Sanchez will force the media to explain who finances them

BarcelonaPedro Sánchez's government continues to advance its plan for what it calls democratic regeneration, but which hostile voices treat as a program of media control. The new step is a draft law, presented this Tuesday, "for the improvement of the democratic governance" of news companies. The council of ministers justifies it by saying that it is necessary to adapt the Spanish legal system to European regulations on digital services and media. Among the measures to be promoted is the creation of a state media registry, accessible to citizens, in which "the ownership structure and the public funds, national and foreign, that they receive in the form of advertising" will have to be registered.

In addition, the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) is entrusted with directing a procedure to evaluate the processes of media concentration and thus guarantee "that information plurality and editorial independence are respected." The law also aims to advance the protection of digital rights and, to this end, provides that the CNMC can designate "reliable whistleblowers", entities "to warn about illegal content". In addition, internet providers will be encouraged to warn about problematic content and provide themselves with reporting channels. It also advocates that platforms provide greater transparency regarding the recommendation criteria of their respective algorithms.