RTVV director dismissed “at his own request”

Due to the pressure of the Gürtel case, the president of the Generalitat, Francisco Camps, decrees the dismissal “at his own request” of Pedro García Gimeno. He will be replaced at the head of RTVV by José López Jaraba, promoter of the 24/9 Notícies channel launched at the beginning of this year.

The plenary session of the Consell has approved today, in its first meeting after the remodeling announced yesterday by the president of the Generalitat, Francisco Camps, a decree to remove, “at his own request”, Pedro García Gimeno as general director of Radio Televisión Valenciana (RTVV) and, in his place, through another decree of the Valencian Government, appoint José López Jaraba as the new head of the autonomous entity.

According to reports Europa Press, López Jaraba was born in Madrid on August 27, 1967, he has a degree in journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid. Since January 2009, he has directed RTVV's 24/9 Notícies Channel, launched in February. He has been responsible for the areas of politics, society and Madrid at the ABC newspaper (2006-2009) and was a delegate of this medium in the Valencian Community between 2003 and 2006.

The outgoing director himself, Pedro García, called the members of the entity's Board of Directors by phone today to let them know his decision, which he informed yesterday by letter to the president of this body, Emilio Fernández, according to what sources from the Council informed Europa Press.

According to Europa Press, the new spokesperson for the Valencian Generalitat, Paula Sánchez de León, wanted to make it clear that the replacement of Pedro García Gimeno as director of Radio Televisión Valenciana (RTVV), where he had been for five years, is due to "personal reasons", separating him from the 'Gürtel case'. “Evidently personal reasons have motivated the request to change responsibility,” said Sánchez de León, and stressed that García “has carried out a very important responsibility over the last five years” and “has done so with enormous professionalism and neatness.” For this reason, he considered that he deserves “public thanks and recognition” for the work he has carried out at the head of the RTVV public entity and reiterated that the decision he has adopted “falls within the scope of his pure decision and the Consell has accepted it as its own decision.”

Pedro García held different communication responsibilities in the area of ​​the Presidency of the Generalitat Valenciana, both with Eduardo Zaplana and Francisco Camps at the head of the Consell. With the latter, he came to hold the position of regional secretary of Communication, from where he became the general director of RTVV, after being initially appointed by the Consell, on July 2, 2004, as “alternate” general director after the resignation days before of José Vicente Villaescusa. On July 27, 2007, the new Board of Directors of RTVV was established on the occasion of the new legislature, whose members were appointed by the Corts, and on September 5 of that year, the board approved García's continuity as head of RTVV, with the votes of the six councilors appointed by the PP.