The editorial independence of the media that bothers the far-right: Abascal managed the audience of 'La Revuelta' and now criticizes TVE for not having indicated its sections of "interest"

On Monday, before David Broncano asked the first question to Santiago Abascal, the Vox candidate's team had already managed to arrange who would sit in the theater. La Revuelta accepted their request, canceled the reservations of the planned audience, and attendance was managed through an agency. On Tuesday, Broncano apologized for allowing it. On Wednesday, the party opened another dispute, this time about the editing. It reproached TVE for editing the interview "without VOX having the option to indicate which segments were of greater or lesser interest to the viewer."

In the first of the five points of the statement, Vox accuses TVE and El Terrat, the program's production company, of refusing to provide the party or publish the full recording of the interview on Monday, November 9. The party maintains that both breached what was agreed in good faith and demands "its immediate delivery and publication," including the 40 minutes it claims were left out of the broadcast.

The second point brings together two complaints. Vox maintains that interventions on healthcare, defense of public services, and energy, among other issues, were left out. And it reproaches the program for not giving it the opportunity to indicate which passages it considered most interesting according to its criteria. The party states that the public entity "is kidnapping 40 minutes of our candidate's answers" which, in its opinion, should be public domain. It also alleges that, as long as TVE retains this material without disseminating it, Vox is exposed to possible manipulation. In the third point, it accuses La Revuelta of having changed the nature and usual format of the program despite the commitment it claims to have acquired, and presents this alleged breach as a reason to adopt new conditions.

The other claim in the statement affects who makes the editorial decision. Determining what is of interest to the viewer is a responsibility of the team conducting the interview. The interviewee can explain their position, question a cut, or request a rectification. The editorial team must be able to choose the question, decide the follow-up question, and write the headline without submitting these decisions to the party's approval.

The RTVE manual reserves cuts for its professionals

Section 1.1.5 of the RTVE Style Manual expressly addresses the selection of fragments. In edited or partially broadcast interventions, it instructs the corporation's professionals to "based on their professional criteria, freely choose the fragments to be broadcast". This freedom entails an obligation. The cuts must preserve the context and reflect what the interviewee intended to say. The manual also stipulates that the guest must be informed whether their intervention will be broadcast in full or in part.

In that same section, RTVE establishes that guests "do not have the right to demand a prior questionnaire or to agree on said questionnaire". They can ask for the general topics of the conversation to be advanced to them. Knowing the issues to be addressed allows for preparation. Deciding in advance what can be asked or intervening later in which responses are broadcast affects the criteria of the interviewing team.

Article 10.a of the Mandate-framework includes the principle that guides this work: "The RTVE Corporation will act with absolute independence". The precept expressly includes political groups among those who cannot give imperative instructions to the corporation. Article 3.2.b of Law 17/2006 entrusts it with "Guaranteeing objective, truthful and plural information, which must fully conform to the criterion of professional independence". The FAPE Code of Ethics, in its section II, establishes to whom this independence is owed: "Independence implies priority loyalty to citizens, above political, personal, economic, ideological or technological interests."

Vox invokes editorial independence while demanding to intervene in the cuts

In the fourth point, Vox announces that Abascal will stop attending programs that reserve exclusive control over his responses and the power to edit the image and content, make cuts and publish the recording totally or partially, if the party lacks "the same and reciprocal right" over that material. In the fifth, it extends the decision to any recording in which, according to its terms, "the full right and autonomy of VOX" is not guaranteed, and adds that it will do so "respecting, of course, the editorial independence of the program."

The contradiction is clear. Deciding whether those answers are the most relevant for the audience is precisely the job of professionals. As a consequence, the far-right party has announced the suspension of Abascal's interview on 'The Wild Project', whose recording was scheduled for November 11.