Last Sunday, Donald Trump organized his big 80th birthday party. He disguised it as an event for the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence, but July 4th is still a few weeks away. The event surpassed the fanfare of any demented celebration, as it turned American institutions into a platform for entertainment and business. Trump christened the nightly boxing event UFC Freedom 250. They set up a thirty-meter-high stadium in the South Garden of the White House. The structure, which covered the building, housed an octagonal ring. It was the stage for several martial arts fights that were broadcast through the Paramount+ platform, not through a general television channel, as would be appropriate for an institutional event. Paramount+'s owner, David Ellison, is one of Trump's allied businessmen. The UFC is the world's leading mixed martial arts fighting organization. For years it was marginal and banned in much of the United States because it was considered excessively violent. It was Trump who hosted the events in his Atlantic City casinos. On Sunday, Trump treated Dana White, the president of the UFC, like a head of state. Both emerged from the Oval Office with puffed chests and paraded through the illuminated corridors and porches until they appeared on the White House balcony. As they waved, the Air Force Thunderbirds and the Navy Blue Angels crossed the sky. Then they paraded like heroes down the red carpet to the front row of the show. The fighters exited the presidential building escorted by the honor guard, equipped with flags and rifles. The spectacle was obscene: fireworks, a parade of soldiers, the United States anthem accompanied by a military band, and a jumbotron projecting images of imperial eagles. Blue, red, white, and gold dominated that excessive display as if it were an oversized fair. A dramaturgy that exuded a lot of aggression, with a recalcitrant patriotism that mixed testosterone, muscle, weapons, and flags as the backdrop for a sports show loaded with violence.The White House became an advertising platform. As in any televised sports championship, the space was full of sponsor advertisements. Beer brands, casinos, betting houses, and a cryptocurrency business managed by the Trumps. One of the images from the broadcast, which later went viral through social networks, is allegorical: Justin Gaethje, son of mining Arizona and the great UFC champion, the man who smashed Ilia Topuria's face in the fight, contemplated the painting with the Declaration of Independence hanging on the living room wall. He did so dressed in boxing shorts and wrapped in the stars and stripes flag. A fusion of politics and violence that conveys barbarism. The spectacle confirms the degradation of American institutions, reduced to the scenography of an ultra circus for business.

The exclusive of El matí of Catalunya Ràdio with the audio recordings of the call to 112 by Jonathan Andic was accompanied by the interpretation of Francisco Marco, a detective hired by the defense lawyers, who assured the radio that only an actor could feign that anguish: “No one who can premeditate a fall of that type then shows this desperation, which is openly natural. [...] It is materially impossible. No one who intends to simulate that scenario simulates it like this”. The detective tells us what we should think about what we see or hear.It is difficult to assume the public dissemination of these calls to the emergency service. On the other hand, however, television has long accustomed us to listening to recordings of this type in Carles Porta's Crims. True crime favors viewers' tolerance for these audios. While in a news report desperate recordings generate discomfort, morbid shows about real crimes serve as a moral alibi to enjoy them.On Monday at noon, the news reports echoed the most notable fragments of the call. On La 1's Telediario they described the tone of the deceased businessman's son as "desperate and sobbing", and specified that "the defense insists that the investigation tries to dehumanize Jonathan Andic because it does not take into account the trauma of the moment". In other words, the recording seeks the opposite: to humanize the accused.On Antena 3 noticias they explained, as context, that the call to emergency services had been made eight minutes after the fall, after contacting the father's wife. On Informativos Telecinco it caught attention that the news screen was filled with the Mango logo as an easy reference for the audience. They clarified that that recording was one of the main pieces of evidence the defense would use. But the most insidious thing was the way they illustrated the audio recordings. When the lament of “my father has fallen” was heard, they used images of Isak Andic's stumble months before he died. In the same way, when the recording was heard of Jonathan providing the location, they included a family photo in which father and son appeared smiling, taking a quiet summer stroll years before the founder of Mango fell down the ravine. At Telecinco, they also emphasized the expression Jonathan used to call his father: “Old mannnn!” In the Telenotícies migdia of TV3, beyond the context data, they clarified that “it is another chapter of the case in the media battle for the narrative that is being played out” and that the leaked fragments did not reflect Andic's contradictions. Journalistically, it is key to specify this. The audios cause an impact, but they contribute nothing beyond public speculation. It is a case that is being served to us in installments, and we must keep in mind the role the media play and the extent to which they are allowing themselves to be used by interested parties.

