Why Madrid press ignore the ’20-S’ documentary. El Nacional.cat

Better lose the eyes than not see properly. This is what Madrid press have done with the ’20-S’ documentary, produced by Mediapro and broadcasted on TV3’s Sense Ficció.

Article traduït per AnnA (@annuskaodena)

On Thursday night the Catalan public television ratings rose to a stratospheric 34.8% thanks to this documentary, however, the Madrid newspapers have reacted like an ostrich in danger, burying their heads in the sand, or like small children, who think they can disappear just by closing their eyes. We know, ignorance is the best contempt.

982,000 people in Catalonia watched the documentary, well over a million during peak time. It was a success, certainly. In social networks, it generated 121,400 tweets and 9.7 million impressions. The hashtag #20STV3 produced more than 50,200 tweets; it was the top trending topic in Spain and the third in the world during two and a half hours on Thursday night. All in all, ’20-S’ was the most talked about TV programme of the day in Spain, according to data from Twitter and Kantar Media, the auditing firm of reference.

This Friday, ’20-S’ was also the star theme of the two great morning shows in Catalan radio, El Matí de Catalunya Ràdio and El Món a RAC1, which together have about 1.5 million listeners.

Ignored news
It’s a bad comparison but, as an example, Spain v Morocco World Cup match had 1,441,000 Catalan viewers, ratings of 58.3%. A blockbuster on TV can get up to between 23% and 25% at the most. Here, the documentary has better rating figures.

Everybody could say this is news just because of the data. A piece of news so easy to spot like an elephant in the room.

However, this was not the case according to Madrid press, both printed and digital, where the ’20-S’ ratings were a little over 0%. There is a small mention in Público (digital), their owner and Mediapro owner are the same person. Tomàs Delclós wrote a column in El País, lightly describing the contents of the documentary: “Audiovisual testimonies question the judicial version regarding the demonstration that took place opposite the Ministry of Economy”. El Confidencial published a brief piece in Vanitatis, their paparazzi section. We won’t mention Vertele nor Ecoteuve, specialised leading TV portals.

Reasons for this rejection
What is it about this documentary, that they don’t like it?
It provides elements that take Judge Pablo Llarena’s version apart regarding the demonstration that surrounded the Ministry of Economy during the Civil Guard assault on the 20th of September 2017.

It shows how the Spanish police tried to enter the headquarters of the political party CUP without a court order and how they remained outside for more than three hours waiting for sparks to fly and a riot to start that could just justify whatever they were there for.

The documentary puts into context the iconic photo of the Jordis on top of the Civil Guard vehicle which has been used to charge them. They were the last ones to climb on top, after the reporters, amongst others.

It questions why the police force left weapons and ammunition unattended inside the cars: nothing happened, either among the people demonstrating on 20-S or among the officers that left them in plain sight.

It denies the public prosecutor’s version which states there were no officers at the Ministry’s doors. It also ridicules his insolent sarcasm when interrogating Major Trapero.

It warns that the Vice-President, Sáenz de Santamaría; the Minister of the Interior, Zoido and the head of the judicial police in Catalonia, Baena, refused to make any statements for the documentary.

It makes clear the Jordis rejected any sort of violence, on the contrary: they opposed it at all times, they actively discouraged it and they acted as mediators between the Civil Guard and the demonstrators.

The documentary does all of this, furthermore, with previously unpublished footage.
It is precisely because of all this that they don’t like it. What would appeal to others, has the opposite effect here. Because ‘20-S’ not only points at the police and judicial fabrications that have served to keep Jordi Sánchez and Jordi Cuixart nine months in preventive prison. It also points at the complicity of the media in spreading these deceits and in trying to make it the dominant tale in Spain. The documentary removes their masks and places them in front of the mirror. They have not looked at themselves properly, hence the situation.

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Article traduït per AnnA (@annuskaodena) segons el meu millor coneixement de l’anglès.
Article translated by AnnA (@annuskaodena) to the best of my knowledge of English.

Source: El Nacional @elnacionalcat

https://www.elnacional.cat/ca/politica/premsa-madrid-ignora-documental-20-s_283317_102_amp.html?__twitter_impression=true

Author: Antoni Maria Piqué
29th June 2018
Image source 1: Crónica Global – El Español
Image source 2:  Diario Público

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