The general director of IB3, Josep Codony, has admitted that he was wrong to refer to migrants as "illegals" instead of "irregular," considering that it "was not a correct expression."
Codony made this correction during his monthly appearance before the Balearic Radio and Television Control Commission, held this Thursday in the Parliament, where he was again questioned about the terminology used.
In his previous appearance before this same body, the head of the public channel defended that the entity "fulfills its public function" and that it had reported with "professional criteria" on the regularization of migrants, after the opposition questioned the use of the term "illegals" to refer to those who undergo this process.
Socialist deputy Omar Lamin took up this issue again in this Thursday's session and asked him if he maintained the same stance, which in his opinion contributes to "dehumanizing people who have complicated stories."
"I believe it was not a correct expression and if I used the word illegal it was incorrect. People are not illegal but irregular and as a public medium we have to make an effort to use rigorous terms. We will not make politics with people who arrive irregularly in the Balearic Islands," Codony replied during the commission.
Lamin appreciated that he acknowledged the mistake and reminded him of the responsibility he assumes as the highest authority on journalistic rigor in the regional public broadcasting service. "You are not a pundit or the director of a pseudo-media outlet, but of IB3," the parliamentarian reproached him.
The socialist maintained that, when he resorts to this type of language, the general director of IB3 acts as a "conveyor belt for the narrative that interests the Consolat de Mar."
In this context, he stressed that "you did not invent the concept of illegal, it comes from Nazism and from a way of doing politics that is being appended by the far-right that sits next to you and is also replicating it whenever President Prohens is interested," thus concluding his speech.
((To be expanded))