When it turns out that politics doesn't interest anyone and when it turns out that we're fed up with the (independence) "Process", it turns out that those media outlets who dedicate hours and hours of programming (for radio and TV) or the majority of their content (for online newspapers), are triumphing in audience.
Let's look at yesterday's TV viewing figures. In Catalonia, Catalan-language public broadcaster saw results like those back when there were only 5 or 6 channels. Their midday news got 30.2% and the evening bulletin 31.7%. Their famous morning show Els Matins got 28.2%, which is astonishing, whilst afternoon magazine show Tarda Oberta got 18.1%. In Spain, Al Rojo Vivo, a politics opinion and debate show on La Sexta, focused exclusively on Catalonia (once again), and got 20.3%, pratically tripling the channel's average. To get a better idea, it was the third most viewed program on Spanish TV for all times and channels, only beaten by Espejo Público (20.7%), also basically dedicated to Catalonia, and La que se avecina, one of the country's most popular sitcoms (20.5%), a sign of totally consolidated entertainment.
And if we look at Spanish news, La Sexta led at midday with 18.6% followed by TV1 with 16.1%. But yesterday all the lunchtime news shows got figures 13.3% or higher. In the evening, La Sexta got 16.5% followed by T4 with 16.2%. And now you'll say, well, lots of Catalans are watching Spanish channels and making the numbers go up. Yes, sure, but approximately three quarters of this audience isn't Catalan. The topic interests Spain.
And, speaking of the non-Catalans, another spectacular number. Basque public television's second channel, which broadcasts in Spanish, did a 4-hour special on Saturday morning, a day which saw nothing special happen. It still got an audience of 13.7%, practically doubling the channel's average. Something is happening when almost 14% of the Basque audience spend a Saturday morning glued to the TV consuming Catalan news.
Twitter is a separate phenomenon. In recent weeks thousands of Catalans have opened new profiles on the website. At first, it seemed that they were bots, because the majority didn't have their own photo, didn't have any followers and didn't tweet. But it's been shown that a very high percentage are real. People who, listening to word-of-mouth, have joined to follow the news that the large media companies don't explain or manipulate with a dedication worthy of eulogising. To stay informed. Many of them are the same people who consume traditional media as entertainment but then want to confirm it, understand it or have someone think the same way they do.
And, yes, it's true that the García Ferreras phenomenon helps a lot. He was the first to realise that the Process could be a great television spectacle and now is able to turn President Puigdemont having dinner in a restaurant in the centre of Girona into a two-hour live show. And kill it in terms of audience. But to be successful, him and the rest, have to have good material. They need a good script. They need things to happen, the more unexpected, the better. They need a high pace. They need shocks. They need many different stages to feature. They need many characters. They need plot twists. They need very high highs and very low lows for the viewer to easily identify with. And the Process has given them all of it. Without stopping. Every day. Today alone we've had president Puigdemont's appearance in Brussels and his summoning, along with 13 of his ministers, to the National Audience court, with an included request for 6 million euros of security.
The communication war is waged in the media. And the spectacle and propaganda are the tools used mainly to serve the information, always serving much more vegetable than meat. That's not to say that there's no meat. And that those who make the meat don't end up benefiting. Although it seems that those who do well from it are only those who sell the vegetables.