José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero visits the Canary Islands and the sound of onlookers booing him is edited out of the evening news; the prime minister and opposition leader Mariano Rajoy both speak on the same issue, yet Zapatero gets half a minute more TV coverage; Popular Party (PP) number two María Dolores de Cospedal gets interrogated on a breakfast-time show over her party's attacks on the public broadcaster. It's quite clear, isn’t it? Televisión Española is a puppet of the Socialist government. At least, that’s what the PP is alleging. The party charges that the public broadcaster, which Zapatero pledged to depoliticise and free of government intervention, is more susceptible to … [Read more...] about Spanish TV journalism’s identity crisis
Spanish television
Quality TV is the big casualty of Spain’s dubbing
That Fox Television’s recent announcement it would be screening medic drama series House in the original English —with subtitles— was considered a news story by the Spanish media might go some way towards explaining this country’s poor ranking in EU tables of member populations’ knowledge of languages other than their own. More saliently, it highlights this country’s dismal record when it comes to producing quality television programming. Spain ranks as the fourth-worst country in the EU when it comes to mastering foreign languages, according to a recent report by Eurostat. Those figures coincide with a report by the EU’s Dubbing and Subtitling Needs and Practices in the European … [Read more...] about Quality TV is the big casualty of Spain’s dubbing
Can Jorge Sanz save Spanish TV?
Isn’t Spanish television in extraordinarily rude health? With such a wealth of talent and so many brave, groundbreaking programs, perhaps we’re looking at a new Spanish Golden Age – A Golden Age of the small screen. Before you hoot with derision at the above, consider this: it’s not a complete lie. I admit, when flicking through the channels, I too shake my fist at the screen as yet another herd of botoxed, inbred celebrities hog the camera’s attentions; I sigh with resignation as another cameraman with the shakes films the home of a Spaniard who is quite dull in every respect except, apparently, for the fact he or she lives abroad; and my eyelids droop as TVE’s interminable news program … [Read more...] about Can Jorge Sanz save Spanish TV?