What is happening at GBC, with so much Spanish news?

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 Wednesday, January 22, 2020 - 10:42

Carmen Gomez Diary

I honestly don’t know what Gibraltar is coming to. On Friday daytime, whilst inside a shop in Main Street, all of us there were startled by the most raucous noise, which sounded like a huge following of football fans, who were literally roaring and singing at the tops of their voices, God knows what Spanish chant. As they came closer it was very unnerving. When they came past, obviously having the time of their lives and looking around in a defiant way to see if anyone was going to comment, this MASS of young Spaniards continued on their way. Someone remarked “this is unbelievable!” 

It would have been apt if a policeman had been around who could have stopped them and advised them that that this type of behaviour was better reserved for the football pitch, and not our Main Street; where tourists might be wondering whether this was the norm of behaviour locally.

This reminded me when a group of Spaniards was escorted out of Gibraltar after angering locals celebrating our Queen’s Diamond jubilee, by kissing the badges on their Spanish national football shirts; even the RGP understood as they said at then time “you can compare kissing the badge to going round Tel Aviv celebrating Hitler.”

Then later that evening on GBC Newswatch, after the first item of local news on the state of the union Unite, we were then subjected to a well documented news item with old photographs on La Linea`s 150th anniversary? All the time loudly accompanied to the tune of a copla of old; where we were informed of a time when our neighbouring town was known as La Linea Gibraltar?

This was then followed by a drugs report on the state of the Campo area. Worse still, as soon as this slot was over the newscaster said “and now for other news;” as if the next segment which was to do with Gibraltar, was something foreign.

And so I ask; what is going on? None of these two news items had anything to do with Gibraltar. It had nothing to do with recent collaboration of the Guardia Civil and our RGP; it had nothing to do with any combined cultural event between La Linea and Gibraltar.

Again I ask; is this the way forward for our local evening news? Since La Linea does not have its own television news coverage, does this mean that a collaboration has been signed between La Linea and GBC to share the news from now on? Is the viewing public not entitled to some kind of explanation of possibly new developments to unfold in the near future?

We look to the evenings news to hear and learn about matters that either affect our community or about it. If there is not enough content locally to cover a half hour slot perhaps it should be suggested that we only do a quarter of an hour, and like this we will not feel as if we have suddenly bonded with a neighbouring town who still is not clear on its brexit objectives, or implementation of them at the border!

22-01-2020 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR