Zapatero and the guerrilla talk show hosts

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, interviewed on Onda Cero by Carlos Alsina, has criticized that the station has hired Ketty Garat, from The Objective, as a panelist. It is unpleasant to see a former president criticizing ad hominem a journalist, no matter how uncomfortable and hostile she may be. If she has published any false information, she has legal instruments at her disposal to seek a correction or, if applicable, compensation. Public complaint, even if loaded with reasons, is sterile and counterproductive, and today the entire media galaxy fed the classic martyrology that this type of aggressive digital outlets espouse. The formula is well known: while they cry and play the victim, they lash out at their political enemies from luxury platforms with dossiers of dubious origin that too often end up in nothing. 

However, having said that and beyond this specific case, the presence of certain voices in talk shows is clearly a functional anomaly of the media system (which certainly will not be resolved with Mr. Talante furrowing his iconic eyebrows in front of a radio microphone). Under the noble label of dialectical debate from opposing sensibilities, what the major media offer is not the search for nuances from a polyhedral narrative but a lamentable spectacle where certain profiles act as quasi-spokespersons for the parties. Zapatero could have illuminated this problem without focusing on a name, but on structural failure. And by stating that the left has also equipped itself with guerrilla panelists. However, the solution —which will never come, I am not an illusionist— should come from the profession. It is the journalists who follow the standards of the profession who should refuse to participate in certain circuses and alongside certain opinion troublemakers. No one, of course, will take the first step.