It is common for younger generations to share their geolocation as a sign of affection and trust. Mobile phones have a function that can be activated to indicate location to other chosen devices, and there are also applications that facilitate this information. Each user can decide, in principle voluntarily, which people they want to know where they are at all times. Initially, it was used to locate the mobile phone in case of loss or theft. Then it became useful for keeping track of minors when they began to have some autonomy. It allowed knowing if they had already arrived home or at school and provided a dose of tranquility thanks to rapid and distant, but precise, surveillance. But in the end, it has become a form of socialization and relationship that can lead to abusive forms of control.

Michael Jackson died in June 2009. But even before his death, in the last twenty years, every so often a new audiovisual dose has emerged that recovers the most sordid circumstances of his existence. Netflix has added to its repertoire a documentary miniseries that aims to analyze the sexual abuse trial that was held against him in 2005. Cameras were banned in that trial. And now Michael Jackson: The Verdict gathers as many testimonies as possible to explain the circumstances surrounding the judicial process and the reasons that led to the not guilty verdict. The production seems like a way to compensate for the recent Michael, the successful cinematographic biopic that has been recreated explaining childhood traumas to justify any strange circumstance that surrounded his life.The verdict is gripping, but not because it conducts a relevant investigation or brings anything new to the case. The series captivates because the troubled and decadent life of the King of Pop is bound to have a hypnotic effect on anyone minimally sensitive. The material doesn't need to be unpublished. Everything is so murky and grotesque that even seeing images we've already seen in the past still evokes fascination. The miniseries revisits the testimony of Martin Bashir, the BBC journalist who recorded the famous documentary Living with Michael Jackson, which exposed the singer's delusional and frivolous life. Bashir, the man who deceived Lady Di with an interview at her home, managed to uncover the hints of sexual abuse later denounced by Gavin Arvizo, the cancer-stricken teenager Jackson had invited to sleep in his bed since he was little. The verdict recovers archival footage from that production and the police recordings from the Neverland raid. The series seeks an apparent fairness by including the version of Jackson's defense lawyers and the voice of the prosecutors in the case. In fact, the documentary recovers as many testimonies as it can: friends of the singer, service staff, Neverland workers, jury members from the trial, police officers who handled the case, and journalists who dedicated years to investigating the artist to squeeze every last drop out of the facts. It's not much because the story has already been told so many times and mulled over so much that it doesn't quite move forward. In no case does it surpass Dan Reed's Leaving Neverland, De Dan Reed. In the future, either new evidence emerges or you end up with the feeling that economic power has always managed to hide something that seems obvious but doesn't quite surface. There is only a small distinguishing fact when this case is explained to you again: the more years separate us from the artist's death, the more you realize how the disturbing and destroyed aspect of the character and his troubled life came to be normalized. Seen now, it is incomprehensible. Michael Jackson died at just the right moment so that current social standards and the evolution in victims' rights and consent would not end up crushing him completely.

The signing of Marc Giró for La Sexta has spurred public television to try to replicate the successful formula. This Thursday, taking advantage of the audience wave left by the first World Cup match, El perro andaluz, the new late show by comedian Manu Sánchez, premiered. The spirit of Marc Giró hovered over the set. It even seemed that they had reused the set. Both presenters lean towards the same side: they fiercely defend left-wing values with an elegance that could seem right-wing. Sánchez, charming and bold, wears his hair slicked back with gel and sports a well-defined, bushy beard. He uses the neutral gender to greet the audience and boasts of his identity pride: Andalusianism. The show's band has the feel of a rociero choir and the skyline of Seville dominates the set. He vindicated his origin, his temperament, and his Andalusian accent, stating that it had closed doors for him in the past, and he highlighted his condition as a hard worker: “I have always been against the stereotype of being lazy and idle that they have imposed on us out there!,” he exclaimed. Like Giró, he has made the strategy of appropriating the most hostile language to confront it his own trademark. Hence the allegory of the perro andaluz from the film with which Lorca alluded to himself and which also connects with the most stoic political sanchismo. “We are dogs without breed, without a leash, and without a muzzle!,” he insisted, boasting of his fiery and defiant attitude. He displayed the label "TelePedro" as a media brand, greeted in the four co-official languages, and waved the flags of the seventeen autonomous communities with a certain federalist spirit. In his opening speech, too long and very political, he included the UCO, Trump, Zapatero, Netanyahu, Bad Bunny, the Pope, immigration, public healthcare, Vox, and an infinite mishmash of current affairs. He quoted Blas Infante and recited Manuel Molina, integrating Andalusian poetics into the monologue. When Manu Sánchez declaims, he embraces everything from the most flamenco affectation to the airs of a tele-preacher. He is one of those presenters who address the audience by shouting and who are already hoarse by the time they start the program. Marc Giró has a very funny sarcastic motto that says traumas should be monetized. And Manu Sánchez obeyed the strategy with discipline: five minutes after starting the program, he was already talking about his testicular cancer with metastases from three years ago, describing the orchiectomy and the chemotherapy treatment. The objective, however, was to use dark humor to talk about death as a defense mechanism for those who have nothing to fear and nothing to lose: “If anyone wants to sue me, let them take me to court. But they should know that I might not even make it!,” he challenged. The first interviewee was Manu Carrasco, to celebrate and accentuate the Andalusian idiosyncrasy, but he finished the program with the classic interview of cowards who suffer to gather viewers: Miguel Ángel Revilla, former president of Cantabria, as the golden goose of ratings. A shame, because in this context, it seems you have to use the north as an insurance policy.

