Rarely are academics lucky enough to apply their research by running institutions. José Manuel Pérez Tornero (Almería, 1954) is a professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and one of the best European experts in the field of educational television, but he has never ceased to combine thinking and action. He now heads the RTVE Company, after the last reform that was agreed between the government and the opposition and invented there decades ago. adventure of knowledge.
We’ll start with a classic question: ParliamentYou will be crushed by the audience. Do you think a public television station should worry about its viewers?
–No, I think we’ve taken a step forward. The council took office in March 2021. Little has been invested in the programs. Then, as the investments started to move, we increased our target audience in the last half of last year. The months of this year are very positive. If I’m not mistaken, we were at 9.5% last month. There is a turning point that shows we are on the right track. What happens is that we must always say that this road is slow, because the ups and downs are slow. But I think there are changes that have nothing to do with situational issues like football or Turin alone. In this sense, the next appearance does not scare me much.
What balance do you make from the operation? Eurovision‘, from Benidorm Fest to the final in Turin?
–This a transaction to be placed in context. First, we were not at the international concert, we were among the last. We had to get rid of this. The step we took at the time was to apply for a position at EBU Executive and it shows. The second element is that we are coming out of a pandemic. It was necessary to revive a region such as Benidorm, which was hit hard by the decline in tourism. We made an agreement with the Generalitat and Benidorm City Council. Very positive. And then you had to help the music, the young music. That’s why we must remember that with the pandemic a lot has been sacrificed and we always give up the rights we go with the record companies. We organized a festival to increase the visibility of this young music. As a result, we had audience success, we competed well in Turin, and it also points to a connection with the younger audience that we don’t have. I think this is important and we are already planning for it to be redirected in the future, to have continuous work with young people as well.
To expand or expand the idea?
We don’t want to be alone with a mirage of good results, next time we’ll go out and win. We were there to organize it too, but in the end, if Ukraine resigns, it will be the BBC who organizes it and then we leave. We will try to start a similar festival for Latin America and we will compete as much as we can at the next Eurovision.
In other words, a Eurovision Latin America As in the United States.
Latin America’s Eurovision, but in another way. It also rounds up the OTI festival held at the same time, but in a different way. We are thinking of a very innovative way to increase the visibility of Latin music in the world, including popular music, social networks.
Is this operation an example of public television that you want to promote at this stage?
Music is an expressive art. Popular music and classical music. The mission of public television is to empower citizens, to make them more cultured. Therefore, commitment to popular music is important. But we will introduce the orchestra and choir that we want to be the symbol of our values. We will encourage it to be decentralized, linked to dissemination, linked to schools, having an audience fed by culture and music, and that it should spread to all areas. Science is a big gamble. Public television should be where it is needed. You can’t miss important moments. It is necessary for democracy, necessary for critical thinking. It is also important to maintain quality journalism. Because today, journalism suffers a lot from its business model. Verification is more difficult, employment is less secure. We should promote journalism of a public or private nature, but we should be helpful.
In sports too?
Yes, the new European Sport Directive defines it very well. Sports come first, they are values, they are equality values, they are competitive values, they are progress values that serve healthy life well, they serve education and culture well, and then they call them. people at a given moment. Whether at the European, national or state level, peoples need to identify with something. Introduce yourself and at the same time channel some social tensions into the game, which is a school of life. I think sports should be there as a square and we should pay attention to women’s sports, less famous sports, minority sports. And our bet on Radio Televisión Española is not only the football of the great competition of national teams, but also in more or less popular federations. And now we will double our bet with the Olympic sport. And there, I believe it’s important that we take a step forward.
And would you like to regain the rights to major football competitions?
– We focused mainly on the national teams, as the others were difficult to obtain. They coalesce less because they divide in some way. But we must stand by the national team and be with the Olympic sport, just as we are strongly committed to UEFA and the World Cup. We are also working with the European Eurovision network to own the sports transmission rights of the Olympic Games, subsidiaries of a multinational company that has so far transcended Europe. There is a commitment to a European model of sport, which includes advocating for the audiovisual rights of every or every public television. I talk a lot about audiovisual dominance, creative dominance, no, we have to defend it.
And is there enough money for this project?
We have it so far. With the income forecast we have, it is well amortized with the expense it forecasts on the grid, is in line with other investments, and delivers returns. Football is good for us. We reached the top with 57% audience in the UEFA League final. The matches of the national team are played between 20 and 26. The only thing that succeeds in the first debate in Andalusia, where Spanish television is frequently replaced, is that only the sport reached an audience of 17.8%. With the basic function of public television, it is necessary to be where it corresponds, in the essential moments.
Is the telecommunications operators interest rate a threat to the financing of public television?
The basic principle was that if we quit advertising as public broadcasters, we should receive some compensation from those who hold the entire advertising market. At the same time, I think it’s time to say that our system is probably not bad, because even if we lose something, because telecommunications stops funding some of it, the situation in Great Britain is more serious. There it is planned to be suppressed in three or four years, and in France it has been radical. Speaking to my colleagues at the BBC and French Television the other day, their concerns were overwhelming. At the very least, we are confident that we will maintain reasonable financing at this rate. We will need to adjust our framework mandate, but this gives us an estimate of sustainability as is the case in other countries. Without public television, there is no democracy without public television, and it is crucial that Europe continues to stick to it.
You have already mentioned the regional strength of the group, how much importance do you place it in your jurisdiction?
We have 17 regional centers, two production centers in the Canary Islands and Barcelona. We will create two new production centers. This means that our workforce is dispersed, Radio Nacional is in every province, it has journalists everywhere, and they can form a common discourse. This is really important. It is necessary to reverse the traditional old logic that discourse is central and we are disconnected when we do local discourse. Rather, it is necessary to put the pieces together, make a constructive discourse and bet on a culturally and linguistically different Spain. And we trust what I said about TVE, we will share with FORTA, the public television, in an agreement, and we will also reach an agreement with the press, with the regional press. distribution and regional. We will work together because we all share the democratic ideals of quality journalism. This should also be brought up to the company’s own management. We have to decentralize some services, change some routines. And we do. It’s a change we’ve completed organizationally this summer and will cost us a little more culturally, but will be ready in two years.
What does it contain?
Well, the change has been very powerful. There are separate radio, television and interactive. Comprehensive management now. Then we had separate newsrooms and we will move towards gradual integration on a single platform at the service of the entire newsroom, of the entire region, including Radio Nacional. Gradually, we will share all the services in the cloud. For example, we will now build a new headquarters in Valencia. We will do many educational activities of the institute in that center, which will change a great place. We will do the same in Zaragoza. We work in the Canary Islands and we will transfer the production to these centers and decide on some strategies of the company there.
And as for programming?
We’re going to make some kind of major cultural leap in programming, namely the culture-leaking book, the theatre, the creative arts, the 1st, 2nd, RTVE, digital platform, science, culture, critical-sense radio. We will support the digital transformation of this country. We will seek talent wherever it is located and create events across the region. What did we do? Strict adherence to sports. We will create a platform where all federations are recognized where there is another platform for university sports, school sports, federative sports, classical music and popular music. And this will have showcases in 1. We will have a very strong commitment to popular music and cinema. We will introduce a new audio-visual narrative, no more cooperation with international services. On 30 June, I signed an organization with Arte en Strasbourg channel, where we can benefit from all art programs on all our channels and at the same time we will create a co-production fund with them. it will be important.