A journalist who was part of the Executive of the Valencian PP published in the digital media of which he is editor a false news provided by the same formation to which he belongs and which was not even compared to the person concerned, who suffered from anxiety because of it. The president of the Court of First Instance number 6 of Llíria (València) confirmed the trial against the former PP post of Carlos Mazón and digital journalist ‘Esdiario’ for falsely accusing a teacher from Pobla de Vallbona of sneaking into the first Covid -19 in 2021. The judgment, to which elDiario.es had access, requires El Semanal Digital SL, the media’s publishing company, and journalist Enrique Martínez Olmos to pay compensation of 4,000 euros for the commission of an illegitimate act. interference in the honor and private life of the teacher, in addition to the publication of the judgment in its entirety. The editor of “fake news” was also responsible for the communication sector, audiovisual sector and cinema of the Autonomous Executive Committee of the Valencian PP led by Mazón. He was also a member of the National Council of the PP and the leadership of Nuevas Generaciones, as well as advisor to the government team of Gaibiel (Castelló) between 2011 and 2015 and candidate on the popular electoral list of Zarra (València). .
On March 23, 2021, the digital newspaper published an alleged piece of information under the headline “Compromise leader caught in La Pobla de Vallbona skipping vaccination campaign.” However, he was not a leader of Compromís nor did he infiltrate the vaccination process. This is false information provided by the local PP in a press release. The professor simply collaborated with the Valencian party, of which his wife was an advisor, and was a substitute on an electoral list.
The news “was not true,” concluded the judge. “The accused did not compare the information received from the PP, neither with the Health Center, nor with the Compromís political party regarding his relationship with him,” adds the judgment. Nor did he contrast with the aforementioned teacher, who suffered from a state of anxiety and was on leave for two months after the news was published, due to the “social impact” of the invention , broadcast on social networks and on WhatsApp in the town of Camp de Túria region and in the school where he works.
The editor-in-chief of the newspaper, underlines the sentence, confirmed that he was part of the Executive Committee of the Valencian PP, “with various functions” in the formation of Carlos Mazón, as evidenced by a certificate dated June 28, 2023, signed by the regional director of the party, Montserrat Tello, who appears in the proceedings. He also admitted that the false information came from a statement by the PP of Pobla de Vallbona and that he did not even call the health center to verify the data.
The journalist “only” checked social networks and the “Commercial Register” to “see if” the teacher appeared on the Compromís lists, “which is insufficient to attribute to him the status of leader”, adds the judgment.
“Fallacias” to “obtain political gain”, according to the trial
The publication was “aimed at achieving political gain by spreading errors,” according to the lawsuit. The journalist and leader of the Valencian PP, for his part, alleged the “political and public personality” of the teacher and defended the “truthfulness of the information published”, currently removed from the network.
However, the judge considers that “it is not proven” that the person concerned carried out an “express action aimed at avoiding the vaccination round”, as ‘ESdiario’ states. The school principal, who appeared as a witness, confirmed that the teachers had been called to get vaccinated by the local clinic.
The false information was “replicated in other media”, recalls the judge. The school’s principal and head of studies confirmed that the teacher was “very affected” by the fake news and “caused a lot of psychological damage”.
The judgment, which is not final, envisages that “proportionate” compensation of 4,000 euros be paid, jointly by the publisher and the media, to the injured party. Questioned by this newspaper, the journalist affirms that the legal team of the digital media is studying the possibility of appealing the conviction and defends the veracity of the information published.
“Which calls into question [el fallo] “It is a question of whether or not he was a member of Compromís, we consider that he was and this is demonstrated by the multitude of photos that we provide of the electoral list,” he says. He also maintains that the digital newspaper did not compare the information with that of the health center because “they will never provide information for data protection reasons”.
Enrique Martínez assures that he is no longer part of the regional executive of the PP (in the official organization chart he continues to appear as responsible for communications). “I haven’t been in politics for years. At the trial, they ask me and I admit to having been there, I don’t hide it,” he says.
