Corporacion Aragonesa de Radio y Television (CARTV)

The Corporación Aragonesa de Radio y Televisión (CARTV) is Aragón’s public broadcaster. Law 8/1987 established the corporation, which operates Aragón TV and Aragón Radio through public subsidiaries. Raquel Fuertes Rodrigo, first elected Director General in November 2023, was elected for a further term by the Cortes de Aragón on 25 September 2026.

Media assets

Television: Aragón TV and its Aragón TV Internacional feed.

Radio: Aragón Radio.

Digital: Aragón Play, Aragón Noticias and Aragón Deporte. Aragón Play also carries thematic and event streams. The broadcaster launched its web and mobile platform on 24 June 2026 and announced Smart TV applications on 6 October.

Ownership and governance

CARTV is a public-law corporation administratively attached to the Government of Aragón. Its television and radio companies are wholly public. The Cortes de Aragón elects its 15-member Board for each legislature. The Board proposes the Director General, whom the Cortes also elects. Both appointments require a two-thirds majority in the first parliamentary ballot; after 24 hours, an absolute majority suffices. That fallback rule for both offices was enacted by Law 4/2016.

Law 15/2023 reduced the Board from 16 voting members to 15 by removing the Advisory Council representative’s vote. That representative may still attend and speak. The amendment also removed the open competitive process previously required for choosing CARTV senior managers and the sole administrators of its subsidiaries. The Director General appoints senior management on professional criteria after notifying the Board; candidates for subsidiary administrator must present a project and receive a favourable Board report.

Fuertes was elected on 17 November 2023 in the second parliamentary ballot, receiving 39 votes in favour and 28 abstentions. The ballot was secret. In September 2026, the new Board proposed her continuation by a two-thirds majority, and the Cortes re-elected her by absolute majority.

The Cortes elected the present Board by assent on 10 and 11 September 2026. Six members were proposed by the Popular Party (PP), four by the Socialist Party (PSOE), three by Vox, one by Chunta Aragonesista and one by Aragón–Teruel Existe. The PP and Vox, which form the regional government, proposed nine of the 15 members. Antonio Suárez Óriz chairs the Board; Fernando Gimeno Marín is Vice-President and Jorge Calleja Visiedo is Secretary. The Izquierda Unida representative may attend without a vote.

The 16-member Advisory Council brings together representatives of CARTV and contractor staff, journalism and audiovisual associations, higher education, consumers, disability organisations and public institutes. It advises the Board on programming. The founding law also provides for parliamentary oversight.

Source of funding and budget

CARTV receives government transfers under a programme contract and earns commercial income, including advertising. The 2024–2026 contract was signed electronically on 7 November 2024 and published on 17 December.

Editorial independence

Article 2 of the founding law requires objective, accurate and impartial information, a distinction between news and opinion, and political and social pluralism. The programme contract states that CARTV and its subsidiaries retain full editorial responsibility and independence when commissioning content from private suppliers. The Board sets the general principles for programming and determines the allocation of programming time to significant political and social groups. The founding law establishes an Advisory Council and parliamentary scrutiny, but no journalists’ News Council.

These safeguards have been tested by disputes about news production. In February 2025, the workers’ committee at Chip Audiovisual said that four news crews assigned as minimum service during a strike on 31 January had covered only the regional government, Zaragoza city government and PP and Vox events. It accused Aragón TV’s news management of partisan assignments and of increasing the appearance of PP politicians. Other news was covered by another production company, according to the committee. The account records staff allegations concerning assignments on a particular day, alongside their broader concern about the news operation.

In October 2025, the regional PSOE alleged that Aragón TV’s news had omitted opposition reactions and favoured the governing party. This was a political party’s complaint, rather than an independent content assessment. In September 2026, Aragón TV removed an announced wildfire documentary from its scheduled slot, prompting some local officials to allege political motives. CARTV said the film had missed its production deadline, denied political intervention and said it intended to broadcast it later. A parliamentary question sought an explanation. The available record does not establish a government instruction to delay the documentary.

The concentration of production contracts at Henneo adds an accountability question, but the award does not transfer CARTV’s legal editorial responsibility to the contractor. A 2019 manifesto by Chip workers called for news production to be brought inside the broadcaster and criticised their employment conditions; it predates the present management and is separate from the 2025 complaint about assignments.

AI and digital policy

Aragón Play combines live and on-demand television and radio with news and sports. CARTV describes its content discovery as AI-based. Its launch plan scheduled personalised recommendations during the September–November 2026 phase and further AI tools from 2027. The public materials reviewed do not contain a CARTV editorial policy for generative AI in journalism.

Classification rationale

CARTV moves provisionally from State-Controlled (SC) to Independent State-Funded and State-Managed (ISFM). State Media Monitor moved it to SC in 2024 amid concerns about the 2023 governance reform. The change recorded here follows a reconsideration of the corporation’s statutory governance framework and a reassessment of the available editorial evidence in the 2026 review, rather than any change in State Media Monitor’s criteria.

It is publicly owned, receives substantial direct government funding and has a Board and Director General elected by the regional parliament. The governing PP and Vox proposed nine members of the Board elected by assent in September 2026. The 2023 law reduced the Advisory Council’s vote and eased senior-management appointments.

Editorial practice requires close scrutiny. News workers described specific partisan assignments in 2025, the opposition alleged wider favouritism, and the rescheduling of a wildfire documentary in 2026 remained contested. The reviewed evidence does not establish a sustained editorial line imposed or approved by state authorities, the editorial criterion for State-Controlled status. The statutory pluralism requirements and the programme contract’s allocation of editorial responsibility to CARTV remain in force.

The next review will examine comparable samples of CARTV’s news and current-affairs coverage under the present management, the outcome of the documentary dispute, and any documented instructions or findings concerning political influence on editorial decisions.

September 2026