catalan Audiovisual Council (CAC) on September 8.
In this report, it is detailed that, in 2019, TV3 conducted 833 interviews with representatives of governments, parties and other political institutions and social entities in news, magazines and other informational spaces. Of these 833 interviews, 732 spoke for political bodies and 101 for entities linked to the political debate. In the first case, for every person opposed to independence, three who were partisans were interviewed. Of the 101 people representing entities interviewed, 94 were independentists. The percentages are very similar to the television news channel 324 and in Catalonia Radio. At 324, 70% of the interviews with representatives of governments and parties were pro-independence spokespersons and of the 38 interviews with members of entities linked to the political debate, 36 will be pro-independence. In Catalonia Radio, the percentages of these interviews were 75.6% for independentists in the case of political leaders and 92.7% for social entities.
Carme Figueras, counselor of the CAC, at her concurrent vote for the approval of this report, expresses her disagreement with the reality that these data reveal and denounces “deficiencies that are detected in terms of political pluralism, objectivity and balance, in informative programs and, more specifically, in informative magazines “. Figueras considers that “the CAC should warn the CCMA about the obligation to comply with the public service missions that are required of it in terms, specifically, of political pluralism and the balance in the diversity of opinions of Catalan society, reflecting the reality that it is verified in all the polls and electoral processes “.
Daniel Sirera, also a CAC director, highlights in his concurring vote that the report states that in 2019, Catalonia Radio interviewed representatives of associations defending the Statute and the Constitution 4 times and members of pro-independence groups 65 times. Sirera accuses the CCMA of “being negligent when it comes to ensuring the validity of the principles of truthfulness and neutrality that should govern public television and radio in Catalonia.”
The CAC has asked TV3 to compensate for the pro-independence imbalance in the documentaries it has aired in the last four years. The data in this report show that it must compensate and correct more ideological imbalances in its news production.
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