By clothing-bag, 18/08/2022

The Libertad Digital Group before the media crisis

In the last month, extremely serious events have taken place in the media field, and especially, although not exclusively, in the audiovisual area. We continually read news about Veo 7, 10, Intereconomía, the paper press, the free ones, the economic press, the regional supplements, the advertising guidelines, the retunings, the losses, the closings, the mergers and the subsidies. And being apparently different, all these news items have much in common: the brutal crisis of the independent media due to a terrible economic situation that has devastatingly affected publicity and a liberticidal action by the government that, without complaint from the opposition, wants to take advantage of this economic and advertising crisis to physically end the already limited media plurality within the reach of citizens.

The concentration of television in two gigantic groups, that of Berlusconi and that of Lara (in which the Sixth of Roures, Barroso and company will most likely be inserted), each of which has up to eight national channels, is evident. The other national channels are sold (Four) for sale or for rent, but at a price (six million euros, one billion pesetas per year) impossible for an honest company that relies on its own means to survive and that does not form part of a multimedia operation or do not resign yourself to the alternative that the politicians offer: create two Noah's arks among all those ideologically close, to guarantee the survival of the companies and guarantee control of the magmatic media, in exchange, as always, of new concessions that are new carrots to bear the relentless stick. To the television oligopolization, which has taken us back twenty years, is added the siege of new or loose radio stations and newspapers, configuring a grim panorama.

In our Shareholders' Meeting, Recarte and I addressed with absolute clarity the economic crisis suffered by the media, including our group, even though it is the healthiest of those affected, and the political and ideological framework in which it occurs, which affects us like everyone else. This part is giving rise to different and even contradictory interpretations – logical, because they were not at the Shareholders' Meeting, the speeches were long and there were many questions from those who, I must say, gave us the most unconditional and emotional support of all these years. -, so I want what I really said to be seen and heard. I would add the summary of La Mañana del Thursday at 8.30 collected by Vicky in this blog as well as the transcription of Paserifo, (comment 430 and later), two works that I am very grateful for. The tone and the gesture are missing, but since everything was recorded, here is the complete information. To say what you want, but, yes, with knowledge of the facts.

The following is a summary of Federico Jiménez Losantos' intervention before the shareholders of Libertad Digital: