Like an intruder, an undercover man, a stowaway, Miguel Ángel Hoyos (Valencia, 50 years old) has tried to put poetry in the news. He has been the editor of several on Spanish television and now directs Culturas 2, a fine and pioneering audiovisual newspaper on La 2 of the public broadcaster. After going through El ojo crítico at Radio Nacional de España, Hoyos is looking for a space to explore this field extensively on screen.
Questions. What does a poet embedded in television do?
Answer. I’m primarily an avid reader of the genre. And a TV editor who has always been most interested in culture. Over the weekend, when I was completing these tasks, it was the good contributions in this area that gave meaning to the newscast.
Q Everyone around them likes to poke fun at the defense of cultural content on mainstream television, but they acquiesce. Hypocrisy?
R contradiction.
Q What a diplomat!
R. We’re all interested in culture because it’s transversal and inclusive, but sometimes we don’t go into it too much. Our job is to get viewers to notice, but for that I believe in people from the guild as tutors. In bookstores that sell records, for example… Culture journalists have to be a bit like that, mediators between the creators and the public. As we do with growing children, don’t force them to read, but leave the book on the table for them to find and open whenever they want. This is born out of passion. I have to be passionate about what I’m telling and tell it well.
P. Cultures 2 wants to be number one?
R. What we want is that all colleagues who are dedicated to cultural information in the context of RTVE, Radio Nacional and TV or Interactives participate in the program across the board…
Miguel Ángel Hoyos, photographed in Madrid.Samuel Sánchez
Q Don’t say you seem short on gear.
R It is true, but within the entity there are many who have their doors open there. At the moment everyone is passing through here. We don’t claim to be the number one audience. Being the open house of culture, yes, that’s what we want.
Q How much poetry is in a teleprompter or cue?
R a great deal of writing is also the basis of television. Communicate. write and write. Every beginning of a cultural program must be a culture. Making radio taught me how to make better television. The value of the word, of listening. From a conversation we try to have on our show. In every beginning and every piece there is poetry, reflection, good writing. It is a program of authors: Jessica Martín, Julián Valerio, Mariana Gancedo, Agustín Alonso on social networks…
P. Will we see Shakira opening her flesh in Cultures 2 or sharing details about the Nobel Prize with Isabel Preysler, or will she go the other way?
R. Great novels can be included in these themes, be careful.
P. and so much…
R We used the Shakira thing to accompany her with Rocío Jurado, Paquita la del Barrio, and defiance as a genre isn’t new.
Q Is culture on TV expensive?
R No way! We want it not to be sustainable and to last over time.
Q Do you have to understand the culture around you or is it just a suggestion?
R. I really believe in the suggestion that nautical charts don’t have to explain everything. I believe in the active participation of the complicit spectator. I’ve always believed in that. In audience-leading news programs and now.
P. What are you afraid of the most? To Telecinco or Tik Tok?
R. To none of them. In fact, every Friday we make suggestions in this network of records, books, exhibitions, and they work spectacularly. It is a travel companion for us and a great ally to reach other audiences.
P. Why are people on conventional television afraid that it will be long?
R. I’ve been wondering that for years. I never got it. We make pieces up to 10 minutes long, but they will work.
P. I mean do you believe in patience?
R. Yes.
Q And during the break…?
R Yes, for letting the music and the voices ring out, for allowing ourselves the luxury of conducting a half-hour interview and not reducing it to 40 seconds. I defend it
P. What is the secret of synthesis?
R. That’s one of the big questions in television editing. If you think you know what the audience wants, if you pick it up jerkily and how fast, I think you’re wrong today. There are no absolute truths about it today. While young audiences are looking for short content, they are also looking for very long ones. That they are interested in long-established opinions. But the law of brevity still applies on television.
P. There are informative programs where things are done before they are done.
R. You have to run away from it, but do it well. We won’t get bored either. Never, but it’s so that you can’t get bored giving time.
P. Just between us, the world of culture is an idiot: everyone wants to go out. How to choose the basic?
R. That’s the hardest thing there is. We discuss it as a team, but we want people to appear on our program who don’t have as many opportunities to appear. This is what we came to show those who don’t have as much power as orators. The ones that don’t usually show up. It is a moral imperative for us to give them space. Be fair with that.
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