José Miguel Contreras, media advisor to Pedro Sánchez and one of the executives of Prisa – the publishing company of El País – who was dismissed yesterday, already benefited from the granting of a television channel by another socialist president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, almost 20 years ago. Contreras was one of the promoters of La Sexta, whose support for the current Government is unwavering.
Yesterday, Contreras and Núñez, the executives pushing for the TV channel that the current Government wants to award to Grupo Prisa, were removed from their positions. This is because the current president of Prisa, Joseph Oughourlian – who controls almost 30% of PRISA through his private equity fund – refuses to accept this new “poisoned gift” from the Government, which is determined to have another pro-government channel.
At PRISA, it is still remembered how the television license granted to them at the end of the last century by another socialist government, that of Felipe González, ultimately became an unfathomable loss hole that still keeps the conglomerate in the red.
The most curious thing is that the TDT channel the Government wants to award to Prisa has not yet been put out to tender and is already considered awarded. However, according to how events unfold, it will first be necessary to overcome the resistance of Joseph Oughourlian, from whom several Prisa board members are already trying to remove from the presidency in order to align with the Government’s intentions.
In the meantime, the Government has launched a media registry aimed at making public the true owners of each Spanish media outlet and the sources of their income, with special mention of those received from public administrations. The fact that the entire media in question is a result of a predetermined administrative concession from the Government does not seem to be, apparently, a reason for criticism or censure. Not even for embarrassment.
