No-Do

No-Do is the colloquial name for Noticiarios y Documentales,[1]  ("News and Documentaries"), a state-controlled series of cinema newsreels produced in Spain from 1943 to 1981[1]  and closely associated with the 1936–1975 dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.[2]

In their heyday, the No-Do newsreels predictably contained a good deal of propaganda and servile reporting in favour of the Franco regime. They were a way in which Franco could have a monopoly over the news and supply public information, censorship and propaganda for the formation of public opinion favorable to the dictatorial regime.

The No-Do newsreels, tainted by their indelible association with the dictatorship, fell out of favour within a few years of Spain's return to democratic government after Franco's death. The last No-Do was produced in 1981 prior to the operation's absorption into RTVE, Spain's state-controlled television and radio broadcaster. The No-Do archive is an important asset of RTVE and is often mined for nostalgia programmes.