Ustrell and the gloomy interview with President Isla

On Monday morning, radio and television channels kicked off the regular season with a media special. Ricard Ustrell conducted the official interview with President Salvador Illa as host of the program.The morning of Catalunya Ràdio, but this time the broadcast also affected TV3's programming. At nine in the morning, Ariadna Oltra had to stop her talk showIn the mornings to make way for her colleague's interview. A move that led to an unusual and somewhat acrimonious start to the season for the journalist, who had to cede her program time to the omnipresent Ustrell. However, Oltra gracefully and naturally integrated the interview and took advantage of it to offer a post-broadcast analysis with her collaborators.

The start of the institutional interview was surprising due to its staging, especially the poor lighting, which contributed to a dark and sinister atmosphere. It also cast shadows on Isla's face, especially around her eyes. The setting contrasted with the traditional majesty of TV3's presidential interviews, which are characterized by a carefully designed atmosphere. Beyond the poor lighting, what was striking was that the production failed to enhance the uniqueness of the moment. Instead of giving the conversation the bright and energetic quality typical of a Monday morning when the entire country seems back to full activity, the decision was made to favor an atmosphere of nocturnality and incomprehensible darkness, which was hardly conducive. The space betrayed failed ambition and pretensions. It seemed like eleven at night, not nine in the morning. The darkness even took over the tone of the interview, which was serious and subdued. The placement of a table and microphones served to visually underline its radio-like nature. But the fact that it interrupted TV3's regular programming gave it an inevitable television relevance that demanded more attention on the screen. The setting adds meaning and value to the content, and the gloomy environment for a presidential interview marking the start of the new year may not have been the optimal climate. It's as if the need to conduct the interview simultaneously for radio and television had overshadowed the media language considerations that this entails.

The corporate approach of opening television to radio broadcasts can be interpreted as a project—more difficult than it seems—to stimulate synergies between both media. However, it is necessary to keep in mind that each medium has different codes and language, which are not always interchangeable. And carrying out this operation requires attention to detail and balance between media that is not easy. This is even more so when the way it is executed exudes more the sensation of stepping on each other's toes and getting in each other's way than of innate symbiosis.