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(; ) is a Spanish-language
daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
in
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
. is based in the capital city of
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in Spanish online and one of the Madrid dailies considered to be a national
newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large newspaper circulation, circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and i ...
for Spain (along with '' El Mundo'' and '' ABC)''. In 2018, its number of daily sales were 138,000. Its headquarters and central editorial staff are located in Madrid, although there are regional offices in the principal Spanish cities (
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
,
Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
,
Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
,
Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...
, and
Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...
) where regional editions were produced until 2015. also produces a world edition in Madrid that is available online in English and in Spanish (
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
).


History

was founded in May 1976 by a team at PRISA which included Jesus de Polanco, José Ortega Spottorno and Carlos Mendo. The paper was designed by Reinhard Gade and Julio Alonso. It was first published on 4 May 1976, six months after the death of dictator
Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...
, and at the beginning of the
Spanish transition to democracy The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of History of Spain, modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system ...
. The first
editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...
of the daily was Juan Luis Cebrián. was the first pro-democracy newspaper within a context where all the other Spanish newspapers were influenced by Franco's ideology. The circulation of the paper was 116,600 copies in its first year. It rose to 138,000 copies in 1977. In 1978, suffered a far-right terrorist attack due to political upheaval. Four people were injured, two greatly, and one died. The building also suffered structural damage. filled a gap in the market and became the newspaper of Spanish democracy, for which role 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 ''Diario Pueblo'' (meaning ''People's Daily'' in English) which was a mouthpiece for the Francoist . Its reputation as a bastion of Spanish democracy was established during the attempted
coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...
by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero of the Guardia Civil on 23 February 1981. During the uncertain situation of the night of 23 February 1981, when all members of parliament were held hostage in the Congress building and with tanks on the streets of
Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
, and before the state television station could transmit a speech by King
Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until Abdication of Juan Carlos I, his abdic ...
condemning the coup, published a special edition of the newspaper called ', for the Constitution'. It was the first available daily paper during the situation with a pro-democracy position. It called on citizens to demonstrate in favor of democracy, and was widely discussed in the news media so much so that the director of , Juan Luis Cebrián, called the then director of '' Diario 16'', Pedro J. Ramírez, in order to propose that both newspapers work on a joint pro-democracy publication; 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 The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...
's election victory in 1982 with an absolute majority and its open support for the government of Felipe González, meant that consolidated its position during the 1980s as the Spanish newspaper with the most sales ahead of the conservative leaning '' ABC''. In 1986, was the recipient of the Four Freedoms Award for the Freedom of Speech by the Roosevelt Institute. In 1987, received the largest amount of state aid. 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 . It was also the first Spanish daily to create the role of "Reader's Advocate," and the first to publish a "Style Guide", that has since become a quality benchmark among journalists.For which role was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Communication and the Humanities in 1973
has also established a number of collaborative agreements with other European newspapers with a social democrat viewpoint. In 1989, participated in the creation of a common network of information resources with in Italy and in France. At the beginning of the 1990s, 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 and the other companies owned by PRISA. along with Sogecable of supporting the interests of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). Despite this, has managed to maintain its position as the best selling generalist daily in Spain, although its lead over ''El Mundo'' has been reduced. Both in 1993 and 1994 it was the best selling newspaper in the country with a circulation of 401,258 copies and 408,267 copies, respectively. In the period of 1995–1996 had a circulation of 420,934 copies, making it again the best-selling paper in the country. Since October 2001, an English language supplement of has been included in the Spanish version of the ''
International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France, for international English-speaking readers. It published under the name ''International Herald Tribune'' starting in 1967, but its ...
''. This content can also be found on El País' internet site. In 2001 had a circulation of 433,617 copies and it was 435,298 copies next year. The paper had a circulation of 435,000 copies in 2003. On March 11, 2004, Spain suffered Europe's first jihadist terror attack with a nearly simultaneous, coordinated bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004 – three days before Spain's general elections. The day of the attacks, then prime minister José María Aznar, from the ruling conservative party called editor in chief Jesús Ceberio and gave him assurances that the attacks had been planned and executed by the Basque terrorist group ETA. Despite having no other confirmation, Ceberio ran a front page blaming ETA for the attack, having to correct course the following day. Ceberio, who would continue as editor for three more years, published an editorial piece accusing Aznar of manipulating him. was awarded the World's Best Designed Newspaper™ for 2006 by the Society for News Design (SND). Based on the findings of the European Business Readership Survey the paper had 14,589 readers per issue in 2006. The circulation of the daily was 425,927 copies between June 2006 and July 2007. On 24 January 2013, published a wrong report about the health status of then Venezuelan President
Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...
, with photography of an unknown man from a 2008 YouTube video, provided by the news agency Gtres Online and published on the front page of the paper's print edition as a picture of the Venezuelan president. In August 2019, the newspaper's online edition published an obituary of king Juan Carlos I even though the former monarch was actually recovering from major cardiac surgery. The El País management explained that the article was published due to an "algorithm error."


