Besides winning yesterday's self-bet – no newspaper from either Spain places climate change at the center of the debate, for better or worse – Wednesday's front pages remain completely stuck on sterile political bickering. And this is not only noticeable in the grand narratives and arguments being promoted, but also in small miseries. For example, El País says: “Tens of thousands of evacuees return as the fire is contained”. And also, in 20 minutos: “Firefighters contain the fire in Madrid and 30,000 residents from 10 municipalities return home”. On the other hand, on the front page of La Razón we find: “Hundreds of evacuees in Ávila, Madrid and Castellón return to their homes”. Between “hundreds” and “tens of thousands” the proportion is one hundred to one. And it doesn't seem coincidental to me that it is the newspaper directed by Francisco Marhuenda who, precisely, where others see 100 returnees, he only registers 1. Who ate the other 99? I'll tell you: the desire to minimize any good news. If it were Ayuso managing the fires, not tens of thousands, but tens of millions, even trillions, would have returned, coming from all corners of the galaxy and beyond.
Also this Wednesday, in El Mundo, speaking of Sánchez: “He takes advantage of his semi-annual balance sheet to exhibit the achievements of his mandate and to support Zapatero, his wife, and his brother”. But, in El País the headline indicates the exact opposite: “Sánchez cools his support for Zapatero: ‘I am not his spokesperson’”. This is the state of the press in Madrid, where it doesn't matter if they are one or a hundred or if someone supports or rather withdraws support. From time to time, there are readers who tell me that perhaps it is not worth paying so much attention. But as long as their capacity to drive certain agendas and condition public debate remains so high, I think this modest contribution to identifying the tricks and traps with which they achieve it is worthwhile.
