Brussels reiterates the threats made by the Chief of Staff of the President of the Community of Madrid, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, to elDiario.es in his report on the rule of law in Spain. The document states that journalists are “facing increasing challenges in the exercise of their professional activities” and lists the seven warnings in this sense launched by the Council of Europe, including one for “intimidation and harassment,” specifically citing the senior regional government official for “threatening and reprimanding” journalists for their information.
“We're going to crush you. You're going to have to close. Idiots. “Fuck you,” said Rodríguez in a WhatsApp message to the deputy director of this outlet, Esther Palomera, for the information about the investigation into tax fraud against Isabel Díaz Ayuso's partner, Alberto González Amador. “Is it a threat?” asked the journalist. “It's an advertisement,” challenged Ayuso's right-hand man later he justified that behavior.
The launch of the level two alert – alerts that pose a threat to “press freedom” for cases of “intimidation and harassment” – brings with it a request for an investigation from Spain. The move by the Strasbourg-based institution took place on March 28, after the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) demanded an “exhaustive” investigation into Rodríguez’s conduct: “The Spanish authorities must immediately and transparently investigate the threats and false accusations against elDiario. .es and its journalists, as well as the accusation of two El País reporters, and guarantee that justice is done.”
The intention of the Council of Europe's journalistic defence platform, which brings together journalistic organisations and entities specialising in fundamental rights, is for Spain to conduct an investigation into the “threats and false accusations against elDiario.es” and the dissemination of images of El País journalists reporting on the partner of the President of Madrid.
The The Community of Madrid recently responded to this process boasting of its respect for 'freedom of the press'. In its letter to the Council of Europe, the regional government avoided distancing itself from the insults and threats directed at this medium and limited itself to outlining generalities about the right to freedom of the press as enshrined in the Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy.
“Journalists continue to face increasing challenges in the exercise of their professional activities. Since the publication of the 2023 Rule of Law Report, seven new alerts have been activated for Spain in the Council of Europe Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, concerning attacks on the physical safety and integrity of journalists, intimidation and harassment of journalists, detention and imprisonment of journalists and other acts that have a chilling effect on media freedom,” the report said.
Among the cases mentioned in the document are the stabbing of journalist Alfredo López Penide from La Voz de Galicia by the same man who attacked Mariano Rajoy a few years ago; threats made by Cuban agents to exiled reporter Abraham Jiménez Enoa; the arrest of two reporters during a demonstration against the amnesty; the arrest of El Salto employee Rodrigo Mínguez for recording Vox president Santiago Abascal on his mobile phone as he was on his way to vote; and the refusal of accreditation to a journalist by the government of Murcia.