Journalism is a profession that has had a great reputation for its role as an institution dedicated to monitoring political power.<\/p>\n
However, journalism is not good in itself. There have always been good and bad journalists, and we must not forget that journalism has also played a notable role as a companion to the worst tyrants<\/strong>, who have always tried to ensure that only they controlled the information that was published. That dark side of journalism did not monitor power: it was its watchdog<\/strong>, and today there are still many journalists who dedicate themselves to this work, and not to that mission of the \"fourth estate\" that many attribute to it.<\/p>\n We have a clear example of this deformation of journalism in Spain. Today, a large part of Spanish journalism has abandoned that surveillance function and has become a spokesperson for power<\/strong>. There are media outlets and journalists who live off subsidies and act like S\u00e1nchez's political police, singling out all those who oppose the coalition government of socialists and communists<\/strong>, as if disagreeing with them were a crime. Sometimes this collaboration with power is limited to placing the focus where the government indicates it<\/strong> and abandoning the mission of monitoring power to a point that should embarrass any journalist.<\/p>\n Let's look at two examples of this. These last two days, many Spanish media outlets have had a pi\u00f1ata as their cover story<\/strong>, due to the PSOE's protest over a pi\u00f1ata with the image of Pedro S\u00e1nchez in the protests against the socialists in Madrid. Some media have had the dignity to remember that the PSOE has done worse things<\/a>, but others don't even do that. It is about criminalizing, in any case, the opposition, applying a blatant double standard<\/strong>, which demands convictions if the opposition does one thing and dictates silence if the left does the same thing.<\/p>\n In the end, what is current is dictated by the government and the media obeys.<\/strong> If they tell us that we have to talk about the pi\u00f1ata, we talk about it and the rest doesn't matter. If the government decides that the current topic is a kiss from a soccer player, it obeys and covers are dedicated to it daily. In this way, the media become inquisitors at the service of power<\/strong>, if only by fixing the focus where the government decides.<\/p>\n
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