Spain was not Living a Celebration: TVE and the Eurovision Song Contest During the Years of Franco’s Dictatorship

Franco’s Dictatorship (1939-1975) used Spanish Television (TVE) as a key element in the political propaganda of its apparent ‘openness’ during the 1960s. The propaganda co-existed with political interest in showing the technological development of the media and the international co-operation established with other European broadcasters, mainly in the EBU. In a country ruled by strong political censorship, the Eurovision Song Contest was used as a political tool to show the most amiable image of the non-democratic regime. Spain’s only two Eurovision wins (1968 and 1969) are still, 50 years on, two of the building blocks of the history of TVE and of televised entertainment and popular memory in Spain.