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El País

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For other uses, see El País (disambiguation).
El País
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatTabloid
Owner(s)PRISA
Founder(s)José Ortega Spottorno
PublisherEdiciones El País, S.L.
Editor-in-chiefJavier Moreno
Associate editorLluis Bassets
FoundedMay 4, 1976 (1976-05-04)
Political alignmentCentre-left
LanguageSpanish
HeadquartersMadrid, Spain
Circulation391,815
Sister newspapersCinco Días, Diario AS
ISSN0213-4608
Websitewww.elpais.com

El País (Template:Lang-en) is a Spanish national daily newspaper owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. With an average of 391,815 copies sold each day, is the widest selling non-sports newspaper in Spain.[1] Its headquarters and central editorial staff are located in Madrid, although there are regional offices in the principal Spanish cities (Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia, Bilbao, Santiago de Compostela) from where these regional editions are produced. El País also produces a world edition that is printed and distributed in Latin America.[2]

El País is often referred to as a newspaper of record from Spain, along with its fellow Madrid morning dailies El Mundo and ABC.[citation needed] Opinion polls cited in El País are all carried out by a separate company called Instituto OPINA.

History

El País was founded by a team at PRISA which included José Ortega Spottorno and Carlos Mendo.[3] The paper was designed by Reinhard Gade and Julio Alonso. It was first published on 4 May 1976,[4] six months after the death of Franco, and at the beginning of the Spanish transition to democracy. It was the first pro-democracy newspaper within a context where all the other Spanish newspapers were influenced by Franco's ideology. El País filled a gap in the market and became the newspaper of Spanish democracy, for which role El País was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and the Humanities in 1983, at a time when the transition from Franco's dictatorship to democracy was still developing. The paper's first Director (until 1988) was Juan Luis Cebrián, who came from the daily newspaper Informaciones. Like many other Spanish journalists of the time he had worked for the Diario Pueblo (People's Daily) which was a mouthpiece for the Francist sindicato vertical.

Its reputation as a bastion of Spanish democracy was established during the attempted coup d'etat by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero of the Guardia Civil on 23 February 1981. During the uncertain situation of the night of 23 February 1981, with all the members of parliament held hostage in the Congress building and with tanks on the streets of Valencia, and before the state television station could transmit a speech by King Juan Carlos I condemning the coup, El País published a special edition of the newspaper called 'El País, for the Constitution'. It was the first daily paper on the streets that night with a clear pro-democracy position calling on citizens to demonstrate in favour of democracy. It was widely discussed in the news media that the then director of El País, Juan Luis Cebrián, telephoned the then director of Diario 16, Pedro J. Ramírez, in order to propose that both newspapers work on a joint publication in defence of democracy and Ramírez refused, claiming that he would prefer to wait a few hours to see how the situation developed. Diario 16 was not published until after a television broadcast by the king. Along with its commitment to democracy before the attempted coup of 23 February 1981, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party's election victory in 1982 with an absolute majority and its open support for the government of Felipe González,[citation needed] meant that El País consolidated its position during the 1980s as the Spanish newspaper with the most sales ahead of the conservative leaning ABC.

Both the rigorous journalistic standards and the fact that it was the first Spanish newspaper to establish internal quality control standards have increased the standing of El País. It was also the first Spanish daily to create the role of Reader's Advocate (equivalent to the Press Ombudsman in Britain) and in publishing a "Style Guide" that has become a benchmark for quality amongst journalists.[5] El País has also established a number of collaborative agreements with other European newspapers with a social democrat viewpoint. In 1989 El País participated in the creation of a common network of information resources with La Repubblica in Italy and Le Monde in France. Since October 2001 an English language supplement of El País has been included in the Spanish version of the International Herald Tribune.

At the beginning of the 1990s El País had to face a new political and journalistic challenge. The increasing political tensions caused by corruption scandals involving the socialist government of Felipe González polarized both the Spanish political classes and the press of the left and right wings. Since that time, both the Partido Popular and the media aligned with it have accused El País and the other companies owned by Grupo Prisa[6][7] along with Sogecable[8][9] of supporting the interests of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). Despite this El País has managed to maintain its position as the best selling generalist daily in Spain, although its lead over El Mundo has been reduced.

On September 26, 2007 the paper published the Bush-Aznar memo, a leaked transcript of a closed-door meeting between presidents Bush and Aznar shortly before the invasion of Iraq.[10]

During the premiership of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero El País has been publishing an increasing number of articles criticising or opposing the policies of the Zapatero government.[citation needed] This has provided opportunities for new entrants to represent the centre left, such as the appearance of the daily newspaper Público.

Appearance

The appearance of El País is characterized by its sobriety, both in the treatment of information and in its esthetics. Most pages contain five columns that are arranged in a neat and clear manner with distinct journalistic sub-categories. Photographs and graphics play a secondary, supporting role to the written word. The newspaper has had the same design from its foundation until the end of 2007, with hardly any changes (it only used black and white photographs, although the current format includes colour and more imaginative design, mainly in the varied supplements), and the same Times Roman font.[11]

The format of the newspaper was revamped on 21 October 2007 with changes to its printed form, its digital presence on the internet and its historical motto of 'Independent morning daily' was changed to 'Global Spanish language newspaper'.[12] Other notable changes are the inclusion of the tilde accent in its title header and the substitution of Times Roman by Majerit.