Wednesday evening saw the most apotheotic act of Pope Leo XIV's visit. The spectacle of the inauguration of the tower of Jesus was the celebration that connected most with civil society for its beauty and its link with Gaudí's architecture. Before this majestic moment, in the afternoon, public television channels delved into the events at the Sagrada Família. The broadcast on La 1 of TVE, with Pepa Bueno and Gemma Nierga, maintained a more formal tone, aware of when to speak and of the value of silence, without letting themselves be drawn into affectation. On La 2 Cat, in addition to the preliminaries with Oriol Nolis and Cristina Villanueva, they offered the ceremony with the utmost sobriety, with excellent Crisol Tuà and Anna Solé providing commentary. On TV3, the wait for the Pope's arrival with Toni Cruanyes and Núria Moliner was very well-crafted, especially the architectural content. But perhaps they wanted to do too many things at once. They exceeded themselves by dividing the screen into three and adding a graphic line that marred the image, crudely imitating Gaudí's theme. It looked like a PowerPoint template. Xavier Grasset took over with the start of the mass with an excess of rhetoric that often forgot the importance of the image and of silence. Beyond the mass, the event at the Sagrada Família connected with poetry in two moments: that of Valentina, the blind girl who explained the details of the cross of Jesus, and the moment the Pope lit a candle before Gaudí's tomb. Spirituality goes beyond sermons.The unforgettable and dazzling moment arrived with the dusk, after blessing the tower. A perfect calculation of the exact time. TV3 demonstrated its talent and quality in an excellent production. It was precise and majestic. It was as if Gaudí had foreseen the audiovisual and media potential of his great work. The fusion of light, music, and image was masterful. A show so well-crafted that it perfectly managed unforeseen events and last-minute changes. The perfect synergy with the production allowed a decisive element to finally appear that we had not yet seen since the Pope set foot in the State: mysticism. Beauty generated emotions that could be shared by citizens in a transversal way, without obliging religious convictions or the use of words. The pulses of light endowed the Sagrada Família with a soul, and the spectators, thanks to television as a privileged window, witnessed how spirituality crossed the basilica from top to bottom. Neither celebrities nor the rhetoric of experts, more old-fashioned than the Pope, are needed to move people. The use of drones with Gaudí's face contemplating his work was a symbolic way to bless the architectural epic in another way. "First love, then technique" is a message for everyone. If Gaudí were to lift his head, he would have seen the sublime hour of his work.

The visit of Pope Leo XIV to Madrid and Catalonia has turned public television into Vatican TV. And not only because of the hours they are dedicating to covering the event, but because of a treatment more akin to catechists than journalists, dragged uncritically by the show. The level of inflammation became grotesque in the pontiff's meeting with the diocesan community of Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. Any religious act practiced en masse in a stadium (it also applies to Barcelona's Lluís Companys) is of a disturbing industrialism that exposes the most fragile gears. The supposed recollection becomes a cathartic act of indoctrination through offerings of dubious results. In Madrid, the production brought the camera to the throat of David Bustamante, who sang with ecstatic shrieks that caused bewilderment. The most regrettable came with a kind of football choreography narrated by Manolo Lama and Paco González with a traditional passion that caused secondhand embarrassment. Through a ridiculous metaphor, they sang the supposed goals of the Church: “An open parish! Perfect attendance against loneliness! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goooal! [...] Next play, Paquito! Full dining room! No one asks where it comes from! They welcome you with a smile and make you feel at home! [...] Impeccable finish! Goal against inequality!” It is a disturbing infantilism.At Montjuïc it was not much different. The only thing that marked cultural differences were the Castellers de Vilafranca, with a tower so far from the Pope that the visual and emotional impact of this tradition was lost.It is understandable that the visit to Montserrat, perfectly carried out, was as it was. It is what befits the institution and television is limited to showing it. But the television wrapping of Tot es mou, with views of the Sagrada Família, was cloying. At TV3, broadcasts have forgotten the non-believing spectator or one disconnected from the Church. An audience, incidentally, for whom they have left few alternatives. On Wednesday morning, Helena Garcia Melero's program, imbued with a kind of celestial spirit, gradually lost its tone until it deflated. Public television should not force this transcendence. That is the job of the Church, not journalists. Even the program's team seemed dressed to go to a baptism. Melero, moved and excited, interviewed some experts with a discourse more suited to evangelization and indoctrination than to the desire to disseminate to the general public. They subjected us to an intensive and soporific course in catechism, but also very revealing. "The person who is visiting Catalonia and Barcelona, who need it so much these days, is precisely Jesus," they even told us. The banality and emptiness of the messages, typical of the most basic self-help, connect only with those who are already convinced. For the rest, good luck. There's less to go.

