La2 de Televisió Espanyola a Sant Cugat i la recuperació de la memòria històrica

Abstract

La2 (Channel 2) of TVE (Spanish Television) has been a pioneer in creating programs and educational reports on historical events that the Franco censorship kept hidden: forgotten events and people or those subject to reprisal during the Franco dictatorship. Such subject matter is part of what is now called historical memory. After Francos death, the transition towards democracy also took place within TVE. The program Giravolt, fruit of the new era, was a weekly news round up made in Catalonia in the Catalan language. Línea 900 was another example. Launched in April 1991, Línea 900 started out as a broadcast in Catalan by TVE in Catalonia; six months later the program went over to La2 of TVE, broadcast in Castilian to all of Spain. The program offered subject matter related with the Franco dictatorship from the point of view of those who lost the Spanish Civil War. Though Línea 900 was a benchmark of investigative journalism, the new management of the CRTVE (Spanish Radio and Television Corporation) withdrew the program claiming that more innovative forms were being sought, an argument that in no way justified the disappearance of the program from public television, where rigor and quality should be paramount to fashion and audience level. At present La2 of TVE in Catalonia has no space dedicated to historical or journalistic documentaries that investigate our more recent past. We find ourselves in the paradoxical situation of living in a democracy with a public television where no incentive is given to investigative reports, while journalism as entertainment is promoted, thus imitating the private channels.