The PSOE's problem with the media

Sunday The Country announced that Joseph Oughourlian was taking over as president of the newspaper, and this Monday he published a highly relevant opinion piece because it highlights the hidden war going on with the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) for control of the outlet. The text, minus one paragraph, is the classic declaration of intent that appeals to the solemn mission of the press as guarantor of democracy. It also includes the quote attributed to Orwell, according to which journalism is publishing what someone doesn't want you to publish, and the rest is public relations. ChatGPT could have written it, to put it mildly. But, as I said, there is a paragraph that contains the real message. Here's the poison: "It would be unacceptable if, when we are commemorating the death of dictator Francisco Franco 50 years ago, someone were to fall into the temptation of trying to take over an independent media outlet from a position of power, either directly or by using a state-owned company as an instrument." Constrained by the diplomacy that comes with his position, Oughourlian speaks in generic terms—oh, public relations—when he's unequivocally referring to Telefónica. This is the state-owned company he doesn't dare to name and which he accuses of maneuvering with Pedro Sánchez's government to secure a majority stake within the Prisa group that would allow the PSOE to take control of the conglomerate.

The painful contradiction of the president of Prisa is that it reveals that, at these levels, the ruined rhetoric about independence is pure fantasy. Prisa knew how to do things very well to establish itself as the leading media group in Spain, but it wouldn't have achieved it without its closeness to the PSOE. And for the current socialist leader to try to balance a media landscape tilted brutally to the right in a country where the left wins is politically understandable... but democratically unacceptable.