Earthquake in Telecinco News: Mediaset signs Carlos Franganillo and Piqueras retires from television

A coup for Mediaset with the surprise signing of Carlos Franganillo to lead the new news programs designed by Paco Moreno, head of the area, which starting in January will begin a new stage in which there will be a change in structure, focus, sets and presenters.

Carlos Franganillo, until now a TVE host, leaves the public channel and joins the private channel. He will replace Pedro Piqueras, who is leaving Mediaset after 17 years in which he has served as both presenter and director. At the end of the year, the 68-year-old veteran journalist “will retire from the small screen by his own decision, communicated and agreed upon months ago with the company,” according to Mediaset.

Since 2018, Carlos Franganillo has presented TVE’s Telediario 2. Before, he was a correspondent in Washington, among other assignments. Since he has been in charge of the star news program on La 1, Franganillo has hosted a news program that little by little has been establishing itself in the star slot of television. In fact, he is the second option in audience, ahead of Piqueras, but very far from Vicente Vallés, who dominates from Antena 3 Noticias.

Mediaset highlights “its balanced combination of closeness and rigor, its professional versatility and its unique and didactic style to narrate current events.” In a statement, the network explains that the signing of Franganillo, as it could not be otherwise, is a direct decision by Paco Moreno, the new News director. “The proposal made to Carlos Franganillo and the conversations to finalize the agreement for his incorporation have been one of the first initiatives carried out by the new Director of News of Mediaset España, Francisco Moreno, with the direct collaboration of Pedro Piqueras.”

A few days ago, Paco Moreno explained in Informalia that Pedro Piqueras’ future depended only on him. “He will be there as long as he wants and only he will decide his future,” explained the News director in an interview for this portal. During the conversation, Moreno also outlined his objectives for the new Telecinco News and said that he was committed to “sensible, rigorous and empathetic journalism with focused positions.” “We have to get good stories, build them in an attractive way, and let the viewers give the opinion,” he said then.

From TVE to private ones, the path of news presenters

The signing of Franganillo by Mediaset is reminiscent of other great leaps by journalists who once left TVE to go to private companies. It happened with Rosa María Mateo and Olga Viza at the beginning of Antena 3. Matías Prats and Ernesto Sáenz de Buruaga later followed in their wake. Even Pedro Piqueras himself started on the public channel before going to Antena 3 to end up, later, on Telecinco.

David Cantero also left TVE at the time to join Informativos Telecinco. Pepe Ribagorda, for his part, took the double route. From Mediaset (Between today and tomorrow) went to the public network to return, nine years later, to Telecinco.

Franganillo, from TVE to Mediaset

Carlos Franganillo (Madrid, 1980) has a degree in Audiovisual Communication from the Nebrija University and in Journalism from the CEU San Pablo University. In 2008 he joined RTVE by competitive examination and soon joined the editorial staff of Internacional, covering various events as a special envoy. In 2011 he began working as a correspondent for Spanish Television Information Services in Moscow from where he covers, among other news, the fall of Viktor Yanukovych’s government, the occupation and annexation of Crimea and the armed uprisings in Donetsk and Lugansk. He also serves as special envoy to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Japan – where he reports on the 2011 earthquake and tsunami – and Norway.

In July 2014, he took over as TVE’s correspondent in Washington DC, replacing Lorenzo Milá, and four years later he returned to Spain to present the second edition of the Telediario. Since then, he has also been in charge of informative specials at various national and international electoral events. Carlos Franganillo has been honored with important awards such as an Ondas Award, an Iris Award from the TV Academy and the International Press Club Award for best correspondent, among others.