The Unió de Periodistes Valencians has issued a statement in which it shows its concern regarding the law proposal presented this Thursday by PP and Vox for the creation of the Audiovisual Corporation of the Valencian Community SA. and warns of the negative effects that it will have on the future of public radio and television À Punt regarding its political independence and the plurality of its control bodies. In addition, he regrets the uncertainty that is generated at work, both for the current staff and for the applicants who are preparing the selective processes that have already been called.
The Union of Journalists regrets that the Bill contemplates the suspension of the selective processes already called and without giving an alternative date. This decision, beyond its possible responsibilities and legal incompatibilities, generates great discomfort for the nearly 800 registered in these tests, the main Public Employment Offer for journalists in the last fifteen years, a greater imbalance in the scales of these futures. exams, as well as uncertainty and temporality for the current staff of public radio and television.
For the Unió de Periodistes, the proposed law is a step backwards and represents a threat to the independence of its operation with respect to political parties and especially those in power. Letting the main control body of public radio and television, if the law succeeds, be elected by politicians and without the need for reinforced majorities is a danger to guaranteeing public media that is non-partisan and does not support the government in power.
In this sense, the Unió de Periodistes criticizes the fact that independent entities such as the Citizenship Council and the Audiovisual Council as well as the unions are left out of this decision-making body and that in their place all the councilors who will make the decisions are elected directly or indirectly by political parties, a situation that represents a blow to the maintenance of an information service without interference and that threatens its objectivity. Even more so, when it takes away from the news editorial staff the power to elect their bosses, so that from now on it is the political representatives who elect the news management team.
Among the functions of this Board of Directors will be, according to the new law proposal, the approval of a style book for the new Audiovisual Corporation of the Valencian Community SA in which the News Council will also participate. In this sense, the Unió de Periodistes recalls that the current style book of À Punt is agreed upon, and expresses the doubts generated by the creation of a new style book to replace the current one, also by a body chosen by political representatives .
The concern shown by the Unió de Periodistes regarding the law goes further. Once the proposal registered in parliament has been studied, the Unió de Periodistes points out that unlike the previous law (currently in force), this new proposal does not have in any legal section a reference to an economic minimum to guarantee its operation. It is essential that public media receive adequate resources to be able to have quality information.
The Unió de Periodistes wants to reaffirm its demand for a plural, independent, quality Valencian public radio and television in Valencian and for which a legal framework is necessary that gives it stability, economic resources and can guarantee its operation without government interference. in turn, and this new bill goes precisely in the opposite direction: it is a threat to plurality, it eliminates the minimum financial provision and increases labor uncertainty in the sector.
