Galician Television (TVG), the regional public channel in the hands of the Xunta de Alfonso Ruedahas ordered its editors in the A Coruña delegation to stop including in their information the names of those accused of killing Samuel Luizwhose trial has been held since last week in the Provincial Court of A Coruña. He has also informed them that They should avoid taking images of their facesand if they do, they must edit them before disseminating them, pixelating their faces to prevent them from being identified.
According to several workers consulted by Publicthat strategy would coincide with that of the defense of one of the alleged murdererswhose lawyer is Luciano Prado del Ríobrother of the general secretary of the Popular Party of Galicia, Paula Prado del Río.
These sources assure that the journalists and cameras of the A Coruña delegation covering the oral hearing have received these orders through verbal instructions from superiors which, however, have not been formally transmitted to all their colleagues at the headquarters of the Radio and Television Corporation of Galicia (CRTVG) Santiago.
Sentences of between 22 and 27 years each
The defendants in the trial for the murder of Samuel Luiz are Diego Mountain, Alejandro Freire, Kaio Amaral Silva, Alejandro Miguez and Catherine Silvawho face sentences of between 22 and 27 years in prison each for the crimes of murder with cruelty and treacheryin two of the cases with the aggravating circumstance of discrimination based on sexual orientation and in one, with the added crime of robbery with violence.
Their faces and names have appeared in the press throughout the State, given that it is a public hearing for a case with great social repercussions since the magistrate presiding over the trial has allowed the accused to be photographed and recorded inside the hearing room, at least once a week for the duration of the process. Three of them are on provisional release and two remain free under precautionary measures.
It is the case of Catherine Silvafor whom the Prosecutor’s Office and the private and popular accusations ask for 25 years in prison and whose lawyer is Luciano Prado. As is the case with the rest of the accused, the face of his client appears repeatedly these days on television, paper newspapers, digital newspapers and social networks, since in addition, being free, he enters the main door of the Court every morning. where the media awaits her accredited for the trial.
“A girl”
Silva, who is 21 years old and was 19 when Samuel was beaten to death, has pleaded not guiltyand Prado has made an effort from the beginning to present her as “a girl” who not only did not participate in the events but also tried to prevent her boyfriend and friends from they will lynch him, after first thinking that Samuel was recording him when he was actually making a video call. Since then, and due to the media exposure resulting from the accusation against her, Catherine claims that she suffers constant insults and threats.
About a month ago, that is, about three weeks before the hearing, several TVG workers received a circular without letterhead or signature under the title in Galician “Style guidelines for informants on image treatment”, to which this newspaper has had access and whose number one point refers precisely to trials and judicial processes.
In it, photojournalists are warned that should not “record close-ups of people who are being prosecuted, but who have not been convicted”, and are encouraged to use “close-up, rear or masked shots, as well as long shots or images of lawyers and other parts of the trial.
“Blur the faces”
In the event that a cameraman “accidentally” records a defendant who has not yet been convicted, as happens with the alleged murderers of Samuel Luiz, the editors are in charge “blur faces”in the same way that would be done if that happened to the members of the jury. In addition, journalists are asked to “be careful with the details: you must check that no documents or screens are included that could reveal private information, such as the name of the parties involved”.
The staff and works council sources consulted by Public They warned yesterday that these rules, transmitted only to some workers verbally or through the aforementioned circular, which was not approved by the company’s Board of Directors, represent a violation of the right of citizens to receive information. “Eliminating the names of those accused of murder in a trial is eliminating information. They are ideological guidelines delusional,” they add.
Furthermore, they highlight the inconsistency of transmitting to journalists in A Coruña some style guidelines that are not followed at the Santiago headquarters nor have they been officially transmitted to the entire staff working at the Corporation.
Names censored on the web
In fact, the telexornais —news programs—are offering the names and faces of the accused, who, on the other hand, They are censored through pixelation and blurring in the same videos, including those extracted from the signal freely offered to the press by the Court of A Coruña, and which are edited before being posted on the CRTVG news website and in the posts that the company subsequently disseminates through their social networks. The names of the accused appear replaced by their initials.
Public has addressed the CRTVG, which runs Alfonso Sánchez Izquierdo since Alberto Núñez Feijóo He appointed him to the position 15 years ago, and also to the Popular Party, to obtain both their versions of the aforementioned accusations. At the time this article was published I had not received a response from anyone.
The CRTVG workers, currently on strike against the outsourcing of programs, they have been celebrating “black venres” every week for almost six years to denounce the constant violation of their labor and fundamental rights reflected in the hundreds of rulings against the courts and electoral boards that the company has received since Sánchez Izquierdo directed it.
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