The last time Ana Terradillos spoke for Informalia, last December, she analyzed the political tension that, even then, was rearing its head. The Telecinco presenter dared to make a prediction that, unfortunately, has come true. “It’s going to be a high-voltage season, because both parties have taken out the axe,” she warned us three months ago. “We’re going to see things that are not at all edifying.”
He wasn’t wrong. The tension has been increasing, both in the Congress of Deputies and on the television sets, where in recent weeks there has also been a real battle of talk shows. For this reason, we speak again with Terradillos, who has had to fight with this political intensity from the gathering that he moderates every morning in The critical look.
You were spot on with the analysis you did three months ago.
How visionary, right? [Risas] Everything pointed to ways, because there is a party, the PP, that won the last elections and they did not give it the numbers. And, on the other hand, there is PSOE, which has a very complicated task because it has sought partners who are not making it easy for it. The last government control session was a turning point. We have not reached that level of baseness, on the part of both sides, for many years. There is disaffection on the part of the citizens and we in the media also have to slow down.
What message would you convey to the parties to call them to order?
They are both doing it wrong and it is not a question of starting to measure who started first. It’s also not good to lower your tone just because the other person has done it too. People like politics, but there is an abysmal distance between citizens and politics. From The critical look we have noticed it.
Oscar Puente accused Mediaset and Everything is a Lie of receiving pressure from Ayuso’s Chief of Staff. How have you experienced it in the chain? And, at a general level, do they receive pressure from politicians?
Freedom of expression is sacred, both for journalists and for citizens. I recently said it to viewers: ‘If you knew all the messages I have on my phone, you would probably talk about politics differently.’ Threats? I don’t know if they are threats, but they are insinuations, persuasions, they urge you to tell the story the way they want it to be told. And we can’t even allow that. In my case there has been no pressure in the way that Risto received it, and as a member of Mediaset, I feel like a partner and participant in that pressure, because what Minister Puente said was very important: he told us that we wrote by dictation. A journalist cannot allow anyone to tell him not to think, that he should write alone. Nobody writes by dictation here. Here we have our way of thinking and communicating.
You were spot on with the analysis you did three months ago.
Did the Government get nervous about the Koldo case and turn on the fan, as the PP says? How do you analyze this situation?
The Koldo case broke out 48 hours after the Galician elections, which was the first setback for the Executive. It was the week horrible about Sánchez, who did not count on that. From there, nervousness began on the part of the Executive and they wanted to move on to other issues. The problem with a corruption plot is that suddenly the secrecy of the summary is lifted and that is a gem for journalists and we can squeeze it for weeks, as has been the case and as has happened other times with the PP. But yes, at that specific moment the Government saw that the house was falling on them.
Then the matter of Ayuso’s boyfriend came up. Can it be compared to the Koldo case?
I think not, because the Koldo case takes place in a setting that is the office of the Minister of Transport. From that point of view, seeing the tentacles, which at the moment reach an advisor, a Ministry and two Autonomous Communities… In the case of the partner of the president of the Community of Madrid, they are contracts that have not affected the Community and there are no shared assets. The cases are very different.
Ayuso defended her boyfriend very firmly. Was he wrong? Is this case going to hurt her or is she going to come out stronger?
The moment your partner is charged, we find ourselves in a different situation. One way or another it’s going to take its toll on you if it’s not happening already. The initial defense strategy was a big mistake. I don’t know if it was her Chief of Staff, who wanted to confront the bull head on, but I think she made a mistake. It was a big mistake for Ayuso to come out and defend her boyfriend in such an imperial way. If there is nothing from the Community of Madrid, it escapes me why she came out in such an imperial way to defend her partner. She herself fell into the error that others wanted to lead her to. In fact, after 48 hours, she already broke away. And the latest messages are along those lines: private citizen who has to explain himself.
The tension of politics usually transfers to the set. Is it good at the audience level for The Critical Look? Is it appropriate that there be tension?
What is good is to make calls for peace and order, even if it sounds spiritual. People are interested in politics, but I think they buy more into this message of lowering the tension and the high tone that we have reached in recent days. The audience is supporting us because we are telling very well what is happening in politics, which now presents a devilish situation. Beyond Koldo and Ayuso’s boyfriend, we have Junts and ERC that demand a self-determination referendum, something that attacks the national entity, and that worries people more. The Amnesty Law is more worrying than corruption schemes.
Presenting a high-voltage political program will also affect you in some way. Do you receive criticism or insults? Do you pay a high price for being in charge of a space like The Critical Look?
This goes in the package. The one who stands in front of a camera every day to attract the largest number of viewers receives praise and criticism. The good thing is that they criticize or praise you from all sides. And I think that’s what happens to me. It goes in the package, you can’t go unnoticed.
A curiosity: How do Eduardo Inda and Esther Palomera get along behind the cameras?
Fabulous. Now I leave a little later and they leave earlier, so I don’t agree as much. But I know that their relationship is good and cordial. That doesn’t mean that in the heat of battle they lie or pretend, no, but afterwards there is good vibes and good energy.
Then they have coffee together, like politicians in Congress?
I did that when I was a collaborator. She also gave me coffee with which she ‘hit’ me.
In December he told us that he would like Pedro Sánchez to visit The critical look. Will he do it soon?
We’re on that. We throw the cane to anyone who wants to come. Sánchez is costing us more because a president’s agenda is more complicated than other politicians, but we are working on it and I am sure that he will come sooner rather than later.
The one who is no longer on the front line is Pablo Iglesias. What do you think that he has become a hospitality businessman?
Better that he be working than out there looking for other seas. I read that you had always liked having your own hospitality business. Well, nothing, good luck in your work and may you be good at serving beer.
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