Jordi González, expert in charging TVE for doing nothing: debacle or strategy of José Pablo López?

With a brief “see you soon” he said goodbye this past October 6 Jordi Gonzalez of Squarewhich goes to workshops and, as RTVE sources point out to Informalia, “it will hopefully return with a new format on Sunday afternoons.”

The very discreet 6.6% of share averaged in its brief existence sentenced the format, a poor and failed update of that Friends and acquaintances, in turn adaptation of the American program The View, created by none other Barbara Walters and broadcast in the mornings of Abc for more than a quarter of a century.

But half past six in the afternoon is not a good time nor Jordi Gonzalez es Inés Ballester Nor were the topics chosen to accompany the news chosen with criteria nor did we see chemistry between the presenter and his guests, as often happened in that gathering that was eliminated from TVE five years ago and which they have been through since Francine Galvez a Loles León, that of Sonia Ferrer o Cristina Almeida a Isabel San Sebastian o Alba Carrillo. Only Marta Robles, as far as we remember, was in the noon version and has repeated in the afternoon version. Friends and acquaintances It lasted five years, until 2018.

Jordi Gonzalez was rescued for the public corporation this summer with Blood ties, after two years of ostracism after his departure from Mediaset España. The presenter signed an agreement to pocket 1,600 euros for each of the 70 programs that he had signed Square. Union voices consulted by this medium fear that the presenter will end up pocketing the entire contract despite having presented only eight deliveries: 113.600 euros.

Jordi, specialist in getting money from TVE without working

“It would not be the first time that González takes large amounts of public money without working,” they remember. And Spanish Television has already paid more than 2.4 million euros to Jordi González through the company Microproducciones, of which the presenter is a partner. This is how it was picked up by Treasury Delegate Intervention in RTVE corresponding to the financial years of 2000 and 2001, which uncovered multiple deficiencies in the clauses of a contract signed in 1999 that contemplated two years of exclusivity.

But Jordi González barely worked for the public between January and April 2000, since The escalator (which meant his return to the public after La Palmera) was shipwrecked since only 8 installments were broadcast, like those of La Plaza. That format in prime time marked a then gray 15% share that was 9.5 points below the average of La 1. The Treasury confirmed that the public paid the Microproducciones factory a total of 2,437,603 euros “without no consideration”, of which 1,064,292 correspond to the second of the aforementioned financial years.

It is true that the change of Pío Cabanillas for Javier González Ferrari at the head of RTVE condemned him to ostracism on television, but he was still able to remain on the radio at the state level on Radio 1 and at the regional level with the Catalan Ràdio 4. The Treasury report denounces that Jordi González’s remuneration was “superior to that of other professionals with equivalent benefits.”

Memories and forgetfulness of Jordi González

Jordi González remembers in almost every interview that a TVE manager told him that he would not be able to dedicate himself to television because of the scars he had on his face, but he forgets the 2.4 million that he pocketed without working before becoming famous. with the noisy and often scandalous debates of the realities from Telecinco. Now he had a bull to recover space on TVE, but Square It has not worked despite having Terelu Campos, Mariló Montero, Norma Duval, Judit Mascó, Inés Hernand, Celia Villalobos, Mar Saura, Mabel Lozano, Juncal Rivero, Marta Robles, Samanta Villar, Cristina Fernández, Silvia Tarragona, Ana Bernal-Triviño , Marta Nebot or Susana Uribarri. The war of the evening live broadcasts (half a dozen are broadcast on national channels alone) has claimed its victim. And maybe it won’t be the last.

Officials and unions: the keys to ‘La Plaza’

The two main union supports of the current management of RTVE, UGT and the Independent Union (SI), this summer broke their complicit silence regarding the president Elena Sanchez and the Content Director José Pablo López, that he entrusted the mornings to a private production company, La Cometa TV. The Independent Union said before the birth of Mornings that it was not “acceptable that we have to find out about production plans and modifications of work systems through the media, especially when this involves the outsourcing of programs.” But at the end of the day, the show that presents Jaime Cantizano It works, with some exceptions.

“Knowing how sensitive the morning slot is in terms of outsourcing, we understand that priority should be given to ensuring that this slot, even if it is a magazine, is done by our own staff, and external contracting is used exceptionally and always as support. , never as developers of formats in which TVE has demonstrated its capacity and effectiveness. Perhaps José Pablo wanted to demonstrate, by crashing the afternoon with Jordi, that internal production is not effective.

The head of TVE Content then had to sign an agreement with UGT and SI at the beginning of August and commit to “a gradual decrease in the levels of outsourcing in those areas where possible.” Square It is what he fed them but it was a poisoned dish.

RTVE promised “a new content plan and a production planning document” in which “it must identify the internal production proposals proposed by the Management for all the Corporation’s production centers and will subsequently be submitted to the approval of the Board of Directors of RTVE”.

This agreement not signed by Comisiones Obreras or CGT included the launch of an evening magazine live from the legendary Studio 1 in Prado del Rey. And this was La Plaza, thanks to which López has demonstrated one of his theories: that Programs made with 100% of the RTVE staff are not competitive. And it is believed among some RTVE executives that some of the house’s permanent staff “do not want to work”, which is why it is essential to complement public media with private production companies that pull the car. Now José Pablo will be able to draw that letter if he wishes: ‘I tried with La Plaza and look what happened to us’, could be your argument.