The Andic case and the image of the day

The arrest of Jonathan Andic, accused of his father's death, captured the attention of televisions on Tuesday morning, especially from the moment he arrived at the Martorell courts. With permission, of course, of the news about Zapatero's imputation: Spanish media were full of it, doing very exhaustive live specials, with little time to report on anything else. Sara Loscos, on Tot es mou, spoke of "the image of the day and beyond". Without a doubt, it was. All the news programs used it, specifying that the detainee was handcuffed and, in some cases, repeating the scene on several occasions. On Informativos Telecinco they replayed the accused's journey with the mossos entering and leaving the courts up to six times. They specified that Andic was cabizbajo y esposado (head down and handcuffed), to emphasize the image. The snapshot also served to illustrate the news on studio screens and reference the story. The detainee's social status in this context was the morbid element. There were headlines that served to add sensationalism and drama to the case. On Mañaneros on La 1, they asked on a screen caption: ¿Mató a su padre por la fortuna de Mango? (Did he kill his father for Mango's fortune?), and on Informativos Telecinco they announced it as La herencia envenenada (The poisoned inheritance), to delve into the details of the story.Most of the programs took a retrospective look at the case to refresh viewers' memories. Some news programs even returned to the Montserrat area near the scene of the events. They interviewed lawyers, criminologists, and crime experts to recall the most sordid details and some theories that had been put forward in the past year. On "Tot es mou", the discussion served as a strategy for speculation., the discussion served as a strategy for speculation.In the news, there was another differentiating fact that caught the attention. At Antena 3 Noticias, they pixelated the faces of the Mossos d'Esquadra who accompanied Andic to protect their identity. At La Sexta Noticias, on the other hand, they pixelated the detainee and left the faces of the police visible. In the rest of the news programs, they did not erase anyone's image. There is no single criterion or clear approach in the decision.Meanwhile, in X, Carles Porta responded to viewers' requests: “Of course we will try to cover the Andic case, but now is not the time. Allow me to remind you that a detainee is not guilty even if they are sent to prison. A trial and a sentence are necessary. We have to wait and see how everything evolves”. The proof of the need to spectacularize the story and the audience's impatience to discover the details. A voracity that seems to make us increasingly insensitive to tragedy.