The general director of IB3 admits that the news about the human chain at Es Trenc was "modified"

PalmaThe general director of IB3, Josep Codony, admitted this Thursday in Parliament that the management of the public television station “modified” the news report about the human chain in defense of Es Trenc, which brought together thousands of people between La Ràpita and Ses Covetes on July 5th. Codony justified the intervention because he considers that the piece initially prepared had a “partisan” treatment, was incomplete, and did not incorporate all versions, according to the information gathered during his appearance on Thursday by Europa Press.

This confession comes almost three months after the IB3 works council publicly denounced that the News management had altered the text prepared by the team that covered the mobilization. At that time, the workers' representatives described the events as a “very serious attack” on the staff's professionalism and asserted that they had not been allowed to offer the information with the criteria with which it had been prepared.

Codony has now defended exactly the opposite: that modifying that piece was part of the ordinary operation of a newsroom. As he explained, the journalist sent to the protest “only interviewed one of the parties and not the other,” and when the editor and the head of News reviewed the report, they “rectified” it to incorporate both versions. “It is normal,” he argued, before defending the work of the editors and showing his support for the head of News, Sílvia Pol.

The final version, according to Codony, included both the position of the organizers and the police data on attendance, as the counts differed. “The piece had to be modified,” he insisted in another parliamentary response, because “it was not complete” and “data was missing.” He also remarked that that information appeared in different news editions during the following days.

What the workers denounced

The controversy, however, does not focus only on the count of participants. In the statement published the day after the mobilization, the works council maintained that the final version had "minimized" the actions of the mayor of Campos, Francisca Porquer (PP), during the protest. Porquer positioned herself next to the writer Sebastià Alzamora and the GOB spokesperson, Tonina Siquier, while the manifesto was being read, an intrusion that provoked rebukes from some of the attendees.

The workers also criticized the treatment that IB3 gave to some graffiti that appeared on the beach bunkers. According to their complaint, the public television's digital channels gave prominence to this issue, which had also been spread by Porquer on her social networks. The journalist covering the event had also interviewed a resident of Colònia de Sant Jordi who claimed that the graffiti was already there before the demonstration, but this testimony ended up not being published, according to what the committee explained at the time.

Codony has defended this Thursday the editorial decision. According to the general director, pointing out that the graffiti had not been made on the same day of the protest "distracted from the focus", because, in his opinion, what was relevant was the fact that they existed in the context of the human chain. "The piece turned out impeccable", he concluded.

Rebukes for questioning the journalist

The appearance also led to a discussion about the professional who prepared the information. In response to MÉS per Mallorca deputy Marta Carrió, Codony recalled that the journalist had been the party's press officer. “See how sectarian IB3 is,” he ironized. Carrió had described the modification of the news story as a “serious attack” and an “interference”.

Socialist deputy Ares Fernández also questioned the treatment of the mobilization and reproached Codony for referring to the editor's professional past. Fernández demanded “respect” for the house's professionals and urged him to make the original version of the piece public so it could be compared with the one that was finally broadcast. He also recalled that Parliament is processing a request for the appearance of the Head of News, Sílvia Pol, so she can explain her decisions.

Codony replied that Pol “does not have to defend anything”, because, as he maintained, she is limited to doing her job. He also assured that at IB3, information is “rectified” “every day” and insisted that the final result of the coverage offered the different versions of the events.

The dispute thus reopens a controversy that began the very day after the human chain, when the workers' representatives made public an unusual complaint against the News management. Now, for the first time, it is the general director himself who confirms that the news was modified, although he defends that the intervention responded to strictly journalistic criteria.

The journalists' union demands Codony's resignation

The Journalists' Union of the Balearic Islands (SPIB) has demanded the resignation of the general director of IB3, Josep Codony, whom they accuse of "pressuring" and "intimidating" the professionals of the newsroom of the archipelago's public media outlet.

Through a statement, the union has accused Codony of publicly pointing out the journalist who initially prepared the news story about the massive human chain that took place this summer at Es Trenc and which was subsequently modified. The union organization considers that this action violates professional independence and conveys to the newsroom the message that any journalist who produces information that "does not please the management can be exposed, discredited, and publicly questioned."

The SPIB further maintains that the management of IB3 "manipulated" the information about the environmental demonstration at Es Trenc and has defended that any modification of a piece must respond to "transparent and verifiable" journalistic criteria. The entity, which has also called on the Parliament and the oversight bodies of IB3 to evaluate Codony's words, has demanded that the management of the public entity guarantee the autonomy of its professionals.