Last week, the program El juicio on La 2 raised an unprecedented debate topic: Should feminism continue to advance? The lever that allowed them to activate this reflection was a question from the CIS in 2024 about the perception of equality policies. 44% of men answered that they believed these policies discriminated against them, and 32.5% of women did too. The origin of the problem is the same in both cases: the legitimacy of an unquestionable social right is shifted to the realm of opinion. It's not that feminism cannot be discussed. Priorities, public policies, or whatever is considered can be debated. The problem is questioning a fundamental right to create a confrontation for the benefit of spectacle. This dramatization of the conflict into a simple for and against presupposes that equality between men and women is negotiable. It is surprising that lawyer Montserrat Nebrera agreed to defend the thesis against the debate question, even though it is known that lawyers defend their clients even when they are guilty.The testimonies from El juicio raised views on feminism that grated. The artist Aldo Comas stated: “Machismo exists, but I don't think it's as big a problem as they make it out to be or as huge a drama”. Social reality is distorted from an individual opinion which, moreover, is a fallacy. That a specific man does not perceive sexism as a serious problem is no proof of its irrelevance. And this is another problem: reflections are incorporated that do not stem from a criterion of expertise but from finding a gentleman who wants to go on television to pontificate.The question “Should feminism continue to advance?” is a symptom of another circumstance. The previous week, El juicio posed: “Is Spain a racist country?” but in no case did they dare to ask: “Should the fight against racism continue to advance?” Not even the CIS dares to ask: “Have anti-racist policies gone too far?” It is difficult to imagine Nebrera taking on the television defense of these theses nor an artist coming out to comment that the problem of racism is being exaggerated and that there are other priorities. El juicio would also not have the guts to debate whether the rights of LGBTI people should continue to advance or whether the integration of people with disabilities should continue to advance. The popular trial ended with 9 votes in favor and none against. What a coincidence. In the end, everyone comes out looking great and progressive.There are questions that cause debate to cease being a tool for reflection. What they do is take advantage of a social issue to make noise and create spectacle. What this approach demonstrates is that women's rights can still be questioned and put to debate. That is why feminism needs to advance. Because public television still allows itself the right to propose debates of a fundamentally sexist nature.

Pope Leo XIV has not yet set foot in Catalonia and we are already saturated with religious events thanks to an extraordinarily devout television. TVE's La 1 is assuming the broadcast of all ceremonies with unprecedented faith and joy. To top it off, in some television slots (for example, Monday afternoon), it offered triple coverage: La 1, La 2, and the 24h channel in unison offering the same religious content.Beyond the bows and kisses on the hand at the airport, of all the experts praising the Pope with devotion and of the teenagers singing mass songs in front of the public TV microphone, the profile of the parishioner that has been shown to us in the mass events in Madrid stands out. The same way of dressing, with shared color tones, a certain social class, a very similar family style, and medals hanging from the neck that seem mass-produced. In this era of religious fervor that we have to endure and that transcends the Church itself, television shows us a believer of a certain homogeneity in appearance and conduct that distorts the idea of faith and confuses it with status and an ideological temperament.With the Pope's visit to the Congress of Deputies, television showed us another type of uniformity that is very unusual in the broadcasts that normally reach us from there. In recent years, in the hemicycle we have seen shouts, grimaces, aggressive confrontations, contempt, and unpleasant gesticulations that the deputies directed at each other. On Monday morning, beyond the red carpet and the pomp to receive the Vatican authority, in the seat of legislative power we discovered docile and quiet deputies lining up to greet the pontiff. In the hemicycle, all together in their seats, very elegant and polite. Full to the brim, even to the visitors' balconies. In some programs, they even revealed that the authorities had only spent two minutes in the stands to go through the motions. All attentive to the Pope's words and, to conclude the speech, La 1 emphasized that the seven minutes of applause the deputies had dedicated to him were a record for a parliamentary ovation. In times of polarization and maximum political tension, it turns out that the audience, from their homes, observes that the one who holds conciliation power in the State, believe it or not, is the Church. A Church that does not precisely have very democratic values. Not only because of its convictions regarding abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, or equality between men and women, but also because it is an institution that has inflicted much pain with sexual abuse and has remained silent about its crimes. What message does a Pope give to citizens, giving a sermon from the presidential lectern of Congress with all the deputies acting as obedient altar boys? An ultraconservative one, with the Church and faith as the only possible unifier, which does not correspond to that of a non-confessional state nor to the values of a large part of the citizenry.