Electronic edition

In the mid-1990s El País was the second Spanish newspaper to publish an internet edition, El País digital (the first was the Catalan newspaper Avui). On 18 November 2002 it became the first Spanish newspaper to introduce a payment system for access to the contents of its electronic version, which drastically reduced the number of visits to the website, to the extent that El Mundo, which maintained open access to the majority of its contents, became the leading Spanish digital newspaper. After taking this decision El País digital was suspended in 2002 by the OJD for four months because of two serious breaches of OJD regulations.[13] The El País digital website opened again on 3 June 2005 with free access to the majority of the contents. Subscription was required to gain access to multimedia contents and to the newspaper's archive.

Supplements

El País produces a number of supplements:

  • Wednesdays:
  • Thursdays:
    • Ciberpaís, supplement on computing and electronics, and
    • The New York Times, a castellano version of the American original.
  • Fridays:
  • Saturdays:
    • Babelia', cultural supplement specializing in literature and
    • El Viajero, (Template:Lang-en) on travel.
  • Sundays:

The supplement designed for children Pequeño País (Template:Lang-en), ceased publication in 2009.

A number of publications issued in installments have also been produced throughout its history:

  • Classic and Modern Comics (1987).

Ideology

The paper's ideology has always been defined by a leaning towards Europeanism. Politically it is situated in the centre-left and the left.[14] El País has repeatedly supported King Juan Carlos I for his contribution to the consolidation of democracy, especially, for his decisive intervention in aborting the coup of 23 February 1981.[15] The paper is characterized by the amount of space it gives to the reporting of international news, culture and information regarding the economy, as well as Spanish news. It has specific columnists and contributors from different social backgrounds contributing to the democratic and pro-European editorial line of the newspaper.

Criticism of Che Guevara, the "populist left" and the Government of Venezuela

The paper has criticized figures such as Che Guevara and his idea of armed struggle.[16]

El País has also been critical of the so-called "populist left" in Latin America. In April 2002 it termed the failed coup in Venezuela as a "coup against a tyrant" accusing Hugo Chávez of authoritarianism and of eliminating the separation of powers.[17] The paper criticized Chávez again regarding the Venezuelan constitutional referendum of 2007 accusing him of holding the referendum without the least "minimal guarantees", of restricting the actions of the National Electoral Council and tampering with the electoral roll.[18] The Venezuelan government, through the Ministry of Popular Power for Communication and Information considers El País to be one of the Spanish newspapers most critical of the left-wing governments of Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia.[19]

Notable contributors

See also

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References

  1. ^ Figures covering January to December 2009 from Oficina de Justificación de la Difusión, accessed July 21, 2010.
  2. ^ «título=ELPAIS.com – Diario El País S.L», en ElPais.com.
  3. ^ "Bis'El País' Co-founder Mendo Dead at 77". Editor & Publisher. 2010-08-25. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  4. ^ Breve historia de El País, en ElPais.com.
  5. ^ For which role El País was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Communication and the Humanities in 1973
  6. ^ «Eva Cuesta, el penúltimo fichaje del PSOE en PRISA». Artículo de Periodista Digital (24/01/2007).
  7. ^ «Prisa y PSOE se apoyan mutuamente para seguir en el poder: dinero y publicidad a mantas». Artículo de Por Andalucía Libre mencionando declaraciones de El Mundo (07/02/2007).
  8. ^ "Sogecable responde a la llamada del PSOE y pide al Gobierno que Canal+ emita siempre en abierto", Artículo de Libertad Digital, ya solo consultable en TodoInternet.com.
  9. ^ "CC y PSOE prorrogan a Sogecable el contrato de la Televisión Canaria y el PP anuncia que lo impugnará". Libertad Digital (09/05/2007)
  10. ^ "El País on Bush, Aznar, and Iraq". Harper's Magazine
  11. ^ «Unos buenos tipos». El País (14/10/2007).
  12. ^ "El País será el periódico global en español", El País (9 de octubre de 2007)
  13. ^ «La OJD sanciona con cuatro meses de expulsión a El País Digital por faltas graves». ABC (24/07/2002).
  14. ^ In the words of the former Spanish Economy Minister for the Partido Popular Rodrigo Rato and Chairman of the International Monetary Fund (Adictos al periódico. Especial 10.000 números. 18 de octubre de 2004):

    All (good) newspapers have their political leanings. [...] I read it because it describes the position of the centre-left and of the political left-wing.
  15. ^ «Injurias a la Corona». Editorial de El País (28 de julio de 2007).
  16. ^ Caudillo Guevara, editorial de El País, 10 de octubre de 2007.

    ... Che Guevara [..] belonged to that sinister saga of tragic heros, still present in the terrorist movements of various types, from the nationalists to the Jihadists, who try to hide the fact they are assassins by claiming to be martyrs, prolonging the old prejudice inherited from Romanticism. The fact that Che Guevara gave his life and sacrificed those of many others does not improve his ideas, that drink from the springs of one of the great totalitarian systems. [..] the only attestable contribution of the insurgent followers of Guevara to Latin American politics was to offer new alibis to the authoritarian tendencies that were germinating on the continent. Thanks to his armed challenge, the right-wing military dictators could present themselves as a lesser evil, if not a inevitable requisite opposing another symmetrical military dictatorship, such as that lead by Castro [..] In the four decades that have passed since his death, the Latin American left and, of course, that in Europe, has completely expedited his goals and fanatical methods. To the point where today the only people who commemorate the date of his execution in La Higuera are the governments that subjugate the Cubans or those that invoke Simón Bolívar in their populist harangues.
  17. ^ Golpe a un caudillo (editorial sobre el golpe de Estado en Venezuela contra Hugo Chávez)
  18. ^ La careta de Chávez, editorial de El País, 18 de noviembre de 2007.
  19. ^ La guerra mediática contra Venezuela desde el diario español El País
  20. ^ "El dibujante chileno Fernando Krahn muere en Barcelona", El Periódico (in Spanish), February 18, 2010{{citation}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
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