“Tomorrow there will be Horizonte”, assures a source from Cuatro, where the communicator Iker Jiménez directs and presents this program on Thursdays and fourth millennium on Sundays. It is the same information that the audiovisual group Mediaset, owner of the Cuatro and Telecinco channels, officially handles. The television space continues, despite the commotion generated after the publication in EL PAÍS of specialized in mystery content. A decision that does not affect the rest of the chain’s broadcasts, where the company maintains its commercial commitment.
The last few hours have been especially controversial for the Spanish subsidiary of this bank of Dutch origin, which became a trend on social networks this Wednesday and was highlighted by followers of Iker Jiménez and clients who expressed their desire to cancel their accounts through the hashtag #AdiosIngDirect. Following the explanation that ING sources gave to this newspaper about their decision – “due to the controversy generated in recent days” – and given the formidable commotion generated, the entity has released a statement.
“We have a media strategy in which we decide weekly planning taking current events into account,” the note says. “Based on it, we buy the different advertising spaces based on what we consider best for the positioning of our brand. Therefore, the decision to withdraw ING advertising from a program, network or medium is made based on different factors such as content or commercial strategy, and in no case is it related to specific programs or presenters. For this reason, after the controversy generated in recent days in a very sensitive social context, we decided to modify our advertising grid.”
It all started during speculation about alleged bodies in the Bonaire underground parking lot devastated by floods in the Valencian Community. Iker Jiménez also tweeted before confirming the absence of deaths that there were “many bodies.” And after the official verification that this was not the case, he added on the same social network The broadcast of the program that Sunday was the leader of the nighttime audience slot with 13.1% audience share, spread across an average of 1.4 million viewers. The data from that night managed by Barlovento Comunicación put it above the 10% achieved by Big Brother on Telecinco and 8.9% of a special edition of The objective, programmed by La Sexta in prime time.
For the president of the Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain (FAPE), Miguel Ángel Noceda, the decision that ING has taken in this regard is “that of a private company that will have considered that the right to truthful information has been violated and that “You cannot support a medium in those terms.” And he adds: “At FAPE we understand this reaction; We have publicly condemned attitudes of this type, which encourage misinformation among citizens. “Any action that involves fighting misinformation is positive.”
As a live apology during one of his speeches while looking at the camera, Iker Jiménez stated in last Thursday’s edition of his Horizonte: “I thought I was Robin Hood.” The communicator also apologized live for one of his collaborators being discovered getting mud on himself before a connection. And he has dedicated an hour on his YouTube channel to convey that he feels persecuted. The video in question has more than half a million views and in it he assures: “They are asking for my head.” He has also pointed out the “competition communication group” for this reason, without naming Atresmedia, owner of Antena 3 and La Sexta. On this last channel, programs like Conspiracy, The objective o The Intermission They have dedicated minutes to pointing out Iker Jiménez as a spreader of hoaxes.
Signage
At Atresmedia they decline to make any statement regarding the accusation that the communicator has made towards them. And group sources claim to have not suffered any advertiser boycotts. Yes, there was a withdrawal of product suppliers for The Intermission. It happened in 2018, and signatures that appeared in the acknowledgments for giving material to the production were removed. Specifically, the brands were Álvaro Moreno, Pinceles Vendetta, Neuw Denim and Wahl Spain.
The Mediaset group has experienced advertising leaks such as the event that in 2011 led to The broadcast of a paid interview with the mother of one of the defendants in the case for the death of the Sevillian Marta del Castillo unleashed a blogging campaign amplified by the networks that ended with the withdrawal of advertisers from the program. Telecinco faced another scandal in 2019 due to a case of sexual abuse in Big Brother, from which the network maintained the broadcast until the end of the edition with increasingly fewer advertisers and the subsequent suspension of the program, resumed last year with new measures control to participants locked in a house. Mediaset rules out commenting on whether there are more advertisers that follow in ING’s footsteps regarding Iker Jiménez’s programs on Cuatro. The only thing that the chain does assure and the communicator in X has stated is that “tomorrow there will be Horizonte”.
