Griso, Junqueras and the PP's advertorial

On Wednesday, Oriol Junqueras was invited to Public mirror. The meeting with Susanna Griso could not have been more opportune. The debt forgiveness plan had taken up a good part of the current affairs debate on the programme, and it was evident that it provoked indignation and fuss among the collaborators. As expected, the editorial line of the magazine also showed the usual indifference that everything that has to do with Catalonia generates.

Griso went to find Junqueras, who was waiting for him sitting in the guest chair. The presenter greeted him with her usual elegance and began the interview. The debt forgiveness did not take long to appear, but before asking Junqueras to explain himself on the subject, the presenter preferred to introduce it from the complaints of the PP. And before letting the guest respond, she suggested that he watch the video that the PP had made viral in which it compared the public investment that could be made with that debt that was forgiven in Catalonia. "Let us listen and answer you". They split the screen. On the left side they broadcast the entire PP video, without cutting a single bit. They even kept the initial image in which you can see a photo montage with Puigdemont and Junqueras bathing in a pool full of gold coins. On the right side of the screen they kept Junqueras watching the video. What if the construction of more than 100 hospitals, the salaries of 310,000 doctors, 113,000 social housing units... Afterwards Griso still didn't let him answer and invited him to watch another entire video released to the networks by the PP. This time it was the one of the president of Aragon explaining on a blackboard the trap of the forgiveness and how it would harm his community. More than a minute, in full, together with Junqueras listening to the lessons of the PP. Susanna Griso, assuming that all the data and calculations were true, challenged Junqueras: "307 euros more for each Catalan. Let's see how this is now calculated for a Madrilenian or an Aragonese..." And Junqueras said in a dirty tone what the viewers also perceived from home: "It is a great achievement that an interview with an ERC representative becomes a PP advertorial". This series of PP videos, broadcast in full, was unnecessary when asking Junqueras for clarification. And the way in which the programme seemed to endorse the solidity of the PP's arguments corroborated the ideological bias of the programme. Griso excused himself: "This is not an advertorial, but we are listening to the most critical voices so that you can give us the opportunity to respond." Sure, but to follow the media and digital propaganda of the parties not only with one video but with two, broadcast in full and consecutively (and which were strangely long), even broadcasting them before letting the guest speak about it, smelled more like an advertorial than journalism. It was clear that there was more excitement in showing the PP videos to the audience than in listening to Junqueras' response.