The departure of Paolo Vasile as CEO of Mediaset last October from the position where he had held since 1999 has unleashed a storm on Tele 5. Because as confirmed by the company itself, the group’s televisions are going to have to take advantage of a series of codes of behavior. The main affected, of course, will be the star program on Tele 5, ‘Sálvame’.
Vasile’s exit, everything else’s entrance. Vasile left his post when Tele 5’s declining audiences began to be discussed as a subject that deeply concerned Mediaset. There was talk that the cessation of him had already been agreed for several years before, but the pandemic prevented him from executing it. In any case, there have been numerous changes to the company’s organizational chart after his departure.
In recent weeks, Leonardo Baltanás has been replaced by Jaime Guerra as production director. In addition, three managers who had been with the company for years have left their posts: Mariano Blanco (director of current affairs programs), Baldomero Toscano (director of program production) and Miguel Santiago Vila (director of new projects). Eduardo Escorial enters as director of entertainment and news. The leadership is completed with Alessandro Salem as the new CEO, with powers that he shares with Massimo Musolino (Management Director) and Borja Prado, president of the conglomerate
Bad audiences, worse content. Its clearest purpose: to put an end to the bleeding of audiences that started in 2020 when Antena 3 snatched ‘Pasapalabra’ from Telecinco, which generated a shock wave. The Pedro Piqueras news program fell from 20% share to 12% and both the Vicente Vallés news program on Antena 3 and ‘El Hormiguero’ saw their audiences multiply. And to all this is added a serious image crisis of the most popular programs, such as the entire ecosystem of ‘Save me’ and reality shows such as ‘The island of temptations’ and other productions that monopolize the primetime.
To weather this image crisis, they are going to try to ventilate the universe of ‘Save me’ and the programs of the heart of the house, locked up for a long time in a couple of inbred microcosms and that feed themselves: those of the families of Rocío Jurado and Isabel Pantoja. Mediaset has apparently established a list of celebrities who will no longer receive as much attention from their programs: Rocío Carrasco, Antonio David Flores, Fidel Albiac, Rocío Flores, Kiko Rivera, Olga Moreno, Marta Riesco, Gloria Camila, José Fernando , José Ortega Cano, Rosa Benito, Rosario Mohedano and Bárbara Rey.
Revised Code of Ethics. It is the first step to give a facelift to some content that sometimes sins of giving excessive feedback to each other. Many times these characters become famous in programs like ‘Save me’, ‘The AR program’, ‘It’s noon’ or ‘Fiesta’, first as secondary characters of other famous people. And from there they jump to reality such as ‘Nightmare in El Paraíso’, ‘Secret Story’ and ‘Survivors’, where if they become famous they can become collaborators in those programs that made them known.
These currents of characters from the heart entering and leaving the same programs not only lead to a feeling of recycling for viewers, but also to certain flawed behaviors, which are what have led Mediaset to propose new standards for its programs. According to company statements, this new regulation is mandatory, is already in force, and has been sent to all company workers.
The new rules. One of the most striking standards, determined by a new point (the Code of Ethics was approved in December 2011, but it is being updated without losing the previous proposals) called ‘Guiding principles in entertainment programs’ talks about that “Entertainment programs they are just that, for entertainment and, therefore, their presenters and collaborators must refrain from issuing opinions, preferences or political comments within the program”.
Since “El programa de Ana Rosa” has a section on political news, it is exempt from this prohibition. The recipient of this section is very clear: Jorge Javier Vázquez, who from ‘Sálvame’ usually launches very ideologically marked opinions and who, from what is said, due to their immense reach, do not usually sit well with conservative sectors. Jorge Javier Vázquez is becoming not only a very critical voice with the Spanish right, but with Mediaset itself, about whose drift he has already thrown a few darts in ‘Save me’.
The fights are over. The other essential aspect that regulates this new code of ethics is the relationship between the two major producers of the house. Since the broadcast of the documentary on the mistreatment of Rocío Carrasco by Antonio David Flores, La Fábrica de la Tele (producer of ‘Sálvame’) and Unicorn Content (owned by Ana Rosa Quintana) have faced a war of accusations due to the appearance of commentators in the last program strongly linked to the enemies of the daughter of Rocío Jurado, little less than a standard bearer in many aspects of La Fábrica de la Tele.
The new code prohibits “attacking or criticizing any other program of the company or its presenters and collaborators.” This decision has a double edge: the clearly conservative position and opposition to the measures of the current Spanish government of Ana Rosa and the positions related to Podemos and the PSOE of the presenter of ‘Sálvame’ are the B side of this clash between producers.
Changes in Tele 5: what are they hiding. Added to all this are other additional measures: prohibition of ‘Sálvame’ commentators from leaving the set, responsibility of the producers to assume the fines that arrive at the programs for not respecting child protection hours, prohibition of revealing personal data of third parties and any type of advertising demonstration not previously communicated… They are both a content cleaning maneuver and a wink from the outside, to make viewers understand that Mediaset has been renewed. Endogamy is over, internal fights are over.
Because the image of the “clean” chain of Antena 3 that Tele 5 mocked so much at the beginning of the last decade, calling it “the sad chain” (a name that it had to give up so that the lawsuits would not start) is now aspirational. The clean and quiet entertainment guaranteed by ‘El Hormiguero’, ‘Pasapalabra’ and the talent shows for the whole family they are very far from the fights in the mud where Jorge Javier and Ana Rosa go down every day. And the audience rules.
