Officials in Spain arrested a man who sexually harassed a female journalist Isa Balado on live television while she was busy covering a robbery incident in Madrid, as the country is already reeling from a kiss scandal sparked by the Spanish football president.
Isa Balado was busy reporting in the street when a man approached her from behind and touched her from behind, according to a video that surfaced and went viral on social media sparking severe criticism from people of the country.
The latest harassment came just after a kissing scandal that emerged last month when the president of Spain’s football federation, Luis Rubiales nonconsensually kissed midfielder Jenni Hermoso during the medal ceremony following the country’s World Cup victory in Sydney on August 20.
The Spanish journalist was approached and assaulted before asking her which television she worked for, the video showed.
The reporter said that she was in the middle of a live transmission and attempted to continue with her reporting however, the host at that time Nacho Abad insisted she put the man in front of the camera as she appeared reluctant to confront the man.
She then faced the assaulter and told him that she had been trying to do her job.
After being told he left, with a failed attempt to touch her head as she dodged. Later, the man approached her again as she continued, saying he had heard her accusations and that she should “tell the truth.”
In a message posted on X, police said the man had been arrested for sexually assaulting the reporter live on air.
Mediaset Espana, which owns Cuatro, said it “categorically repudiates any form of harassment or aggression. We fully support Isa Balado, a reporter for ‘En boca de todos’, after the absolutely intolerable situation she has suffered today.”
Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz said the incident should not go unpunished.
“It is machismo that makes journalists suffer sexual assaults like this, and the aggressors are unrepentant in front of the camera,” she wrote on X.
Equality Minister Irene Montero sent her support to Balado.
“Non-consensual touching is sexual violence and we say enough to impunity,” she said.