The somewhat sudden arrival of the heat has prompted the return of evening strolls. When the sun sets and it cools down a bit, it's as if the cities take on a different rhythm. People who take their dog out for its last pee are around all year, but at this time, it's as if the owners need to go out as much as their pets. They take it more calmly and take a longer walk. The noise of traffic decreases, and open windows allow the sounds of homes to reach the street. You can hear someone beating eggs to make an omelet, and further on, a neighbor playing the trumpet with a mute provides a soundtrack that lends a nostalgic air to the atmosphere.

The RTVE Play platform has premiered a documentary series presented by Iñaki Gabilondo about the history of the Spanish language. The program was interesting for observing how a majority linguistic community, consolidated and without threats to its subsistence, approaches the dissemination of its history out of simple cultural curiosity. Spanish does not need to defend itself or claim its existence. It occupies a position of institutional and political centrality that can be presented as a shared heritage solely due to its demographic preeminence. From the perspective of Catalan speakers, accustomed to our language being a battlefield and too often forcing us to justify ourselves to claim it, it was curious to see how the television exercise worked and if it could serve as an exportable model to other languages.

Thursday night, Florentino Pérez went to campaign for the Real Madrid presidency elections on Horizonte, the far-right television nest at Mediaset. That Iker Jiménez, an expert in aliens and psychophony, interviewed him is the real paranormal phenomenon of journalism. Obviously, it was an act of revenge against Atresmedia for having invited his opponent, Enrique Riquelme, to El hormiguero the night before. But it was a bad idea to choose a program that was broadcast while the Spanish national team was playing. Part of the electorate must have been watching La 1 at that time.

Se tiene que morir mucha gente is a title that suggests a pessimistic view of life, a bad temper that denotes existential weariness and an extra dose of sarcasm. It fits with what the series released by Movistar+ proposes, created by the comedian, screenwriter, and writer Victoria Martín. Co-creator of the podcast Estirando el chicle, a successful phenomenon thanks to its irreverent and feminist content, Martín has acquired her own voice with a tendency towards self-parody and black humor that reflects the insecurities of her generation. She also turned this universe into a novel, which she has now adapted for the screen with a raw and acid style.A lot of people have to die works from a very generational perspective, especially with the female audience. It revisits the crisis of the thirties of three lifelong friends: Bárbara (Anna Castillo), Elena (Macarena García) and Maca (Laura Weissmahr). The first is addicted to benzodiazepines, the second is pregnant —unintentionally— by a millionaire much older than her, and the third has a tendency towards toxic relationships. Their love-hate bond and having to share an apartment will further complicate their existence.The best thing about the series are the witty and agile dialogues that give a lot of personality to the protagonists. The idea of including an alter ego of Bárbara as a child as another character to underline her immaturity is sensational, especially because it portrays the crueler and unfiltered nature of an indignant girl. But more than a discomfort against the world and the environment, the big problem the series wants to explain is the lack of self-esteem. They can't stand people, but above all, they can't stand themselves.Mental health problems are a constant in the series, but filtered through black humor. And here is where some of the most uncomfortable aspects emerge. Addiction to benzodiazepines is lightly integrated into the character of Bárbara, and the pregnant woman's behavior of drinking alcohol and smoking is hard to perceive as part of the comedy. There is a trivialization of these circumstances that, depending on how you look at it, is difficult to manage. The series trusts that humor will defuse the seriousness of the events, but ends up falling into the romanticization of mental health problems. Too often, some fictions that want to portray the female universe turn self-destruction into an attractive attribute of the characters, into an element of fascination. Addictions, anxiety, or risk-taking behaviors become the mark of their personality to endow them with charm and complexity. This happens very especially when these characters want to present themselves as irreverent, modern, and indomitable. There is a comical idealization of discomfort and emotional instability. It's as if mental health problems endowed people with charisma. And when this confusion is transferred to real life, then we are not talking about comedy, but about drama.

