Three   views on economic information on televisio

Castellet, Andreu

Missé, Andreu

Ureta, Josep M.

Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert

102 
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48 
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Three views on economic 
information on television 
In the framework of the li Congress of Economies of Catalonia, he1d in 
February 1988, there was a development o f Days on Economy on television, 
whose papers s hali be objecto f a specific publication on the part o f the Asso-
ciation of Economists of Catatonia. "Annuals of Catalan Journalism" inclu-
ding, in this number, the contributions of three journalists to this Con-
gress. 
ANNALS DEL PERIODISME CATALÀ 
49 Economy and television, two languages. The experience o f TV3 
JOSEP MARIA URET A 
An estimation made by the News Services ofTV3 on the content of every 100 
minutes of new broadcast during 1987. shows the following figures: 27 were 
deveted to international news; 20 to sports, 17 to Spanish matters (excluding 
Catatonia); 17 minutes more to Catalan matters; 10 to cul tu re and society, and, 
lastly, JO more to economy. 
Based on these data. the author - addressing optimists- considers that, since 
the News Services of the TV3 were organised in 1983. there bave been great 
advances with regards to the presence of economic information on the diffe-
rent televisions, as a Iso the mastering o f television language applied to econo-
mies. a fact which has contributed, among other factors, to the increase in the 
dema nd for this type o f information on the part o f society. In a more pessimis-
tic view o f the matter. Ureta believes. however, that economic information on 
television does not bave the treatment in time and content which it should 
bave. especially if it is compared with that of written press and the radio. 
The work puts forth he re. the four causes which prevent, according to the aut-
hor. a better development of economic information on television: 
1. Causes deriving from the medium: Audio-visual "grammar", complex a nd 
difficult. as it is open a nd changing. does not result easy to apply in the area o f 
economic information. 1t is difficult to obtain images which "explain" econo-
mic news by themselves and audio-visual orthodoxy orders that on television. 
the image is essential. There is a vicious circle: since economy does not bave 
images it does not appear enough on television, a nd, the less effort is made the 
less it will appear. Then, those who do not understand resort to this argument 
-the Jack of images- to end up by eliminating this type of news. 
2. Causes deriving from the sources of information: Informative opactity 
which exists, in general, in Spain a nd which is not homologable to the rest of 
the western world. is even greater when the information agents a re enterprisers, 
administrators or whatever socioeconomic agent. The use of "off the record" 
a nd the bad habit o f saying o ne thing when befo re the carnera a nd another 1 Q 3 
when not being recorded, greatly damage especially economic informers on 
television. 
3. Own limita tions of informative process: More than 30% of journalists in 
an editor's office be they o f television or nota re of"Ietters" ahd a re capable ol 
writing about polítics. cul turc, sports. but not about economy. The dema nd for 
expositive clarity is greater a nd greater for writers of economy than for other 
spheres. There is a lot that people do not understand about this type of infor- · 
mation: an obsessiona bo ut not ma king hidden publicity oftrade marks in eco-
nomi e information. when no much importance is given to it in othcr areas. 
4. Limitat ions ofthose redevoted to it: lt is relatively easy that an economist 
ANNALS DEL PERIODISME CATJ'\LÀ 
104 
adapts himself to writing in a paper or to speaking on the radio, instead the 
world of economists and that of television a re extremely distant. 
The author terminates with the following statement: There a re two languages. 
two ways o f communicating, that o f economists a nd that oftelevision. which is 
not yet understood well enough. 
57 Economic infonnation on the Catalan circuit of TVE ANDREU CASTELLET 
The author starts the work by explaining that -during the Congress- there 
were at the News Servi ces ofTVE Catatonia. 7 writers ofthe economy section. a 
total of20%, and which their thematic sphere spans f rom labour a nd financial 
news, news referring to the food-farming sector a nd the world ofthe consumor. 
and a Iso matters relating to those aspects o f economic policy or tech nological 
innovation which could be of interest to the public in general. 
Andreu Castellet then focuses his communication on that which he calls: 
Small Glossary of topics on economic information on TV: 
''This is how it should be explained": A frequent ph rase spoken by some of 
those responsible for information programmes when, from the economy sec-
tion, certa in types of news a re posed, especially referring to economic policy or 
financial matters. The economic journalist is, at TVE-Catalonia. probably he 
who is required to ha ve a deeper specialisation, but the firm. instead. does not 
facilitate the instruments (formation at seminars. access to specialised or res-
tricted information, etc ... ) which allow him to have a background comparable 
with thatofjournalists who work in the written press. However much technolo-
gical possibilities evolve, a minute's news on television can never contain as 
much information as a quarter of a page of a two-column newspaper. which 
does not mean that the audiovisual journalist has to have fewer data than the 
informer of the written press. 
''This information does not have image". There is news on undeniable interest 
which may haye passed un observed by our viewers, simply beca use we ha ve 
not broadcast it or becau se we ha ve not gi ven it the relevance they deservedly 
merited in the written media. 
Negotiations on great public or priva te financial opera tions. for instance. ha ve 
often been absent from our programmes. The scene ofthe information is often 
far f rom us or simply outside o ur reach, or their protagonists ha ve no interest in 
their faces being seen by millions o f viewers. Often recourse has to be made to 
file images or the simple reading of a 30 seconds note before the carnera. The 
possibility of creating one 8s own informative image through data treatment. 
