The programme Todo es mentira, presented by Risto Mejide on Cuatro, produced a special to celebrate the broadcast of its one-hundredth edition.
It was shown at a different time and day from its normal broadcast and in a different format to present a report centring on the following question, Who controls journalists? Informe TEM: THE GUTTERS OF JOURNALISM
Journalism is the fourth estate and watches over political institutions but, Who watches over the watchman? Todo es mentira looks down into the gutters of journalism. Can a journalist be bought? Is it ethical to accept gifts from the people featuring in the media? Is it possible to practice journalism without becoming corrupt? As well as bribes, with the new digital media was born a new type of journalist based on extortion. With readership levels too low to make them economically viable, some of these media outlets concentrate on blackmail, producing reports which are, in the main, false.
The ex-police commissioner Villarejo and ex-interior minister Jorge Fernández Díaz point up the best and the worst of journalism: false reports, intimidation, threats, secret recordings… to what point can they influence what journalists write? Informe TEM turns the camera around to shed light on what lies hidden there.
This is the best time to practice journalism and the worst time to earn a living from it, that’s the key. – Iñaki Gabilondo
Informe TEM is a Minoria Absoluta and La Fábrica de la tele production for Cuatro, broadcast on Sunday 9 June at 9.30 pm.
