In less than 24 hours, the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, and Defence minister, María Dolores de Cospedal, have openly attacked Catalan public channel TV3, putting the focus on the Catalan public media as one of the trophies which the PP executive hasn't yet conquered. Rajoy has already admitted that he would have liked for article 155 to have extended to the media, but PSOE's opposition prevented it. Cospedal was harder-hitting, directly saying that TV3 "had stopped being a mass media outlet" to become a "means of political propaganda and manipulation". A model of television she described as a "true embarrassment".
Beyond the opinion that anyone might have about TV3 and the occasional errors which have slipped through, the figures, which are public, about the channel's plurality belie such statements which are so categorical and so biased. No other public TV channel, much less Spain's TVE, can show better standards of opposition presence than the Catalan channel. So what caused this debate? Simple. As in the case of the accusations of rebellion or sedition following the 1st October independence referendum and the declaration of independence, it's about gaining ground in the narrative in the eyes of public opinion. It's obvious that neither Rajoy nor Cospedal watch TV3, but they talk about the channel with a forcefulness which, the way they express it, could lead you to think it's their main viewing.
It's been some time since, as part of a decided desire to diminish Catalan identity, the importance of its own language and the squalid power which Catalonia enjoys, it was decided to squeeze the CCMA (Catalan Audiovisual Media Corporation), which encompasses TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio, as far as possible. To this end, two decisions were adopted: financial suffocation and manipulation of the work its professionals carry out. Both at the same time and in coordination. It's certain that the economic smothering by minister Cristóbal Montoro is no joke and that programming is being seriously affected (with a clear risk that the channel's audience share will drop) and the permanent rhetoric against TV3 has seeped through into many sectors of Spanish public opinion. They did the same with the Mossos, the Catalan police force, via the infamous discrediting campaign which started after their success is dismantelling the terrorist cell which attacked Barcelona and Cambrils last August.
In the end, progressively dismantling what could be considered infrastructure for a state is the final objective. The television and the police are two of them. And both of them are far from being unappreciated by Catalans. That's where it hurts most. That's why they have to invent a story, knowing above all that that the propagandists are already ready and that the truth will be the first to fall by the wayside.