After hand-picking the ‘friendly’ journalists allowed to ask questions at Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’ end-of-year speech, his ruling socialist party, Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) has now banned opposition journalists from its events. Going a step further, the party is seeking to bar certain accredited media outlets from the national and regional parliaments.
In a statement sent out January 11th, titled “Yes to journalism, not one meter more to the pseudo-media nor the press of hate,” the PSOE announced that “in light of the events that occurred last New Year’s Eve in front of the Ferraz headquarters, which we consider to be extremely serious, we will withdraw the access credential to our headquarters and to the events organized by the party from all pseudo media participating in the broadcast of the event organized by the Revuelta association.”
“Most of them no longer had that access,” it added.
Frequent protests against the policies of Pedro Sánchez have taken place since September at the headquarters of the party, located on Ferraz Street in Madrid. Protesters have particularly denounced Sánchez’ concessions to Catalan separatists, including a planned amnesty to politicians and others who led the 2017 illegal referendum on Catalan independence.
On New Year’s Eve, another protest of about 300 people took place in front of the socialist party headquarters, planned by the group Revuelta, a conservative-nationalist youth organization. The group has been key in organizing the ongoing protests.
Revuelta transmitted the protest live on YouTube as a New Year’s Eve program, complete with a countdown to the strike of midnight.
During the protest, a piñata allegedly resembling Sánchez was beaten and burned. The incident is under investigation, following charges filed by the PSOE.
The protest was covered by some Spanish media, including The Objective, which interviewed the two people who acted as anchors in the Revuelta livestream a day before the protest. The PSOE states that it is considering action against a ‘particular media outlet’—presumably The Objective—for interviewing the two presenters, “one of them a well-known YouTuber who is characterized by hate speech towards the Spanish Socialist Workers Party in all his videos”.
But the PSOE is seeking broader action against media that gives it negative coverage.
They also ask for “protection from the press associations, FAPE, APM and APP, as well as the Official College of Journalists, in the face of the continuous attacks and insults that these pseudo-media outlets direct at the PSOE on a daily basis and the hate speech they practice.”
Finally, the PSOE requests journalists’ organizations’ support in asking the national parliament to withdraw the credentials of “the pseudo media that appear on the official poster of the event held on New Year’s Eve in Ferraz.”
Revuelta listed OKDiario, La Gaceta del Iberosfera, and several others as “collaborative media” on a flier promoting the event.
The statement also calls on “other political parties and organizations that favor coexistence and do not promote hate speech” to support the PSOE’s motion.
Many more Spanish media outlets have since been reporting on the fallout of the protest.
The Spanish Constitution protects “the right to freely express and spread thoughts, ideas and opinions through words, in writing or by any other means of reproduction.”
It remains to be seen if the PSOE will carry through on its threat.