Spanish media could not describe the lavish year-end press conference held by the country’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez as anything other than a “travesty.”
The event brought together more than 50 accredited journalists and was, in theory, the government’s first important annual meeting with the press and, by extension, the Spanish public. However, Mr. Sanchez had only 20 minutes left to answer questions from accredited journalists in attendance.
The press conference began an hour later than the government’s announced time. From there, Sanchez was unapologetic and spent 30 minutes praising the coalition’s efforts.
The Secretary of State for Communications then began speaking for just 20 minutes of question time. Remarkably, only six media outlets, all chosen by the Secretary, were asked questions. These media are El Paisthe most left-wing newspaper supporting the Sánchez government, another left-wing news outlet, and two Catalan newspapers.
None of the selected journalists asked questions about the current hottest topics in Spanish society: pardons for leaders and the 2017 illegal referendum on Catalonia’s independence. Instead, the questions allowed were about opposition leader Alberto Nuñez Feijó’s proposal for the European Commission to mediate an overhaul of the country’s court system, the king’s Christmas Eve speech, and other unimportant questions. Addressed several issues.
The president also criticized news organizations for not being tougher on PP and Vox.
Sánchez’s press conferences were staged in the manner of two previous prime ministers, Mariano Rajoy and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who typically responded to all or nearly all of the journalists who came to cover them until the end. This is in stark contrast. This year’s press conference was held at Prime Minister Moncloa’s official residence. In fact, for both parties, this was the Prime Minister’s longest attendance of the year, and the press was able to ask questions on any topic without restriction.