While the Government struggles to get the Pope to speak a little more Catalan during his visit to Catalonia, the Generalitat has launched an absurd announcement to welcome Leo XIV. The spot looks like a project done by fourth-year ESO students with AI. Both the script and the visual approach are of a stale folklorism that makes you laugh, as it turns our traditions into ridiculous postcards from an eighties-style souvenir shop with a tourist criterion. It would be great to know how much this joke cost us. “A hello can explain our character,” the narration begins. Two young people walking through Montserrat greet each other kindly. And from here they have crammed in all the local themes: sardanas, gralles, tabalers, capgrossos, roses, the Sagrada Família, the Arc de Triomf, the Barcelona Olympic Games, a catalogue of Gaudí, some castellers, the Roman heritage of Tarragona, la Moreneta, Pau Casals and his cello, El cant dels ocells, espardenyes and the four bars. All in 55 seconds. Can you imagine the people responsible for this audiovisual work of art of the most recalcitrant Catalanism making fun of the creative process: “There’s no way we’re adding Miquel Milá’s lights too!”. And the other: “No? Come on! The lights and I’ll throw in the chairs for free!”. And they reuse a still life of furniture that they must have recorded for something else. They’ve only forgotten about Barça, pa amb tomàquet and fuet. All in an artificial montage in which the images are chained to give it an air of modernity, using all the digital manipulation filters that the editing program allows. Catalonia is a land of surrealism. The text enhances it: “The roots break the sky and in April a thousand roses” or “Do you hear the jackdaws? The birds, singing, went to celebrate him”. Now the license to celebrate the welcome to the pontiff is understood, addressing him with a “Hola, Papa Leo XIV!” even though he will hardly tune in to TV3 to see it, but the approach is absurd and forced. They have condensed all the imaginary of the most typical Catalonia mixed, of course, with the right dose of ethnic diversity so that it does not seem reductionist and fosters brotherhood between peoples. It has the infantilism typical of the most worn-out catechism, and seeks a kind of exhibition of symbols that reduces us to a stereotype.   The announcement is an injection of condensed Catalan substance impossible to assimilate directly into the pupil, so that it may not be said that "the government of everyone" does not put its heart and soul into it if the negotiations for the use of Catalan with the Episcopal Conference are not entirely successful. A precautionary strategy for show. A kind of Catalan Welcome Mr. Marshall", because faced with the possibility that the religious visit is not very concerned with the identity issue, it at least seems so. 

On Saturday, Col·lapse interviewed Francisco Marco, director of the detective agency Método 3, to explain the defense's version of Jonathan Andic. He was, therefore, a biased guest, who was hired by the lawyer Sebastián de Juan.With his usual indifference, Jordi González said he doubted whether to call it homicide, accident or murder. “Accident,” Marco replied, emphatically. And González heeded him: “Accident,” the presenter repeated. How easy it is to impose a narrative.The detective spoke about the video of Isak Andic's fall months before his death. He explained, mysteriously, that "an important person from this city" had put them on the trail. Before showing the video to the audience, he described it to condition the viewer: "Isak Andic, just and plop! Falls". The onomatopoeia plop is significant, like an acorn falling from a tree. And he added: "But the important thing about this video is that he doesn't put his hands out". But in the images, it is seen that Andic puts his hand on the step of the stairs to avoid hitting his head. Once again, the detective was already telling us what we should see and think. He was constructing the narrative. Marco referred to Isak Andic as "a gentleman who has a knee condition" and who suffers from "a natural, uncontrolled loss of his legs". He also defined the fall as a "loss of verticality". This supposedly technical use of language was not accidental. It contrasted with the colloquial language he used to describe the work of the Mossos. He spoke of the "fables" they invent, the "fabrication" of evidence, and even used sarcasm to discredit them: "“One of the magnificent pieces of evidence that this policeman says...", he commented with contempt.When Jordi González asked him about the origin of that security video, Marco said: “The gentleman, poor me, who saves Isak Andic from getting into a fight, when he finds out who he is, he asks for the images himself and records them from the monitor with his mobile”. The presenter asks: “To keep them as a souvenir?””, and Marco confirms: “To keep them as a souvenir”. Neither González nor Mayka Navarro – who was participating in the interview – asked him how such an unheard-of frivolity was possible. Marco insisted that this mysterious man was the one who warned “a person close to the environment of La Vanguardia” about the video, and repeated that it is about “a very important family in this city”. A way to give him authority.The most serious and grotesque thing is that while they were talking, the program kept looping Andic's fall, over and over again, on the set's screen. The way of dehumanizing the dead, of turning him into a meme, of reducing him to a test, of repeating the image of the falling man to implant it in our minds is alarmingly insensitive. Marco, by the way, explained that sooner or later we would also see some images they had recorded of people being thrown from the mountain tied with harnesses to reproduce the fall, and he assured that if we saw them, “our souls would shrink”. You already know what the next chapter of the defense will be.

