Don Francisco: Don Francisco returns to TV at 80 and talks about punishing ‘fake news’ “| interview | Mario Kreutzberger | Reflections 2021 | Giant Saturday | Telethon | LIGHTS

When the press refers to him as an icon, he takes distance. “What does it mean?” in question. “Am I very old?” “You are a symbol of the history of television,” he explained after the greeting, but the veteran Chilean presenter passes on the praise of colleagues who address him with the same reverence. “I don’t think I represent more than any other communicator,” he says. At the age of 80, Mario Kreutzberger appears on the screen of the virtual interview looking dull and calm. “Right now I’m taking on white hair. I’m taking on my 80s,” says one of the most popular faces on Hispanic television. Mario Kreutzberger debuts on Monday, February 15 in his program “Don Francisco: Reflections 2021, an interview space broadcast by the CNN signal in Spanish, with the format to which we have become accustomed in these months of pandemic: that of video calls. There will be 10 chapters with about forty guests from different fields, and the central theme will be to know what they have done during the confinement period.

– Are there Peruvians on the list?

I don’t know, there might be some. We still have half of the programs unconfirmed. But right now I don’t know if there are any. I’m not sure.

– The program “Don Francisco: Reflections 2021” is clearly linked to life in confinement. Last year you complied 80 years. How did you imagine celebrating it before the pandemic arrived?

Ah, well. I had been preparing all year to celebrate. I wanted to do a party here in the United States and another in Chile, on channel 13, where I have been working for the last 59 years. I really wanted to do a lot of things, and I couldn’t do any of them.

– Are the people around you dead, friends, close people?

Some people, yes. Old people I know died of Covid.

Yesterday I was able to watch his virtual press conference with colleagues from Latin America. When you were asked about the vaccines, you have expressed your support, and that you had even already received the second dose. But some headlines headline “I don’t recommend it.”

‘At no time did I say that!

– How much do you think part of the media collaborates with misinformation?

What I said is that I was not in a position to recommend. I have been given all the vaccines, but I am not in a position to recommend them because suddenly, before vaccinating you should consult with your doctor. But I never told people not to get vaccinated. On the contrary! What happens is that the media is at a critical juncture and looking for headlines that don’t fit the truth to try to stand out. Perhaps they are demands of the publishers. I don’t know why a person can write something like that.

You have a funny anecdote with George Bush. The former president believed that your name was “Do” and that your last name was “Francisco.” This reminds me of what happens with the book “Don Quixote,” which in the United States many believe tells the story of a donkey. What do you think of the U.S. misunderstandings with the Latino community? Is it impossible for an American to understand these 61 million Hispanics in the country?

I think President Bush, who has his brother married to a Mexican woman, knew quite a bit about Hispanics. The name Don is very popular, it comes from Donald, the most common name of Americans. And the surname Francisco also exists. This happened because when I was invited to a dinner party, I presented myself to the police in English as Mario Kreutzberger and then he told me I was not on the guest list. When I was leaving, a policeman in the gang, who was from Miami, who was gringa too, recognized me. “Don Franciscou,” he told me. The man looked at the list again and said “Don Francisco is invited” (laughs). Hence this anecdote. I think some presidents, some more, some less, have understood the Hispanic community. In the case of President Bush, he did understand it.

– His biography is the story of a migrant, the son of German Jewish parents who fled to Chile, and from whom he left Chile for the United States. How do you see the problem of migrants after the Trump era?

It has been a very difficult time and I hope it does not happen again. But today I see with great pain what is happening with migration around the world. And it is also happening in Argentina, Peru, Chile. There are many migrants coming from Central America and Venezuela. 70 million people are moving around the world. In this pandemic, countries cannot provide them with services, they suffer from illegally entering territories by roads that are dangerous, where they suffer from hunger and cold. Migration is experiencing its most difficult time. As a migrant and as a child of an immigrant, I think countries should give him the greatest facilities, in an orderly manner to avoid causing them even more pain. Because then discrimination is added to the drama. Hopefully there is a global agreement to help and fund aid.

– It is impossible to talk to you without thinking that it represents part of the history of television, the tradition of reuniting the family on a Saturday afternoon, as you did with “Giant Saturday” or in Peru August Ferrando with “Trampoline to fame “. However, this power of television no longer exists. What happened?

Television was the queen of image and sound. Now, this reign has many facets. Only on one phone do people have so many opportunities to connect, watch videos, get information, the internet is still nobody’s land. When a news story happens, where does the first one go? On the phone! It was usually heard on the radio, watched on television, read in newspapers the next day. But this custom has been changing and I think at some point it will have to be regulated so that all of this can be funded.

– The same Telethon that you promote faces both the crisis of the television format and the crisis of credibility in the media. Is there no going back on this crisis?

I think we can get out of this crisis as long as the “fake news” is punished. I’ll give you an example: Someone wrote something I never said, and that person has no punishment. I could have done something much more serious, and I wouldn’t have it either. “Fake news” is spreading uncontrollably today. There are people who have 50, 100 Twitter accounts to spread, close them and then open new ones. Nothing they write fits the truth. It’s a sport for them! But with this sport they can cause tremendous disruption to society and people.

– In Latin America you have a uniform support but in Chile there are sectors that reject it, especially left-wing sectors. Why while in Latin America don Francisco is an endearing icon, in Chile he is a controversial figure?

I was never a controversial figure. There are situations at the moment, politics at the moment, in which some group is interested in it. But I could not have done what I did if I did not have the support of the majority of the country. Remember that for 42 years I have made a telethon and built 14 hospitals. I’ve never been involved in politics.

– You have always been defined by a customary political neutrality. It is said that she was motivated not only to protect her public credibility as a television face, but also to defend the musicians who worked on her show and who were in danger from Pinochet’s dictatorship. Is true?

Well, yes. I never really got involved in politics but if I had to help someone, I always did. It didn’t matter what a musician thought, the important thing was that he could bring good music to the show. And so in every order of things, in any position. I am a person who likes politics, I talk politics, privately with my friends, but publicly my role is different. I admire political journalists, those who specialize in sports, science journalists. I am an entertainment, information and also a social journalist. This is how I define myself.

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