Left-wing groups have filed in the Parlament a bill with which they seek to set up a News Committee in IB3.
The text, signed by PSIB, MÉS per Mallorca, Més per Menorca and Unidas Podemos, aims to respond to a “repeated demand” from representatives of the workers of the public body.
As the groups have explained in a joint statement, these representatives have conveyed the appropriateness of having a News Council that acts as an “additional tool to strengthen neutrality, professional independence, pluralism, information quality, and citizens’ trust”.
The bill recalls that both RTVE and various regional radio-televisions already have internal bodies for the participation of information professionals, oriented to “ensure professional independence, objectivity, veracity, pluralism, information quality, and compliance with the profession’s deontological principles”.
Based on this framework, the initiative proposes introducing three changes to the law of the Balearic Islands Radio-Television Entity in order to enable the News Committee, which would have the mission of representing the professionals involved in obtaining, producing, and disseminating news content, as well as safeguarding the principle of professional independence, guaranteeing the public service function, and maintaining autonomy with respect to news services, separating information from opinion in a clear and distinct manner.
According to the registered text, this body must also promote editorial independence, provide information about the editorial line, and participate in the drafting of style books and codes of good practices, in addition to periodically reporting on the news programming broadcast, providing information in a binding manner on proposals for the appointment of the management of news services, issuing reports and recommendations in the event of incidents or complaints, and advising the staff in the exercise of their rights and obligations.
The News Council, likewise, must prepare and send to the Parlament, once a year, a report on the activity carried out and on the degree of compliance with the principles of independence, objectivity, veracity, impartiality, and pluralism.
The composition, organization, and operation of this new body, in case its creation is approved, must be established by the Board of Directors, which shall have a maximum period of two months from the approval of the organic regulation to formally constitute it.