Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Every Insult Has Its Price

Another judicial sentence against Federico Jiménez Losantos. He has been found guilty of injuring the reputation of the former editor of ABC newspaper, José Antonio Zarzalejos, and will have to pay 100,000 euros in damages. Not only does he have to pay the compensation, he will also have to read a statement on his radio show as well as paying for it to be inserted into all of the major newspapers. This follows his recent defeat in the case brought by Madrid mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, and it's worth remembering that he is still facing several other cases.

It might seem strange that the right-wing Losantos should have engaged in a systematic campaign of insults directed at the editor of such a venerable conservative newspaper as ABC. The answer lies in the media war between the Libertad Digital/El Mundo axis and ABC. Losantos used his position in the COPE radio station as a platform to launch attacks which really have commercial motives as the background, whatever political reasons Losantos might find to try and justify his insults.

There are persistent rumours that the Catholic Church is now looking for a replacement for Losantos, even though it's not that long since he had his contract renewed. The problem is that his aggressive and abusive style was fine for the bishops whilst his venom was directed at the government, but they are not quite so comfortable with him using the same methods against the PP leadership. Losantos backed the wrong horse in his bid to gain influence in the PP and the bishops will want to maintain a good relationship with the current party leadership. Losantos' head on a plate could yet be the offering from the church to keep Mariano Rajoy happy.

1 comment:

Tom said...

HA HA HA
HA HA HA