TV pundit claims Pedro Sánchez's kiss was staged

Doctor Cabrera claimed on television that Pedro Sánchez's kiss was staged and that his dancing suggested he had taken substances. The remarks come with no evidence offered, in the middle of Spain's election campaign.

## A TV pundit and two claims without evidence

Doctor Cabrera, a regular pundit on a television show, claimed that Pedro Sánchez's kiss was staged and that he had not kissed his vvife in five years. He also argued that Sánchez's dancing showed he had taken substances. These are claims about Spain's Prime Minister, made during the election campaign, with no evidence offered whatsoever.

## The context: the campaign and the role of TV pundits

The remarks come at a moment of peak political tension, with the election campaign under way. The episode fits a familiar pattern: pundits who make eye-catching accusations about public officials and then fail to back them up with anything. Spanish politics has for years become a television spectacle, and pundits compete for the most striking headline.

## Why it matters: the cost of an accusation without evidence

Accusing someone of having taken substances is a serious allegation. Doing so on television, about a Prime Minister, without offering the slightest hint, is neither journalism nor analysis: it is rumour elevated to the status of news. The problem is not only the likely falsity of the accusation, but its effect on public conversation. When the debate fills up with this kind of claim, what is lost is the ability to discuss what really affects people's wallets.

## The economy loses the spotlight

Meanwhile, the issues that do matter for the Spanish economy continue on their course: housing prices, employment, inflation. But the noise of baseless accusations takes up the space that should be devoted to those matters. And that, in the end, also has a cost.

When faced with accusations of this kind, it is worth remembering that the burden of proof lies with whoever makes them.