The Spanish viewers’ association Teledetodos has announced that it is carefully monitoring the commitment to independent public service media of the political parties currently in discussions to form the new government in Spain.

Before the December general election the watchdog submitted a request to all political parties asking them to publically pledge that they would refrain from exerting political pressure over public service media.

5 of the 6 main parties agreed but the previous ruling party, Partido Popular (PP), refused. Their official explanation was that the independence of PSM would form part of the negotiations for a coalition government that are currently taking place. PP won 28.7% of the vote and are currently engaged in forming a new government.

All other parties (PSOE  with 22%; Podemos with 20.7%; Ciudadenos with 13.9%; Izquierda Unita with 3,7% and UPyD) committed themselves to re-introduce the article in the media law that stated there must be a two-thirds majority consensus for the appointment of the future Director General of the RTVE. This article was modified by Partido Popular at the beginning of the last parliament.

The independence of the Spanish media and especially of public service media has been the subject of heavy criticism in the last election campaign.

To access the full document of “Teledetodos” submitted to the Spanish political parties in English please click here. Versions in other languages are also available on the same page.