SOCIAL
IMPACT

The night of 27 January 1993 marks the beginning of what has been called trash TV in Spain. That night, the discovery of the bodies became known and the programme De tú a tú (Antena 3), presented by Nieves Herrero and Olga Viza, broadcast the whole process. The programme was attended by the relatives of the missing girls, whose grief was broadcast live as the macabre details of the recovery of the bodies were revealed. Herrero showed a great lack of compassion throughout the broadcast, and the audience, which was made up of local residents, applauded with great enthusiasm, auqing from the first arrests. The programme and Nieves Herrero herself were heavily criticised for these events for years.

 

That same night the programme Mississippi (Telecinco) by Pepe Navarro and El juí d'Alcàsser (Canal Nou) by Amalia Garrigós also generated a lot of controversy for focusing on the most morbid aspects of the murders in order to get good ratings.

 

Rubbish journalism was not limited to television and also reached the written press. In April 1997, the controversial lawyer Emilio Rodríguez Menéndez signed and published an alleged interview with Antonio Anglés in the newspaper Ya, of which he was editor. The photographs of Anglés that appeared in the interview were analysed by the Guardia Civil, which from the outset denied that he was the fugitive. Two months later, the magazine Interviú revealed that it was a manipulation of information plotted to increase sales of the newspaper, which was going through a serious economic crisis.

His accusations, which were even made on national television, to three men of political and business relevance, giving their names and surnames and without presenting any evidence, took him to court. For several accusations, including also some made to civil guards, in June 2009, Fernando García had to pay an indemnity of 270,000 euros and a fine of 14,760 euros for a continuous offence of serious libel with publicity and Juan Ignacio Blanco (a journalist who was also involved in these theories and defamations) was sentenced to two years in prison and to pay an indemnity of 260,000 euros; Radiotelevisión Valenciana was also condemned as a subsidiary civil party responsible for the libellous statements made.

 

 

Some questions were never properly explained and remain in doubt to this day:

How is it that pieces of the Social Security leaflet incriminating Anglés' brother would have remained in that windy area for two and a half months?

How come no traces of the girls' blood or bodily fluids were ever found in the shed where the events allegedly took place?

How is it that initially Jose Miguel Bort, reports that on the surface of the earth there was "a protruding hand, almost completely boneless, with two protruding bones and a white watch" and later it is described that the body was found handcuffed?

 

On 24 June 2019, a curious couple walking around the site where the Alcácer girls were found found some skeletal remains. In total there were four bones, November 2020 it was confirmed that the bones found belonged to Miriam García. Bones that had not been found before, were after almost 30 years.