Last Friday, on the Telenotícies migdia, Xavi Coral informed us about an advertisement at Palma airport "that is causing a lot of controversy", with this rather bland introductory phrase, worthy of the most exasperating journalistic inertia. In recent years, a good part of the news in the media has begun in the same way. The presenter developed the case. A huge poster from a German bank promoting the immediate sending of money between users has used the following slogan: "What happens in Mallorca is paid for in Mallorca". The text is written in German. In the report by correspondent Caterina Karmany, it was explained how the Balearic Government has requested the removal of the banner because it invites a tourism of excesses, parodying the famous American slogan "What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas". The statements of Antoni Costa, government spokesperson, were included, railing against Aena, because the airport manager has considered it a harmless play on words. Sunday, two days later, on Telenotícies migdia they explained the same news to us again, even including it in the program's opening headlines. Júlia López spoke to us about the airport sign as if we had never heard of it before: “This sign you can see is at Palma airport and it is not without controversy”. Once again this cliché formula, the autopilot wildcard to announce significance. Joan Raventós explained the translation of the sign to us, the nuance that differentiated it from the Las Vegas phrase and the cause that has provoked the unease in Mallorca. Next, they gave way to a new report by Caterina Karmany who explained the news to us again, although this time she included a group of drunken German tourists to highlight the type of tourism the advertisement is aimed at. Aena was no longer mentioned, but it collected the voices of Mallorcans annoyed by a linguistic issue and Germans living on the island, unhappy with the image of Mallorca presented in their country. The news was the same, but it was explained in a different way.It's strange. At least, in its forms. First, because they tell us the same news a second time as if they hadn't done it before. There is no reference to the fact that the news program already covered the case two days ago. As if between Friday and Sunday there was a kind of disconnection, as if they had nothing to do with each other. And the viewer is left with a feeling of living the groundhog day, with a déjà-vu of events that were already explained to them days ago in the same place. It could be that it was a repurposed piece that could not be broadcast on Friday's Telenotícies vespre (evening news), but in any case, you can't sell fish, two days later, as if it were fresh. It creates a greater sense of cohesion and normality if you talk about it as an extension of work. Because otherwise, it ends up seeming that not even the professionals who make the Telenotícies (news) watch their own news program during the week.

In the first Bad Bunny concert in Barcelona, fans who had paid five hundred euros to enjoy the show from the VIP area posted very distressing videos on social media. Trapped in a supposedly privileged space, they were compressed, with no possibility of moving. They were stuck against each other as if they were traveling on the worst Renfe routes. Some videos showed people crushed against the fences, asking staff for help to leave that place, lamenting an inhumane situation that barely allowed them to breathe. The organization has contradicted the complaints, but, in any case, the situation for fans who had spent the equivalent of a month's rent for a small apartment to see Bad Bunny seemed more like an ordeal than a night of euphoria.

A little over five years ago, on the beloved Islàndia of RAC1, Elvira Moral explained how she was abandoned, along with her siblings, at the Estació de França in Barcelona. It was 1984 and they were only 2, 4, and 6 years old. She turned to the radio looking for people who could provide clues about her biological parents, to reconstruct the past. Albert Om stirred things up and now, Carles Porta finishes the job in Abandonados, on Disney+. A story structured in four chapters that, despite the unease the case arouses, evokes great tenderness. Beyond the search for the parents, which is addictive and surprising, Abandonados moves you with its underlying plot: the affective bond between three siblings who have processed their trauma very differently.

