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.

Since Tuesday, Spanish media have been investing multiple hours in the details of the indictment of former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for crimes of criminal organization, influence peddling, and document forgery. The Plus Ultra case, already dubbed the Zapatero case by many media outlets, confirms how Spanish private television channels are participating in an operation to wear down the government of Sánchez that goes beyond the duty to inform.One of the most furious examples is that of Horizonte,, by Iker Jiménez, on Cuatro, where for days the program has been dedicated exclusively to this topic. It is the optimal place to observe the entire anthill at the service of the ultraconservative movement in Spain. The guests at the reflection table use the strategy of the fat stack, and collapse the viewer through simple saturation of details. It is impossible to follow the thread. Jiménez and company talk about multiple protagonists, citing them only by their first name as if the audience knew them perfectly well. They refer to supposed details of Zapatero's network, to conversations and messages that it is impossible to know what they are about. Clarity is not sought, but rather to construct an incomprehensible noise that brings out an unprecedented level of corruption and gravity. It is a metaphor for the white fog they throw onto the set to increase the atmosphere of mystery. “This afternoon we were all overcome with shock, one more, regarding the situation that is hypnotizing the audience. It has never happened before and it is important”. They referred to the news of the blocking of Zapatero's bank accounts and the supposed increase in audience that the case has generated for them. Hypnotizing the audience perfectly fits this will to stun through collapse. “This thriller that Spanish politics has become surpasses any issue”. Inda and company denounced preferential treatment by the justice system towards Zapatero and especially towards his daughters.Curiously, in Horizonte they have as a participant a “journalist” (so they say) presented with the role of spokesperson for Víctor de Aldama, the commissioner indicted in the Koldo case and in other judicial proceedings affecting the PSOE government. The role of this collaborator is absolutely murky because as the discussion develops, he reads mobile phone messages that Aldama sends him while watching the program. On Saturday at noon, Antena 3 Noticias echoed the March for Dignity organized by Sociedad Civil Española, with the support of the PP and Vox. The images also showed very disturbing symbolism in the clothing of some participants. What they didn't say on Antena 3 (but did specify on Telecinco) is that Victor de Aldama was also at the forefront, protected by members of Desokupa. Aldama was cheered by the protesters. A grotesque situation. A demonstration against the alleged corruption of the government followed by someone indicted in these plots. Of all this, more things escape us than are explained to us.

Wednesday morning, the Spanish Prime Minister regretted, in a parliamentary session, that Iker Jiménez, presenter of the program Horizonte, on Cuatro, had an audience. He did so with resignation, after pointing him out as a source of lies and misinformation linked to right-wing parties.Sánchez has caused a Streisand effect. Mediaset has closed ranks with the presenter. The same evening, Informativos Telecinco reported on it, and several stars rushed to support their colleague. On Wednesday night, Iker Jiménez felt powerful and euphoric: “Well, well...”, he exclaimed at the start of Horizonte, playing the interesting card. He boasted about the large number of supportive messages he had received. And he invited Pedro Sánchez to the program, admitting that he was surprised by the importance the president had given him. “I even like it”, he said. He proudly assumed that Horizonte was annoying to power because it was a space of freedom. He took credit for the audience and the investigative capacity. “For a journalist like me, who has a bit of an ego, being there in that debate also fascinates me”. Carmen Porter, Jiménez's wife and co-presenter, joked: “You haven't done me any favors, I'm the one who has to put up with you. And I have to take that ego home with me. I don't know whether to thank you, Mr. President, or ask you not to mention him again, because if you do... he'll get carried away!”. Needless to say, Horizonte saw a surge in audience after the controversy.Pedro Sánchez's comment has activated what we could call strategic victimology: turning facts into proof of truth. Iker Jiménez and other presenters who attack the left have long maintained the narrative of dissent persecuted by power. Sánchez's comment serves to confirm it. The Spanish president's words do not erode Jiménez's credibility, but rather reinforce it and validate the supposed interference of political power in the media sphere. Mediaset, an expert in manufacturing artificial conflicts, could not have imagined a better spectacle than this duel. Neither Iker Jiménez could have aspired to more, nor Pedro Sánchez to less.The other presenter who had a busy day was Pablo Motos, after one of his panelists, Rosa Belmonte, disparaged a Cuatro panelist, Sarah Santaolalla, with a very sexist comment. The next day, the presenter apologized. The controversy is so elementarily sexist that it does not need to be elaborated on. However, the facts are not accidental. Belmonte throws the dart because she is in a space of complicity, sharing that mental framework. The laughter of Motos and Juan del Val, and the fact that the presenter was unable to immediately reject the offensive and crude comment, demonstrate this. Laughing is taking a position, and the late apologies the next day are part of a simple damage control. Because both El hormiguero and Horizonte have long used informational degradation as a promotional engine. These are the kinds of low blows that bring them new followers.

There are television nights when the stars seem to align to bring together, on a single set, all possible contemporary forms of informational degradation. On Monday, on Cuatro, there was a risk that the media space-time would implode before the gathering, at the same table, of characters who dedicate all their energy to distorting reality. HorizonThe ultra-sensationalist and conspiratorial current affairs program hosted by Iker Jiménez and Carmen Porter was joined by Eduardo Inda and Juan Soto Ivars. They began the program with a heartfelt tribute to Fernando Esteso and his films. They transformed his entire filmography into a kind of Nostradamus who had anticipated and predicted our present.They are visionary films!"," exclaimed the presenter, fascinated by this phenomenon of divination. Admiring the freedom of the era, they all lamented with nostalgia:This would be unthinkable now!The massive avalanche of dandruff surpassed any paranormal phenomenon Iker Jiménez had ever tackled in his career as a ghost hunter and alien locator. Adding to the pile of fat was Bea Talegón, in her phase of conversion and adaptation to new social trends. The journalist, who was one of the most inflated voices. FAQs On TV3 during the Process, he performs grotesque balancing acts on a tightrope held by the most sordid figures of the far right. At a table of monolithic thinking, where they agree with each other, these figures behave like clairvoyants who possess the solution to all of Spain's problems. They feign indignation at the incompetence of the government, the left in general, and the separatists in particular. They legitimize conspiracy theories and pretend to have classified information that they themselves promise to reveal at the opportune moment. They claim to have extraordinary contacts with top-level information that will trigger a turning point that will save the nation. They salivate over every video on social media that confirms their position and stage a perfectly orchestrated choreography to further radicalize their loyal followers. They consider any dissent from their extreme theories to be the product of stupidity and a collective brainwashing being carried out by the government for electoral purposes.