The CIC admonishes Ricard Ustrell for a talk show about photojournalists and Rosalía

The Consell de la Informació de Catalunya has issued a ruling that ARA has had access to, according to which El matí de Catalunya Ràdio, presented by Ricard Ustrell, contravened three points of the professional code of ethics. In this way, it gives reason to the photojournalist Jordi Borràs, who had gone to this arbitration body promoted by the Col·legi de Periodistes de Catalunya to protest the treatment that the magazine had given to the ban applied to photographers by Rosalía at her concerts.Specifically, Borràs denounced that the presenter of the program, during the discussion, had made statements “false, biased, unverified, and that directly attack the dignity of the profession”, in the sense that it was implied that if entities in the sector complained, it was actually because they wanted to obtain free tickets.Another of the points of friction was the solution suggested by the program, which consisted of paying for the ticket, going as an audience member, and taking photographs as spectators. “It is not true that we can bring a professional photo team and work from the stands as Ricard Ustrell repeatedly stated without even bothering to verify this claim or giving a voice to one of the hundreds of professionals who dedicate themselves to this profession,” wrote Borràs in his complaint.And there was still a third claim, due to the impossibility of exercising the right of rectification, despite having tried to do so by contacting the broadcaster, which contravenes criterion 3 of the deontological code.The broadcaster's allegations

Catalunya Ràdio, for its part, argued that the fragments of contention took place during the discussion panel called L’àgora, and that the station formally distinguishes clearly between information and opinion spaces. According to the allegations received, “the audience could clearly identify the change between the information block and the start of the discussion panel”.The Information Council, however, considers that this distinction is not sufficient and that even if it is an opinion space, this "does not exempt journalists from maintaining a minimum rigor in those statements that are susceptible to objective verification" and recalls that criterion 1 of the deontological code details that "the opinions expressed by journalists cannot contain false data or be based on it". Furthermore, it details that at the time of the events "there was a public and formal position of the main representative organizations of the sector", who consider these restrictions a hindrance to the right to information.The CIC determines that, furthermore, criterion 2 of the code was violated, according to which “injurious expressions should not be used, nor should imprecise or insufficiently based data be disseminated that could harm the dignity of people and cause damage or discredit”, and which specifies that “the journalist must previously contact those affected to give them the opportunity to respond”. The committee opines that Catalunya Ràdio did not use “injurious expressions in the strict sense” but that “the reiteration of an account that presented the conflict essentially as a claim to obtain free access to shows could project a simplified and potentially disqualifying image of the demands of the affected professionals, especially in the absence of their version of events”, and, therefore, also considers this second criterion to have been violated.Likewise, it considers that the third criterion, relating to the right of reply, was not met either. Although Borràs called the program at the time to intervene, he could not. The station did contact him, but from the midday news program to collect some statements and, therefore, "did not provide a sufficient response to the request for verification and rectification made by the claimant".