The political interview is a duel that has defined codes, is based on questions and answers of news interest, is a meeting of respectful and sharp treatment towards the interviewee; A good political interview will be valued to the extent that the required character makes an effort to respond to the interviewer’s topics of interest, which should not differ from the matters presented by the news agenda.
That on TVN’s central newscast a series of trivial questions is asked of a former presidential candidate, it expresses, at the very least, a non-alignment of the television genre with the news objectives of the interview: With one eye he looks at the newscast studios and with the other the showbiz program.
Was your detention very hard, with whom you shared in prison, exchanged books, spoke with the lawyer Hermosilla…? These are some of the reasonable questions to liven up a barbecue or an intimate dinner, a profile or reality television program, however , are inconsequential as support for the central newscast of a public channel.
Nine minutes of interview and no important question, Nine minutes of interview and no question that would allow the interviewee to develop an idea, Nine minutes of interview and the journalist persists in treating the former mayor and former presidential candidate as if he were a reality show competitor, this endorsed by an inappropriate tone and pace for the type of interview that was expected.
I would like to highlight three difficulties that our television network has been experiencing for decades, for which no solution is in sight: a) there is a loss of density in the journalistic profession and of value in the treatment of its contents; b) despite having little trust among citizens, there is an insistence on repeating the formula of magazine programs in spaces for discussion and political information and, c) our public television is mired in a crisis of formats and content that It keeps it away from the audiences and its historic press department does not escape this citizen evaluation.
The production, execution and dissemination of the interview that journalist Iván Núñez did with former mayor Daniel Jadue expresses the ideological actions of the press, rather than highlighting the news value of an event.
The TVN journalist fails when he tries to transform a political figure into a banal and superfluous subject, stripping him of his status as a source of interest for an important part of the population.
The editor of TVN fails when he structures an informative note in which the journalist acquires greater relevance than the interviewee. Today opinions on Daniel Jadue’s political situation are not discussed, the public is divided into approving or rejecting the interviewee’s action as a consequence of the journalist’s behavior.
TVN’s press management fails when it tries to make news of an event (the attempted interview) that makes predominant a dialogue that did not occur and not the topics that should have called for that dialogue.
The crisis of the institutions, the learned mistrust and the half-truths that dominate our press, should invite us to reflect on the country we have, the country we dream of and the urgent changes that must be made to the entire media system in order to strengthen the weakened freedom of expression that we live in.