Catalonia´s media drop impartiality for independence
(The Guardian Spain)

The starkly divergent news agendas promoted in Madrid and Barcelona expose the crisis that state-funded journalism can face when the political stakes riseSome fundamental media questions can never be definitively answered. One is: who should be allowed to own a newspaper or news organisation? Another - a core problem as those crucial Catalonian regional elections near - is who controls the public service apparatus that supposedly delivers independent but state-sanctified journalism?Hollow laugh. You might have hoped that the high-profile role of Catalan-language, regionally subsidised TV and radio would be muted during a campaign that will help decide Catalonia´s future. No such luck. TV3 and the radio channels are as independence-enthused as ever - and in frequent debate with the electoral commission. Is Carles Puigdemont a president or an ex-president? Are those nationalist leaders still in jail political prisoners? Continue reading...