On Monday evening, the Atresmedia group counter-programmed itself with some symptomatic television offerings. On Antena 3, on El hormiguero, Pablo Motos interviewed the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, to talk about the migration crisis. In the city, the local business community even organized giant screens to follow the broadcast collectively. Meanwhile, on La Sexta, the political satire space El intermedio interviewed Pedro Sánchez. It is a way of guaranteeing the satisfaction of the different ideological sensibilities of the viewers.In the battle of the ratings, in Catalonia they were secondary options, and the Spanish president came out on top. It gathered 206,000 viewers and Vivas 115,000. In Spain it went the other way around. El hormiguero was the second most-watched program of the day, with just over two million viewers, while Sánchez brushed against one and a half million.While Motos was stirring the pot of the Ceuta epic, El Gran Wyoming and Pedro Sánchez put the stones to sleep with an anodyne interview to go through the motions. Conscious of the political complexity of the moment, the host had a deflated mood and only on rare occasions added, out of a sense of duty, some humorous tag to the question. Pedro Sánchez dragged out his answers so much and Wyoming had so little desire to follow up or scrutinize the arguments that it became boring. The host had no desire at all to complicate his life or to complicate it for Sánchez. The result was unworthy of what current events demand right now. We need more attentive and sharp journalism, especially in front of a Prime Minister who escaped with evasions and a lot of rhetoric. Sandra Sabatés's desire for rigor was a mere facade. Paradoxically, the most necessary and concrete questions were asked by two citizens of Ceuta through a video. And even then, no clear and committed response was obtained from Pedro Sánchez. The most sarcastic questions were assists, short and to the foot, for the President to attack political opponents and judges. Wyoming's discomfort evidenced his compassion for the guest. At the end of the interview, the host thanked him with a circumspect tone and accompanied it with a dose of encouragement: “Strength, because morally it must be complicated”, he wished him with his head bowed. A strange farewell for a sharp humor program.On Tuesday, the news programs echoed the most prominent statements by Pedro Sánchez and Juan Jesús Vivas. Years ago, it was the comedy shows that followed in the wake of the political interviews conducted by the most seasoned journalists. Now it is the other way around. The news programs must feed on what they gather from comedy spaces. These are programs that do not conduct interviews with alternative content, but rather imitate the codes typical of the political genre. Neither entertainment could aspire to more, nor journalism to less. And all of this says very little for the political class, which increasingly avoids specialized professionals.

The entire PP leadership and the vast majority of the barons of the party had an appointment in Madrid this Monday: an informative breakfast by Juan Jesús Vivas at the Nueva Economía Fórum. The president of Ceuta traveled to the Spanish capital 39 days after the massive entry of migrants into the autonomous city that still marks the day-to-day of political news, and in the midst of multiplying political tension and crossed reproaches with the Spanish government. The person in charge of introducing him was Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who praised him for having “embodied like no one else the dignity of the State” and for acting as an “ideal president” to defend Ceuta in “times of unrest”. “You have a place in the hearts of millions of Spaniards”, he said.

Juan Jesús Vivas (Ceuta, 1953) has become a daily media presence since July 30. The massive influx of immigrants into Ceuta, the territory he presides over, is the cause. Vivas has been a tireless spokesperson for the unease this has generated among the population of the autonomous city and has put a face to the PP's political offensive against the management of Pedro Sánchez's executive. The appearances of this popular baron, one of the most veteran in the State, have increased in intensity as normality has not been restored with the passing of the days. Although within the PP Vivas is one of the so-called moderates, on this occasion he has become a battering ram against the Spanish government for its management of the migration crisis.