RTVE workers in Catalonia feel disrespected by their subservience to Madrid.
The network decided that the special produced in the Spanish capital would overlap the news programs produced in Sant Cugat.
BarcelonaThe RTVE Workers' Union in Catalonia issued a statement on Thursday lamenting the broadcaster's news policy while awaiting the appointment of the new pope. Specifically, it complained that instructions had been given that, in the event of a white smoke, if any program from the Catalan shutdown was being broadcast, it would be immediately interrupted and a special prepared from Madrid would be made available. The order even affected the news program. The afternoon, which has its own experts. "This represents a disregard for RTVE professionals in Catalonia, but also for the analysts participating in the program, considering them unqualified to assess the situation," the union explains in its statement.
"The image we will project as a media outlet will be terrible, given that we will prove unqualified to handle such a relevant news story," the statement continues. It adds: "This decision, coupled with the elimination of all news and current affairs programs in Catalan, is incomprehensible after the great announcement of a new Catalan-language channel." The Workers' Commissions concludes that the deterioration in the management of the company's news programs is "serious and unusual." The program The afternoon It is broadcast from Monday to Friday at 7:30 p.m. on the 24-hour news channel.
The arrival of the white smoke also caused an unusual moment on TVE, since at that very moment the public channel was offering a promotion for the film. Megalodon. Halfway through the trailer, while the giant sharks were just about to launch one of their deadly attacks, the image cut out without a fade to black or a pause, and cut to the famous Vatican chimney and the smoke announcing the consensus, with the shouts of those gathered in front of the Basilica of Sant Pere in the background.
"It's a shame that we haven't been able to fulfill our responsibility to the citizens, as the public service that we are," Quim Barnola, presenter of ARA, explained.The afternoon"At a time when a Catalan-language channel is being promoted, it would be desirable to recover the ambition of what the Catalan circuit had been, in its prime." The program had a person who could make connections from the Vatican (and who also participated in the programs) Ideas Cafe, The speaker and several Radio 4 programs).
A problem that drags on
Beyond this incident, the workers' discontent has been ongoing for some time. There was also a sense of grievance with the blackout, when it was decided that all resources would be prioritized for the special broadcast in Spanish on La 1, even though there were staff to provide local news and in Catalan. Another recent example of this subjugation to general programming was seen in the last candidates' debate, which was initially scheduled to be presented by Gemma Nierga and presented in Catalan, but which ultimately also included Xabier Fortes, in Spanish, so that it could be broadcast offline on La 1.
of RTVE in Catalonia, Esteve Crespo, and the recently appointed director of the new Catalan-language channel, Oriol Nolis. The clash is between two opposing ways of conceiving the regional center: the former ensures that it is a production center that serves the maximum number of programming hours for general programming, while the latter is tasked with setting up a Catalan-language channel but cannot decide on the internal resources to be allocated. Added to the poor personal relationship is the conflict of responsibilities. And, to all this, there is still a political implication, since Nolis's name has been primarily promoted within the Junts (Junts) coalition. In fact, he held the position of director of RTVE in Catalonia for a time, but resigned in September 2023, considering that he had closed a chapter. In his farewell message, he hinted at having often swum against the current of the structure: "With mistakes and successes, I have worked to highlight that sensitive people can and should contribute their talents, even though this is often exhausting," he wrote.
