MADRID — Spain's right-wing People's Party, the main political opposition, is boycotting the country's biggest media group, the left-leaning Prisa.
The boycott comes after Prisa prexy Jesus de Polanco criticized the party at a Prisa shareholders meeting on Thursday, saying "there are people who want to return to the Civil War" of the 1930s that propelled General Francisco Franco to power.
PP leader Mariano Rajoy hit back Friday, saying that the PP would not give interviews to Prisa-owned media outlets or send party members to Prisa-organized debates.
That's quite a veto. Prisa owns El Pais, Spain's most read quality newspaper, Cadena Ser, its most listened-to radio network, Digital Plus, its biggest pay TV operator, and startup broadcaster Cuatro, which has a 7.5% audience share.
The PP-Prisa standoff captures the state of a nation.
Socialist politicos have already boycotted TV debates at PP-controlled regional web Telemadrid.
Spain must hold general elections by March 2008 as an already gaping political divide becomes a chasm.
As battle lines harden, expect political bile to spill over into the film and TV biz.
Spain's government will think twice before pushing through a film bill that has enraged the two biggest private broadcasters because it forces them to spend 5% of annual revenues on the production or purchase of European films. And the PP will slam pubcaster RTVE -- justly or not -- for biased newscasts.
PP actions will also punish Prisa's pocket. On Sunday, Madrid regional government head Esperanza Aguirre pulled PP regional election ads from Prisa.
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