Carlos Franganillo will no longer be on RTVE starting in January. The presenter of La 1’s La 1 evening news program has given the surprise by signing with Mediaset as the new director of Telecinco News and prime time news presenter, replacing Pedro Piqueras, who after 17 years at the head of information in The Mediaset chain withdraws “by its own decision.”
Although there is still more than a month until Franganillo joins Mediaset, the renowned journalist, one of the largest information bastions of the public channel, will not be on the evening news these days. As RTVE sources have explained to EL MUNDO, Franganillo has taken a few days of vacation and will be replaced by his usual substitute Ana Roldán. It is unknown who could replace him when his departure becomes effective and if he will return from his vacation before January, since he had several days pending.
The news has been a hard blow for the public channel, which loses one of its greatest and most valued news references. Franganillo joined RTVE in 2008 by competitive examination and soon joined the editorial staff of Internacional, covering various events as a special envoy. In 2011 he began working as a correspondent for Spanish Television Information Services in Moscow from where he covered, among other news, the fall of Viktor Yanukovych’s government, the occupation and annexation of Crimea and the armed uprisings in Donetsk and Lugansk. He also served as special envoy to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Japan – where he reported on the 2011 earthquake and tsunami – and Norway.
In July 2014, he became the TVE correspondent in Washington D.C. replacing Lorenzo Milá and four years later she returned to Spain to present the second edition of the Telediario. Since then, he has also been in charge of informative specials in various national and international electoral events, always applauded by the audience for his balanced combination of closeness and rigor, his professional versatility and his unique and didactic style for narrating current events. Her departure has therefore caused a great commotion in RTVE.
Many colleagues and members of the Public Corporation have expressed their regret for Franganillo’s departure since the news broke this morning. For example, José Ramón Patterson, who was one of the historical correspondents of La 1 News News, has written in his X (Twitter) profile that “neither the formation of the new government in Spain nor the triumph of Milei in Argentina, “The news of the day is the departure of Carlos Franganillo to Telecinco.”
“Luck and many successes,” he wished his partner in this new stage at Telecinco after having been linked to the public network for 15 years. “TVE without him will not be the same,” said Patterson.
Patterson has also been joined by the renowned RTVE journalist Anna Bosch, who has deeply regretted the departure of the journalist from Oviedo: “We are in mourning at RTVE. Feeling like crying. Many. Shock.” “The best is leaving,” the journalist added to the comments on her publication.
Paloma del Río, the former Sports Director of TVE; editor-in-chief and director of Sports Programs, has also spoken out, pointing out that “once again” the public channel is “the vein and seedbed of all regional and private channels.”
For her part, Mavi Doñate, RTVE’s correspondent in Paris, has also expressed her regret over Franganillo’s departure. The journalist thanked her colleague “for these years of journalism” and wished her “the best of luck.”
At the moment, Franganillo has not commented on the matter on his social networks where he has shared various information about Milei’s victory in the elections in Argentina.
It will be Piqueras himself who will take over from Carlos Franganillo after announcing that he will retire from the small screen by his own decision at the end of the year, as he himself agreed with the company months ago. In fact, Mediaset had been trying since then to sign a journalist who could replace a reference like Pedro Piqueras. After trying with various faces, Carlos Franganillo has finally accepted Mediaset’s offer in which he will abandon 15 years of work at RTVE.