Tebas stands by his Nazi comparison for Real Madrid's channel: What I say is taught in media faculties
The controversy goes beyond the boundaries of the pitches
Javier Tebas, the president of the Spanish league, has returned to defending his comparison of Real Madrid's television channel to the methods used by Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister in Nazi Germany.
Real Madrid responded to that remark by demanding Tebas's resignation, and reports indicated that Spain's Higher Sports Council could take action against him.
According to the Spanish newspaper "Marca", Tebas, who had already defended his position on Friday through two messages posted on the X platform, returned to clarify his view on Saturday in a new message in which he said: "On the occasion of the ongoing controversy, the propaganda methods used by Goebbels are taught in faculties of journalism and media, as is how to recognise these mechanisms at the present time."
He added: "One specific example of this is the University of La Laguna. In the university's bachelor's programme in journalism, the subject General News Message Theory, a compulsory subject for first-year students, includes an exercise listed in the course guide for the 2025-2026 academic year which states: (an exercise on applying Goebbels's eleven principles of propaganda to contemporary reality)."
His message went on: "Yes, you read that correctly: to contemporary reality, and these mechanisms are analysed in order to understand how propaganda works and how it influences public opinion. Drawing a comparison between communication methods does not mean automatically attributing the ideology of the people who used them to those who resort to similar mechanisms."
The LaLiga chief continued: "It is precisely for this reason that I wrote clearly and frankly: (the comparison concerns those propaganda methods, not a particular ideology, and certainly not Real Madrid's supporters).
This clarification appeared in the original post, and I did not add it after the controversy erupted.
Tebas then set out his charge: "My comparison concerns specific methods, namely systematic repetition, the biased selection of events, and the creation of an enemy. These are mechanisms taught in faculties of journalism and media, even when analysing their presence in contemporary reality. They are the mechanisms I criticised, citing examples, in the media content of Real Madrid's television channel and what I described as its propaganda platforms."
He added: "Anyone who disagrees with me can discuss those examples, but anger does not refute them. Are only the clips that feed a sense of injustice selected? Are doubts repeated until they are presented as established facts? Is a party portrayed as a permanent enemy? Is information that contradicts the narrative being put forward omitted?"
On the question of fixtures, he said: "As for match scheduling, why do they not count the number of requests to change fixture dates that they have submitted, and the number of requests that have been approved? That record is part of reality too, even if it does not fit the narrative of persecution."
His closing line left little room for doubt: "This is the debate I put forward, and it concerns methods, messages and specific facts. Anger may fill an entire statement, but the answers are still missing. And demanding my resignation does not provide answers to them either."
