The session of Congress has been marked this Wednesday by what has happened in the press room of the hemicycle. Gabriel Rufián, ERC spokesman, has refused to answer the questions of a journalist from a medium linked to the extreme right, as he did last week, claiming that “we do not participate in ultra-right media bubbles.” Aina Vidal, spokesperson for En Comú Podem, has followed in his footsteps.

After this event, and with the aim that it does not continue to occur, the communication directors of all the parliamentary groups on the left have signed a letter and sent it to the presidency of Congress calling for action to “restore the proper functioning of the press conferences” due to the “lack of respect” of some journalists who, in his opinion, make “ideological confrontations.”

Those responsible for communication from PSOE, United We Can and the partner parties of the Government have registered a letter asking the Chamber to take measures to “restore the proper functioning of the press conferences” due to the “lack of respect” of some journalists who , in his opinion, they make “ideological confrontations”.

They consider that the behavior of some journalists distorts the appearances and creates tension. It has been signed by the heads of PSOE, United We Can, ERC, PNV, Junts, EH Bildu, BNG, CUP, Más País-Equo- Compromís, Nueva Canarias and PDeCAT. Congressional sources assure SER that these media “meet the requirements.”

The deputy secretary of Communication of the PP, Pablo Montesinos, has reproached the sending of this letter to the General Secretariat of Congress, and, on Twitter, has indicated that “the PSOE joins Bildu and the rest of the radical partners to try to censor those questions they do not want to answer “and added:” always in defense of freedom of information. “

Also the number two of the PP, Teodoro García Egea, has made ugly that “Bildu and PSOE again together” complain that “they ask them questions at press conferences.” “Asking questions for them is intolerable, the tributes to ETA are an example to follow,” he added.

APM calls on politicians to avoid disqualifying journalists

The Madrid Press Association (APM) has followed up on the signed letter, warning that politicians should also refrain from “disqualifying” informants in their public appearances.

In a statement, the APM has appealed to both journalists and politicians so that their relations develop in a climate of “mutual respect”, which favors the exercise of freedom of expression and the right of citizens to receive information.

The association recalls that journalists, especially when press appearances take place within public institutions such as Congress and before duly accredited informants, “have the right to ask, in a respectful manner, questions that concern the activity of politicians . “

In the same way, he adds, politicians have the right not to comment, if they consider it appropriate, to the questions that are formulated but “in no case does this right empower them to make disqualifications directed at journalists or the media to those who represent “.

“The Madrid Press Association considers that citizens do not want the appearances of politicians before journalists to become news by themselves, but that they serve to have more information about what is happening in the country,” he concludes .