The Spanish Radio and Television Corporation (Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, RTVE) is Spain’s public broadcasting company. Television was launched in Spain in 1956. In 1973, the country’s two broadcast networks, RNE and Televisión Española (TVE—Spanish Television), were merged into an entity called RTVE Centralised Public Service.
Today, RTVE airs several television channels including La1, which focuses on news and current affairs, La2, which features cultural programming and documentaries, Teledeporte, which primarily airs sports content, 24h, an all-news channel, Clan, which is specialized in children’s programming, TVE Internacional, and two channels dedicated to the Catalonia region. Additionally, RTVE operates the radio network RNE, which consists of six radio channels.
Media assets
Television: Televisión Española (TVE)- La 1, La 2, Canal 24h, Teledeporte, Clan, La 1 Cataluna, La 2 Cataluna, Teledeporte, TVE Internacional, TVE HD
Radio: Radio Nacional de España (RNE)- Radio Nacional, Radio Clásica, Radio 3, Radio 4, Radio 5, Radio Exterior
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
In 2006, the public media companies TVE and RNE were dissolved due to significant deficits. They were replaced by Corporación RTVE, a state-owned company with special autonomy responsible for providing public broadcasting services. The entire social capital of Corporación RTVE is owned by the state.
According to the law, the highest governing structure at RTVE is the Board of Directors, which consists of nine members and a chair. Six members are appointed by the Chamber of Deputies and four by the Senate, the two chambers of the Spanish parliament.
Since 2018, the corporation has been experiencing a severe crisis due to the failure of the parliament to appoint its Board of Directors. Instead, a sole provisional administrator, Rosa María Mateo, was named for the station. In January 2020, she asked the government to appoint a board, threatening to resign if they didn’t. In November 2020, the government decided to cancel a competition that had been ongoing since 2018, aimed at appointing the Board. Experts believe this move allowed the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the Popular Party (PP) to appoint their people to the RTVE Board, effectively securing control of the station for the next six years. Finally, in February 2021, the government appointed the Board of Directors, with seven out of the ten members nominated by the PSOE and PP.
In 2022, there were continued attacks on RTVE’s editorial independence. The station’s president, Jose Manuel Perez Tornero, resigned under pressure from the government, which has been trying to secure its control over the public broadcaster in anticipation of a series of elections in Spain.
In March 2024, Concepción Cascajosa was appointed new interim president of the RTVE Corporation for a six-month term. She replaced Elena Sánchez Caballero.
Source of funding and budget
According to Law No. 8 of 2009, RTVE has been funded through public financing since 2010. The station’s budget consists entirely of public funding, including state subsidies and other taxes, such as funds from radio frequency fees, taxes imposed on private television companies, and taxes charged on telecom operators.
In 2022, RTVE received approximately €1.08bn in state subsidies, which accounts for almost the entire station’s budget, as per an annual report from the company. In 2023, the broadcaster received a state subsidy of about €1.07bn, according to an annual report published by the company. In 2024, the broadcaster had a total budget of €1.265bn.
Editorial independence
During a significant reform of the public broadcasting system in Spain in recent years, RTVE has faced strong editorial pressures from the government. According to RTVE’s News Council, an internal body responsible for ensuring the broadcaster’s independence, cases of manipulation by political powers have significantly increased since 2015. Although the station has mechanisms to assess its independence, it lacks tools to prevent manipulation before it happens. The pressures have often led to removing journalists and editors who were critical of the government.
RTVE’s editorial coverage faces more pressure when a single political party holds a majority in power. However, when the parliament is more fragmented, the pressure decreases because RTVE’s governance structures are not controlled by a single political group.
Journalists who have worked with RTVE have reported persistent examples of editorial manipulation at the broadcaster in recent years.
After Jose Manuel Perez Tornero resigned as President of RTVE, the government appointed Elena Sanchez to lead the broadcaster. Sanchez stated that she disagreed with any political party and would strive to ensure the station’s independence from political pressures. However, according to content monitoring conducted in 2023 and 2024 by our Media and Journalism Research Center, which produces the State Media Monitor, and the opinions of Spanish journalists interviewed for this report in May 2024, the station continues to succumb to political influences.
The 2006 Law No. 17 “guarantees” RTVE’s editorial independence, although it does not include specific provisions for establishing its independence.
RTVE has several mechanisms in place to ensure its editorial independence. One important mechanism is the News Council, an internal body established by Law No. 17, which regulates the RTVE. The Council consists of representatives of RTVE and is divided into three sub-committees. The first sub-committee focuses on TVE and has 13 members; the second deals with RNE and has nine members; and the third handles RTVE’s online platforms and has three members.
The main role of the News Council is to monitor RTVE’s operations, including its programming, and to identify any threats to the broadcaster’s editorial independence. Despite the Council’s efforts to publicize threats to RTVE’s editorial independence, it has not been very effective in preventing political manipulation from impacting RTVE’s editorial independence.
August 2024