Staff of the principal public media, including state-run Televisión España (TVE), Telemadrid and the news agency EFE, have accused their bosses of manipulation, censorship and propaganda on behalf of the outgoing Government of José María Aznar.

Ministers insisted that Eta, the Basque terrorist group, carried out the attacks rather than Islamic fundamentalists. What is becoming clear is the immense effort put into convincing the public even as mounting evidence pointed towards al-Qaeda.

Miguel Platón, the head of EFE, has been accused of “favouring the interests of the (outgoing) Popular Party”.

The unions claim that EFE was aware of information that called into question the Eta theory within hours of the attacks on Thursday, yet did not make it public. They also claim that Señor Platón, after consultations with staff in the Moncloa Palace government complex, put out a story that the police investigation was closing in on Eta and that Islamic extremists had been ruled out of their inquiries. On the same day three Moroccans were under arrest.

EFE’s management has rejected the allegations, calling them “a vile campaign of professional defamation”.

Similar protests have been made by journalists at TVE and Telemadrid. Both stations broadcast an unscheduled documentary about an Eta assassination of a Socialist politician on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday evening, when thousands of protesters were gathered outside the Popular Party’s headquarters in Madrid demanding to be told the truth about the authors of the attacks, TVE confined its coverage to a brief video clip of the demonstration.

“This is like it was under Franco, when we had to rely on international media and word of mouth to find out what was going on,” Marino Matasanz, who took part in the demonstrations, said.

The powerful Workers’ Commissions trade union has demanded the resignation of the directors of national state television and radio, accusing them of “trying to confuse thousands of Spaniards who had the right to know the truth”. Workers at regional public television stations in Galicia and Valencia have made similar complaints.

It also emerged that Señor Aznar rang newspaper editors on several occasions to insist that Eta was responsible.

On two occasions “Aznar . . . courteously cautioned me not to be mistaken. Eta was responsible,” Antonio Franco, the Editor of El Periódico, wrote.

Señor Aznar admitted that he had called a number of newspapers, but insisted: “We told the truth at all times to the Spanish people.”

The Popular Party has hit back, with one minister saying the election was influenced by media outlets stirring up anger that translated into the demonstrations outside its headquarters. The target of Pilar del Castillo’s comments was the Socialist-leaning Cadena Sur radio station, which was ahead in reporting Islamic extremist involvement.

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