Pepe Pasqués: 'The journalism profession is in a shit state'

Pepe Pasqués laments how media power in Spain has tightened its grip. He speaks of journalists who convince themselves of parallel stories and admits the pain felt by someone who has been commentating on goals against a wall since the age of six.

Asked by Rubén Uría about the weekend's refereeing controversy, Pepe Pasqués steers the conversation elsewhere: towards media power. He says he sensed it from the moment he arrived in Spain and worked at Atlético de Madrid, but that in recent years it has intensified enormously.

Pasqués describes professionals who, in his view, look in the mirror each morning and convince themselves of things that aren't true, living out parallel stories. Having heard things in dressing rooms and behind the scenes that never come to light, he says that although he is clear about it, it still surprises him.

Then comes his harshest line: the profession is in a shit state. It hurts him, he explains, because he has been a journalist since he was six years old, commentating on his own goals against the wall alone at home. He says he doesn't want to assume bad intent, but he does see people who have convinced themselves to report on television things that simply aren't happening.