Approximately one month ago, on the program Malas lenguas, on La 1, journalist Ernesto Ekaizer became enraged with the presenter Jesús Cintora and left the program. When the collaborator was asked to comment on some images, he said he had nothing to say, that he had been ignored all program, that he had written three books and that he was leaving the set.Thursday, it happened again. They had been announcing Ekaizer's next intervention via video call for a while to talk about the Leire case. When the time came, the journalist began a soliloquy. The level of detail in Ekaizer's interventions is indisputable. They are so full of proper nouns, circumstances, facts, dialogues, and data that it is almost impossible to assimilate everything he says. Ekaizer spoke for seven minutes without interruption. Seven consecutive minutes on television is a lot. And even more so if it's a single person, from their home, pouring out such a dense and difficult-to-follow narrative. When he himself warned that he had the last point left to develop, Cintora asked him to be brief. And Ekaizer became enraged: “I just said it's the last item! So I'm going to finish! I already said it!” And Cintora replied: “Of course, and I'm asking you to be brief, please”. The journalist lost his temper: “Look: if you're interested, I'll tell you, and if you cut me off, the story is over and you're left with your show!” Cintora, aware of the scene, didn't know whether to celebrate it or redirect it. “Excuse me? Can you calm down, Ernesto? I can ask you to be brief...” And the collaborator continued obsessed with his obsession: “You just have a knack for interrupting! If I say it's the last item, I'm going to say it! I'm aware that you have a time problem!”, and, trying to recover from the setback, he wanted to continue: “So, what I want to denounce is the following: Judge Pedraz and Carmen Pano's defense – the lawyer Javier Gómez Bermúdez – are close friends and have been having beers at Almagro 10 for years”. He continued to explain details of this connection until he stated: “This country is becoming more and more like a country dominated by the UCO, dominated by the UDEF, and soon they will declare a state of siege in Spain”.With the verdict made, Cintora dismissed him: “Ernesto, calm down and good afternoon. Cal-m down”. And Ekaizer, from the armchair in his house, very angry about this final comment, slammed his computer screen. The image suddenly went black and disappeared. Cintora lamented: “Bad manners are what they are. It doesn't get fixed. Some are like this and will continue to be”.The problem is not bad manners. Or not only. It is the television degradation, even more serious on a public channel. It is the constant flirtation with the forms of entertainment inherited from Sálvame. It is impossible for any political analysis to withstand this grotesque display. And for this to happen twice in a month. There was a time when presenters apologized to viewers when television was not up to par. This practically never happens anymore, because everything is exploited.

There isn't a week that goes by without us receiving a call from an unknown number with offers to change electricity companies or get improvements from telephone companies. Technology experts have warned us multiple times with that mantra that says if a service is free, then we are the product, and yet, we don't listen to them. Every day we click the 'accept' option several times when we enter a website or download a mobile app without knowing what 'cookies' imply. Nor do we bother to read the very long conditions we sign every time we consent to the use of this data. We have normalized being asked to fill out forms to become clients of shops and supermarkets in exchange for discounts. We are aware that all this has to do with the use of our personal data, but we have accepted it docilely as an inevitable inertia. From now on, however, there is no excuse to say that you do not understand this dark world that lives by devouring our personal data. Reporter Carles Tamayo, author of the magnificent documentary series How to Catch a Monster, in which he pursued the pederast Lluís Gros, now explains to us what kind of companies obtain our data, how much they are worth, and what they do with it. Now we can know where our life, which we believe to be private, ends up, and what we are accepting.He does it in a new episode of Se nos ha ido de las manos, his program on La 1. Tamayo once again achieves journalistic brilliance. In the chapter El activo eres tú, the reporter collapses Arenys de Mar to show how people are capable of selling their souls to the devil for a pittance. The gas station sequence is very powerful and symptomatic: it illustrates what we do every day through much more subtle strategies.The report has the ability to clearly explain very complex and dark business dynamics. It does so with the virtue of not lying or working with hidden cameras. It shows professional generosity by giving prominence to its entire team throughout the work process. It uses research methods that require creativity and organizational complexity. And, to top it all off, it's all wrapped in a patina of well-measured sense of humor. Tamayo doesn't do it to make fun of people, but because he has a way of looking at the world, with a certain distance, that provokes comic perplexity. It's that laugh to keep from crying in the face of the system's miseries.The reporter, always advised by a lawyer and specialists in the subject he investigates, has created a company that functions as a wildcard depending on journalistic priorities. Through the not-so-innocent Voltor & Voltor, he participates in market dynamics to understand how it works and how it takes advantage of people. The results are devastating. He already demonstrated it with the first chapter on the real estate world and now with data brokers. With the old follow the money strategy, Tamayo does much more than criticize the system. The reporter still tells us more about the human condition.