Canary Islands Government Funds Far-Right Media Outlet EdaTV

The Government of the Canary Islands, led by a coalition of Coalición Canaria (CC) and the Partido Popular (PP), has provided public funding to Estado de Alarma TV (EdaTV Consulting, S.L.), a media outlet associated with far-right figures.

On March 1, 2025, the Viceconsejería de Comunicación y Relaciones con los Medios—the department responsible for communication and media relations—awarded a minor contract to the outlet. The initial contract was for 14,995 euros, a figure just five euros below the legal limit for minor contracts, which increased to 16,044.65 euros after the inclusion of taxes.

According to the state contracting platform, the purpose of the agreement was a Campaña divulgativa de información e interés para la ciudadanía (Information and interest campaign for citizens), though the platform provided no further specifications regarding the nature of the campaign.

When questioned by elDiario.es about the scope of the campaign, the Canary Islands Government provided the following explanation:

Se trata de un contrato menor ajustado a normativa, como consecuencia de una oferta del propio medio, para la puesta a disposición del Gobierno de Canarias de un banner fijo, en periodo determinado, para la inserción de las campañas divulgativas o mensajes de interés para la ciudadanía que correspondan según programación.

Government of the Canary Islands

The government did not specify whether the banners were actually utilized during the contract period, which ran from March 1 to June 30, 2025, nor did it identify the specific campaigns the banners were intended to promote.

Data from the state contracting platform indicates that the investment in advertising for EdaTV in 2025 by the Viceconsejería de Comunicación exceeded the amounts paid to other local media in the archipelago. For comparison, the outlet Canarias Ahora received 14,000 euros from the same department.

Controversy Surrounding EdaTV and Vito Quiles

Estado de Alarma TV is directed by Javier Negre and employs Vito Zoppellari Quiles, a communicator frequently accused of harassing public officials, journalists, and their families. Quiles has been criticized for accosting individuals from political parties opposed to the far-right or journalists critical of right-wing movements.

Begoña Gómez, the wife of the Spanish president, has announced legal action against Quiles following an incident in a Madrid cafe where he allegedly attacked her and attempted to block her exit to the street under the guise of asking questions of public interest.

While other administrations governed by the Partido Popular have frequently contracted EdaTV, the funding from the Canary Islands Government was managed by a department controlled exclusively by Coalición Canaria. The Viceconsejería de Comunicación y Relaciones con los Medios depends on the Presidency of the Government, currently held by Fernando Clavijo.

Administrative Management and Institutional Funding

The head of the viceconsejería is Jonathan Domínguez, a member of Coalición Canaria. Domínguez, who previously worked as a real estate agent, was appointed to the role after his party sought to remove him from the La Laguna City Council in Tenerife to maintain a governing agreement between CC and the PSOE under Mayor Luis Yeray Gutiérrez.

Domínguez recently led the II Jornadas Pedagógicas, a series of communication workshops organized by the government. These sessions focused on artificial intelligence in communication, emergency management, and the online universe of social networks.

During the closing of these workshops, Domínguez emphasized the necessity for society to demand veracious information and to ensure democracy and freedom of expression. He stressed the importance of pedagogical work to avoid amarillismo (yellow journalism), easy impact, and virality without credibility.

The regional government is not the only institution in the islands financing the outlet. The City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, also governed by a CC and PP coalition, has paid 5,000 euros to EdaTV.

That specific contract has been described as irregular. The council contracted a campaign to promote the 2026 Carnival at the Fitur tourism fair after the fair had already concluded, using promotional materials that had already been published in 2025.