News to be controlled by RTVE Council

RTVE headquarters, Madrid

SPAIN In an unprecedented move against freedom of speech, the politically appointed administrative council of Radio Televisión Española (RTVE) will have access to the production system of its news broadcasts, iNews, which is used to prepare the scripts used in broadcasting. The Council will therefore be able to see what exactly the scriptwriters and correspondents are working on at any given time, and thus be able to control headlines, sub heads, video footage, interviews and direct connections. The Council approved the measure by majority on Wednesday, with the No votes coming from Izquierda Unida and UGT. A Council spokesperson said that this would merely allow them to see what was going on, but would have 'no management input'. (Prospero Note:>>>Given the political appointment of the Council, it is customary for great changes to occur when there is a new party elected into the central government, as is largely expected and likely after November 20.

Familiar faces that until the day before gave us the news each day, suddenly disappear to be replaced by people we have never seen before - unless they were there when the new lot were last in power.

More than the faces, however, the angle of the news takes a significant tilt towards the politics of the party in power, objective media not being a strength in this country.)