The arrival of Belén Esteban on public television: the heart that the BBC rejects but Tve hugs

Until now, the lowest, vindictive and shameless heart had had a hole in private televisions. However, it is public television who wants to bet on this type of content. It is a debatable commitment if the vocation of the corporation is taken into account, which is none other than to provide a public service to society. If one looks at public televisions in Europe, the panorama is different. English television has a statute to ensure that the contents offered are at the service of that mission. “Private life, correspondence and conversations will not be aired unless they are of obvious public interest,” says the group in its statutes on the editorial guidelines of the chain.

Although the BBC produces entertainment programs such as ‘The Amprentice’, where the founder of a large company puts challenges of all kinds to 14 entrepreneurs with the aim of being hired in the company, avoids the ‘save me’ style formats in which to air the private life of celebrities is almost their reason for being. «Its regulation and public scrutiny make investment mainly allocate content that reflect diversity, creativity and journalistic rigor. The gossip programs are in the hands of private channels such as ITV or Channel 5, while the BBC prioritizes fiction series, high -level documentaries and political debates, ”explains the ABC correspondent in London Ivannia Salazar.

There are other places, such as in France, where there are hardly any programs of the heart neither in the public nor in the private. «For deep cultural reasons, the intimacy of celebrities and non -famous is an issue that is only very exceptionally, when it comes to ultra striking or scandalous cases. In daily programming, entertainment ranges from music, cinema, theater, the comings and coming of celebrities, without entering into their intimacies, just speaking of their current work ». Meanwhile, in ‘Nor that we were Shh’ we can see María Patiño launching exclusive about the childhood of Angel Christ and her mother, Barbara Rey and may also do it too on Spanish Television

“It is not understandable that RTVE uses everyone’s money, that although demagogic sounds could be used in hospitals, careers or schools, in programs that do not contribute anything to what should be a public service, which is to provide quality or reflection,” says Leopoldo Abad, professor of constitutional law and professor of information law at the CEU San Pablo University. Last year, the corporation received about 500 million euros from the State General Budgets and closed the annual accounts with losses for losses by losses amount of 22 million euros. “I am not ashamed to ask for better public service financing, because I believe in the public service provided by RTVE,” López defended during the last appearance in Congress.

To justify millionaire contracts or signings such as Belén Esteban RTVE clings to the need that has been self -imposed on competing against private chains. We already saw it with the signing of David Broncano to unseat Pablo Motos on Antena 3, or ‘Mañaneros’ to compete against ‘Public Mirror’. There is a effort to make the 1 grid with the competition similar. An unnecessary “need”. «We are seeing a public company with public money that is competing with private companies in the same sector. If there were a normal bakery and another that with public money sold the same product at the same price would seem an aberration, but it seems that with television it is not so, ”says the professor.

Audience

Public television would not have to be focused on fighting for audiences because it neither has the same nature nor the same vocation. «The function of public television is not to compete, but to give everything they do not offer. His goal is not to make a audience because he should not fight anyone, ”justifies Abad. In this sense, offering a heart program on a public television would not make much sense if other television networks already do in the same strip or in a different one. «TVE managers give more importance to the quantitative than to the qualitative. While they have a fact that allows them to justify their program, they don’t care about the type of content they emit, but the end does not always justify the means. You can already throw a live scholars such as Inés Hernand or air the private life of someone who if the audience accompanies, for RTVE is more than justified its broadcast.

The vocation that RTVE has is to exercise a public service, as well as others such as BBC. On Italian public television Rai, says the ABC correspondent in Rome Ángel Gómez Fuentes, the priority is clear: informative, educational and cultural content without neglecting entertainment. «It is true that some of their programs have been criticized for not complying with the expected quality standards for a public television. However, these have not had a long life, since television criticism in Italian media is influential, ”he says. In addition, there is the RAI Surveillance Commission, a parliamentary body with two fundamental objectives: control compliance with its public mission and supervise economic aspects.

«All this has encouraged a consensus in the country on the need for public financing to be allocated to content that reflect civic, cultural and artistic values. In the RAI, the controversy does not focus on the ‘Telebasura’, but sometimes on political pressures, ”explains the correspondent. Deontological codes are fundamental in public televisions such as BBC or RAIthey are the ones that guarantee the public service function and at the same time stop everything that is not part of that mission. «Although RTVE has its defender of the hearing, it is not exactly a reference in terms of this type of deontological codes. One of the characteristics that the journalistic profession configures is precisely the acceptance of the deontological principles, but when content creators appear on the television scenario that becomes a world where there is no commitment of anthological nature, ”says Francisco Serrano Oceja, professor of journalism at the San Pablo CEU University and columnist.

A format still to define

The majority of prime time and afternoon programs that are currently a TVE broadcast come from external producers. A few weeks ago, the president of RTVE made the lists public with their names and cost. In the case of the new program for the afternoon of the 1, the Osa Producciones is the one who is in front. «It makes no sense that with a template as large as that of TVE, the group has to constantly resort to external producers and all the cost it supposes. It is an aberration», Says Abad.

It is unknown how the format, forms, language and the issues of conversation of the program will be, but since it is the same producer of ‘Save Me’, everything indicates that the way of working will be similar. A form, in addition, that has played bad passes and have sometimes been immersed in demands and compensation for several affected, as the recent proposal of Judge Marcelino Sexmero to send the TV factory to trial to trial) and who was the director of this popular program, David Valldeperas, for an alleged crime of revelation of secrets of dozens of famous people. This producer that was for years the creator of the most unbridled Telecinco is now the one chosen by José Pablo López for the afternoons of TVE.