Politics and entertainment

Throughout Spain, it is news that election coverage has crossed the border—which is increasingly liquid—between information and entertainment. In fact, for years now, politicians have been observing with concern how their messages do not penetrate wide layers of voters, especially the youngest ones, due to the decline of the traditional press. That is why we see them on social media, without ties, launching direct and effective messages, favored by the pace and immediacy of digital media.

But what has happened in Spain in recent years goes further. Political polarization, especially in the tense atmosphere of Madrid, has radiated a confrontation that has echoes of the 20th century and has already jumped to the ideological and cultural sphere. Anti-Sanchism and anti-fascism, which are two reactive movements, are trying to take over the central space of the citizen debate. But the PP-Vox bloc has the majority support of the press, and it also infiltrates very skillfully into social networks, setting favorable mental frames there.

At the same time, the ideological battle has entered the world of entertainment with a great deal of noise. It is no coincidence that this is happening now. Programmers have deduced that polarization builds loyalty in at least a good chunk of the audience pie. Many comedians have decided, out of conviction or for brand positioning, that the public wishes to be entertained in a specific direction. With clear positioning. Placing themselves under one of the two umbrellas. The PSOE has played hard, because it knows that in the world of humor it has more assets than its opponents, and it has filled the TVE schedule with auteur programs where the rule for entertainers is no longer to laugh at everything, but to defend one's own ideas and satirize those of the opposition. Neutrality is considered an act of tepidness or even cowardice. The next step, obviously, was to have politicians participate in these entertainment programs.

In the program Polònia, which is broadcast on a public television station, during some election campaigns we invited the heads of the lists to play themselves in some gag on the show. We only did this when we had the approval of all of them, with previously agreed-upon scripts so that, despite the satire, no one would feel mistreated. They were sketches where all the candidates demonstrated a capacity for self-parody, and therefore all came out well-regarded, without damaging the basic premise of the program, which is that all ideologies can end up looking ridiculous. At the time, this practice was criticized for being frivolous by analysts of "serious" journalism.

I cannot overlook that Polònia has been accused of being sectarian and biased by right-wing Spanish parties (PP, Vox, and previously Ciutadans) for taking Catalonia as its national framework and, regarding the events of 2017, for showing solidarity with its imprisoned or exiled "characters". I understand, therefore, that neutrality is always something subjective.

The increasingly militant humor has led one of the country's best comedians, David Broncano, who hosts a declaratively left-wing program, to invite candidates to La revuelta, surely convinced that Feijóo and Abascal would not agree to it (in the same way that Pedro Sánchez has declined to go to El hormiguero). But after seeing how Sánchez and Rufián shone in respective “complicit” interviews, Abascal was cunning enough to agree to be interviewed there, but demanding a “neutral” audience, since TVE is a public medium. And Broncano, cornered, not only accepted it, but made the mistake of setting humor aside and giving him a “serious” interview. Serious and bad. Luckily, he immediately admitted his misstep, which does him honor.

Shall we talk about the limits of humor? The clearest limit of humor is that it must be funny.