Ana Pastor, sacked by RTVE, goes to CNN

SPAIN On August 28 we reported on the politically-motivated dismissal of several presenters on Spanish TV and radio (a subject BBC Radio 4 featured yesterday, listen to it here on iPod), including one of the country's best interviewers, Ana Pastor (See Changing faces on public television). Today the news is that the former presenter and coordinator of Los Desayunos de TVE (TV Breakfasts) has been signed up by CNN to carry out interviews for CNN International and CNN in Spanish. This is excellent news for those who get CNN because she is really very good. Now we want some good news about the other reporters sacked for political reasons at RTVE.

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:>>>

Destination Andalucía - a long time ago

Our Dutch neighbour, Hubert Mattheus, appeared on Spanish television  (La Primera) last night, in a programme called Destino España (Destination Spain) that interviews foreign residents in the country. Hubert has lived  on Calle Romo in Jimena since the 1970s, so it would be difficult to classify him as 'foreign', except perhaps for his choice of colourful shirts, which in truth comes from his upbringing in Africa. The photo was taken from Ricardo Gómez's Picasa Web Album. Gracias, Richard. See Hubert's section here.