does work for lack special training for journalists on their possibilities of 
use. 
Public or private: The pejorative prejudice towards the private enterpriser 
already forms part o f the jounalistic cul tu re o f the Spanish transition. a nd not 
always based exclusively on the sectarism o f the informer. And that o f eco no-
ANNALS DEL PERIODISME CATALÀ 
mic recovery is protagonised by private agents and not always do they keep to 
their news as they should, whilc more protagonism is gi ven to acts impulsed by 
public administra tions, even though they often do not have excessive interest. 
On the other ha nd. priva te enterprises a re generally not entities o f easy access 
to journalists their directors usually have a very reluctant attitude towards 
the journalist. 
"Is this important?": The people in charge of news programmes frequently 
ask this question, a nd they put it more frequently to journalists of economy 
than any other group. Journalists in our country a re generally ignorant o f eco-
nomic matters. When they hear an economic subject being talked a lot about 
they want it to be dealt with in the news, but they ha ve not ma de a se ri ous e ff ort 
to understand economic phenomena. Really, they hope that this trend foreco-
nomic information will disappear,that it is a passing thing, a nd at !ast they can 
forget about news which they dislike evaluating because they do not unders-
tand it. 
I arn very optimistic with regards to the solution ofthis problem. among other 
things because it can hardly become worse in relation with the economic for-
mation ofthc non-specialised journalist. The times and market requiremcnts 
will have thcir effect ... 
63 Credit of economic information ANDREU MISSÉ 
The author f ocu ses hi s work on the preoccupations as a whole ofthe journalists 
who give economic information. whatever be the medium in which they deve-
lop their activity. including television. focusing on the case o f FECSA, a firrn 
whose true financial situation was made publically know in the years 1986-87 
and which was very different from that which had been divulged, both by the 
firm itself as by the media. Andreu Missé poses the following reflections: 
I) Unti11986 thc true financial a nd economic situation o f ma ny enterprises o f a 
sector so basic and important. That is to say, neither the shareholders had 
information on that which they wcrc buying and selling. nor the lenders (the 
general public, through the bond market), knew to whom their money was 
going. 
2) The Stock Exchange. an official organism. took and published as good the 
information coming f rom the firms. without ma king the slightest contrast. The 
Stock Exchange's publications arc considered one of the most solvent sour-
ces. 
3) Thirdly. the authorities had set the price ofthe tariffs for many years basing 
themselves on data on the costs of the sector which had nothing to do with 
the reality. 
ANNALS DEL PERIODISME CATALÀ 
to: 
106 
Missé explains that the case o f FECSA is not an isola te d case (Hidroelèctrica 
de Catalunya, Spanish bank crisis, plan for textile reconversion, etc ... ) and in 
fact we can cite many more examples of disinformation, or incorrect or false 
information, due to journalists' ignorance. To the lack o fan insufficient appro-
priate level on the part o f journalists is added, then, the lack oftrustworthiness 
o f sources, statistic bases and honourable a nd reliable institutions which allow 
news professionals to work as they should. 
In sp i te o f everything, the author considers that economic news has undergone 
a substantial advance in recent years, particularly since democratic transition 
has given way to reflection, increasingly frequent, which without advancing in 
the field o f democratisation o f economic life, política! democracy is la me. Also 
favouring this phenomenon has been the process o f strengthening a nd moder-
nisation of the Spanish economy, motivated by integration in the European 
community. The great stock exchange profits and the crash of October 1987 
have resulted in a sizeable increase in the number of readers of newspapers' 
economy pages. This increase in demand has had a response in the field of 
supply in the mar ket o f economic information, with di verse specialised news-
papers a nd magazines, whereas economy sections ha ve enlarged a nd new ones 
created in the different media. The Association of Journalists of Economic 
Information of Catatonia at the beginning of 1988 grouped around one hun-
dred journalists. 
The author of the work considers that a strong plurality has been introduced 
and this news speciality has been democratised, at the same time however that 
many firms and insti tu tions ha ve steepped up the difficultles of free access to 
information. The number of economic informers has increased but there has 
been a greater increase in heads o f press, image bureaux a nd departments o f 
externa! relati o ns, with the fundamental purpose o f intermediating the infor-
mation. On the other ha nd, the excessive increase o f the quantity o f informa-
tion coming to editors' offices (press releases, press conferences, trips. presen-
tations, cocktails, etc ... ) do not ena ble professionals to develop a good work o f 
research a nd contrast. All this also favours monethematics lot o f information 
f rom banks a nd little f rom the saving banks; wide treatment ofthe presentation 
of budgets of ,fue administra tions and little follow-up of their executi on; 
announcement of public works and no verification of their being carried 
o ut. 
In order to overcome these conditionings, the author ofthe work considers that 
it is necessary to maintain a criticat attitude befo re all the data available a nd to 
raise the professional leve of journalists by specific specialisation courses at 
the same time introducing the contrast and revision of all information. 
Missé also explains that ma ny works ha ve not been gone in to in depth for lack 
of conclusive arguments and that the great economic affairs eternally crawl 
through lawcourts and administrative organisms (Banca Catalana, Buixeres 
affair, Social Security fraud, case ofthe auctioners ofthe Special Magistgracy, 
Barcelona customs fraud, anomalies in bank accounts and the Generalitat's 
game, etc ... ) 
ANNALS DEL PERIODISME CATALÀ 


Three views on economic information on television

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