TV3 finally broadcasts the documentary 'Flood Alert' and leads the night
The authors accused management of attempted censorship, and the professional committee endorsed this, but the piece was ultimately broadcast without significant changes.
TV3 managed to lead the television ratings on Tuesday night with Nights without fiction, which the documentary offered Flood alert It garnered an average of 272,000 viewers and a 15.7% audience share. This journalistic piece explained the pressure exerted on technicians at the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), during the height of the construction boom, to sign reports favorable to projects in flood-prone areas. The report was preceded by controversy, as it was initially scheduled to air at the end of September, but its broadcast was cancelled when the news department postponed it indefinitely, deeming it did not meet the Corporation's journalistic standards. Its authors, however, considered it an act of censorship and obtained a statement of condemnation from the Professional Committee, the body representing all journalists working at TV3, in addition to the works council, and from the program itself. Non-fiction
At the heart of the controversy was the use of unidentified witnesses who did not appear on screen to protect them; instead, actors read their statements. Furthermore, the accusations they made avoided specifying years and locations, also with the aim of preventing the identification of the whistleblowers who had revealed the pressure. Conversely, the authors believed the reason for the stagnation was different: an agreement they attributed to the news director, Albert Calatrava, and the documentary director, David Bassa, with the relevant departments of the Generalitat (Catalan government), according to which these witnesses would not appear. The version that was finally broadcast this Tuesday did not present significant changes from the first cut. Only some of the witnesses whose statements were repetitive were removed, and texts were added justifying the use of actors and vaguely worded accusations. These captions clarify that everything has been internally verified with other sources to confirm its accuracy. The authors and the program have not expressed any complaints regarding the version that was ultimately broadcast.