TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio did not respect the style code of the Catalan Audiovisual Media Corporation (CCMA), the entity of the Generalitat that manages and controls regional public television and radio, in every interview they carried out with the leaders of the process. … convicted by the Supreme Court or raided and captured by the High Court. This is clear from the latest agreement of the Audiovisual Council of Catalonia (CAC) which pulls by the ears the director of Catalunya Ràdio and the presenter of the morning show for having given the floor to Luis Rubiales.
According to the CCMA style book, on TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio, “as a general rule”, journalists do not interview “fugitives from justice in democratic states and the rule of law” nor “individuals prosecuted or convicted “If we consider that the broadcast of the interview could cause serious disruption to the victims.” As it appears in the section of the user manual referring to the treatment that professionals from public entities must respect when signing interviews. Only “exceptional value” of the interview “can justify our broadcast”.
“We do not lend ourselves to serving as a platform for a prosecuted or convicted person to obtain financial or other benefits by recounting or justifying the criminal acts they have committed.”
Furthermore, the contract which defines the journalistic practice of the audiovisual media of the Generalitat, consulted by ABC, includes that: “We do not lend ourselves to serving as a platform for a person prosecuted or convicted. benefit from advantages economic or other type recount or justify the criminal acts he has committed. In any case, the rule leaves the door open to exceptions: “If the informative interest justifies it, the person in charge of the sector must authorize, if possible, the production and, in any case, the dissemination.”
From November 2017 to December 2025, TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio interviewed at least nine times Carles Puigdemont. The leader of Junts has been fleeing Spanish justice since he left the country at the end of October eight years ago, after completing the illegal secessionist process, with a referendum and two declarations of independence without constitutional coverage or integration into European law. The media of the Generalitat gave voice to a “fugitive”, without any informative counterpoint – usually the opposite – and were the platform to justify his actions.
From November 2017 to December 2025, TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio interviewed Puigdemont at least nine times
During the same period analyzed, Oriol Junqueras, president of ERC and sentenced by the Supreme Court to 13 years in prison and disqualification for sedition and embezzlement, was the protagonist questioned 13 times; Jordi Turull, the number two of Junts and sentenced to 12 years in prison and as many disqualifications for sedition and embezzlement, six times; and, for example, Carme Forcadell, who was President of Parliament during the process and leader of the ERC, sentenced to 11 years and 6 months in prison and disqualification for sedition, benefited from four interviews.
TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio would have served as a platform without counterpoint to the leaders of the “trials”, fugitives or condemned to death, to tell, broadcast and justify their “criminal acts”. Only after the approval of the amnesty law (May 2024) will the total number of certain interviews with Junqueras and Turull have to be reduced. This is clear from the latest agreement signed by the CAC advisors, even if this body does not expressly pronounce on convicted politicians or on those sought and captured, but on Rubiales.
The CAC warns Jordi Borda and Ricard Ustrell because in the interview with Rubiales there was a lack of “counterpoint” to the interviewee
According to the agreement of the supervisory body and although the interview with the former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, carried out on November 13 on the occasion of the publication of a book of which he is the author, “in general” provided “the necessary contextualization” to “deepen” the aspects of Rubiales’ management at the head of the federation, however, did not properly address the issue of “sexual assault” occurred after the victory of the women’s national team at the World Cup, for which the then president of the sports federation was condemned.
The CAC warns Jordi Borda, director of Catalunya Ràdio, already Ricard Ustrell, host of “El matí” (the public radio morning show), because during the interview with Rubiales, there was a lack of “counterpoint to certain statements” of the interviewee, since the former president of the federation minimized “the seriousness of the facts judged”. It would have been correct, in the opinion of the CAC advisors, for “this counterpoint” to be expressed to “reinforce the responsibility which corresponds to a public media in the treatment of an event qualified as an offense by the Justice system”.
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