Horizonte (TV series)

In March 2020, mystery investigation program Cuarto Milenio became notorious due to a series of episodes broadcast in February, dedicated to the then incipient COVID-19 pandemic, in which several boards of guest experts accurately predicted the national impact that it would go on to have.[6][7] Among the guests there were physicians and scientists like Tomás Camacho, Miguel Ángel Pertierra, José Miguel Gaona, Julio Mayol, César Carballo and Javier Cantón, as well as communicators of geopolitics like Col. Pedro Baños and Pablo Fuente, all of which were periodically invited to the program.[8] Media impact in Spain was such that, when Cuarto Milenio put its broadcast on hiatus due to the situation, its director Iker Jiménez had to dispel rumors of political censorship exerted by the Spanish government, whose management of the pandemic had been strongly criticized in the program.[9][10]

In September, to accompany its return to television, Cuarto Milenio produced a special, two-part episode dedicated to continue gathering information about the COVID-19 pandemic.[11] The first part was titled Origen and broadcast on 6 September, doubling Cuarto Milenio's usual audience ratings with a 13.3% share, while next week it followed Horizonte with 11.6%.[12] Due to the episodes' success, the channel promoved the creation of an independent program where the team would keep addressing the pandemic, bringing again the usual experts from Cuarto Milenio along with new guests.[13] The initially named Informe Covid con Iker Jiménez premiered on 24 September, achieving similar ratings, and its broadcast became weekly, in parallel to that of Cuarto Milenio.[12] On 22 October it changed its name to Horizonte: Informe Covid,[14][15] achieving that night its maximum ratings thanks to a video interview, the first in continental Europe,[16] with controversial Chinese virologost Li-Meng Yan.[5] The following episode gathered a board to analyze her claims.[17]

Started 2021, from a special episode on 7 January onwards, the program stopped focusing solely on the pandemic and spread its range to other fields of science and politics, including a reportage about big data and media manipulation in social platforms.[3] The program was moved from Telecinco to Cuatro next week, shortening its title to Horizonte and making Informe Covid a segment, and made its debut in the new channel with a live analysis of the inauguration of Joe Biden in United States.[4][18]

• Official webpage