Positions

The paper has criticized figures such as
Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...
, among others. It impugned Guevara's advocacy of armed struggle.Caudillo Guevara
editorial de , 10 October 2007.
The 16 February 2012 edition of was banned in
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
due to the publication of a cartoon which, according to the Moroccan authorities, tarnished King Mohammed VI's name. In January 2018, was sentenced to publish a rectification article after the Catalan TV channel TV3 denounced the newspaper for "harming the TV channel's image" with an article which contained "inaccurate data". A similar case happened between El País and the Catalan businessman Jaume Roures, with El País being sentenced after publishing Roures had 250 million Euros in tax havens. According to a report prepared by the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...
fake news committee written by the
nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
Transparency Toolkit and published in April 2018, had published "numerous examples of misinterpretations of data sources, use of inaccurate information, lack of attention to detail and a poor research methodology" regarding the alleged Russian involvement in the Catalan independence referendum. It describes their conclusions as "exceptionally deceptive" and concludes "there may be a temptation to use groundless allegations of fake news to support political argument". On 26 September 2007, the paper published the Bush–Aznar memo, a leaked transcript of a closed-door meeting between U.S. president
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
and Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, shortly before the invasion of Iraq. In 2007 the circulation of was about 400,000 copies. During the premiership of the PSOE's José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, published several articles criticizing the policies of the Zapatero government. This provided opportunities for new entrants to represent the dissentient, anti establishment left, such as the appearance of the daily newspaper '' Público''. The 2008 circulation of was 435,000 copies, making it the second most read daily in the country, only after the sport-daily Marca. It was 267,000 in April 2014. In March 2015, , together with six other international newspapers, founded an alliance called the Leading European Newspaper Alliance (LENA). In June 2016, ''El País Brasil'' was found in a list of political newspapers that received money from the Workers Party government. Former editor Soledad Gallego Díaz was brought to court after dismissing five employees for what the accusers maintain were political and ideological reasons.


Editors-in-chief

has had five editors-in-chief since it was founded in 1976. In February 2014 it was announced that Antonio Caño would be proposed as new editor-in-chief, appointment that was ratified by the Board of Directors and became effective on 3 May 2014. In June 2018, Soledad Gallego-Díaz became the first-ever female editor of El País. Gallego-Díaz was replaced by Javier Moreno in June 2020. In July 2021, Pepa Bueno was appointed as the new editor.


Appearance

The appearance of is characterized by its sobriety, in both its treatment of information and its aesthetics. Most pages contain five columns arranged in a neat, clear manner with distinct journalistic sub-categories. Photographs and graphics play a secondary, supporting role to the written word. The newspaper had had the same design from its foundation until the end of 2007, with little change (it previously used only black-and-white (monochrome) photographs, although the current format includes color photographs and more imaginative design, mainly in the varied supplements), and the same Times Roman font. The newspaper's format was revamped on 21 October 2007 with changes to its printed form, its digital presence on the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
and the replacement of its historical motto 'Independent morning daily' with 'Global Spanish language newspaper'. The paper began to be published in tabloid format. Other notable changes are the inclusion of the acute accent in its title header and the substitution of Times Roman by "Majerit", a specially-commissioned plain serif font. Opinion polls cited in are all carried out by a separate company called ''Instituto OPINA''.


Electronic edition

In the mid-1990s, 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 Oficina de Justificación de la Difusión for four months because of two serious breaches of OJD regulations. 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 content and to the newspaper's
archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...
. On 26 November 2013, launched a digital edition in Portuguese. In October 2014, launched a digital edition in Catalan. In February 2021 it ceased distribution of printed versions in European countries outside of Spain.


Supplements

produces a number of supplements: * Wednesdays: ** ''Futuro'' (), supplement on science. * Thursdays: ** ''Ciberpaís'' (English: Cyber Country), supplement on computing and electronics, ** ''Icon'', monthly supplement for men (from Fall 2013) ** ''The New York Times'', a
Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...
version of the American original. * Fridays: ** ''EP ', previously known as ''El País de las Tentaciones'', () youth supplement. ** ''Ocio'', () supplement on cultural activities. * Saturdays: ** ''Babelia'', cultural supplement. ** ''El Viajero'' (), on travel. * Sundays: ** the magazine ''El País Semanal'' () previously called ''EP ' on fashion, reports and opinion, ** ''Negocios'' (), financial supplement. The children's supplement, ''Pequeño País'' (), ceased publication in 2009. A number of publications issued in installments have also been produced throughout its history: * ''Classic and Modern Comics'' (1987).


Ideological stance

The paper's ideology has been defined by a leaning towards Europeanism,
progressivism Progressivism is a Left-right political spectrum, left-leaning political philosophy and Reformism, reform political movement, movement that seeks to advance the human condition through social reform. Adherents hold that progressivism has unive ...
, and
social liberalism Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...
. Politically, it was situated in the center-left during most of Spain's transition to democracy. It regularly criticized the
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
government of Mariano Rajoy (2011–2018) over corruption scandals, economic performance, and a "do-nothing" approach to the Catalan crisis. In the late 1970s and 1980s, had close connections with the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...
(PSOE). The paper has repeatedly supported King
Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until Abdication of Juan Carlos I, his abdic ...
for his contribution to the consolidation of democracy, especially, for his decisive intervention in aborting the coup of 23 February 1981.Injurias a la Corona
. Editorial de (28 July 2007).
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.


Notable contributors

* Ariel Dorfman * Juan Carlos Gumucio * Fernando Krahn * Elvira Lindo *
Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (28 March 1936 – 13 April 2025) was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant Latin American novelists and essayists a ...
* Javier Marías * Julio Llamazares * Eduardo Mendoza * Juan José Millás * Empar Moliner * Diego Garcia Sayan * Rosa Montero * Javier Pradera * Manuel Rivas * Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca * Eduardo Haro Tecglen * Manuel Valls * Leontxo García


See also

* Ortega y Gasset Awards


References


Further reading

* Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. ''The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers'' (1980) pp 238–41


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pais Daily newspapers published in Spain Newspapers published in Madrid PRISA Spanish-language newspapers Spanish-language websites Newspapers established in 1976 1976 establishments in Spain Recipients of Princess of Asturias Awards Spanish transition to democracy Spanish news websites