El País
El País (Spanish: [el paˈis] ⓘ; lit. 'The Country') is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. El País is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.[7]
For other uses, see El País (disambiguation).
It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain as of December 2017.[8] El País is the most read newspaper in Spanish online and one of the Madrid dailies considered to be a national newspaper of record for Spain (along with El Mundo and ABC).[9] In 2018, its number of daily sales were 138,000.[10]
Its headquarters and central editorial staff are located in Madrid, although there are regional offices in the principal Spanish cities (Barcelona, Seville, Valencia, Bilbao, and Santiago de Compostela) where regional editions were produced until 2015. El País also produces a world edition in Madrid that is available online in English and in Spanish (Latin America).[11]
Appearance[edit]
The appearance of El País 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.[54]
The newspaper's format was revamped on 21 October 2007 with changes to its printed form, its digital presence on the Internet and the replacement of its historical motto 'Independent morning daily' with 'Global Spanish language newspaper'.[55] The paper began to be published in tabloid format.[56] 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.[57]
Opinion polls cited in El País are all carried out by a separate company called Instituto OPINA.
Electronic edition[edit]
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 Oficina de Justificación de la Difusión for four months because of two serious breaches of OJD regulations.[58] 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.
On 26 November 2013, El País launched a digital edition in Portuguese.
In October 2014, El País launched a digital edition in Catalan.[59]
In February 2021 it ceased distribution of printed versions in European countries outside of Spain.[60]
El País produces a number of supplements:
The children's supplement, Pequeño País (English: Small Country), ceased publication in 2009.
A number of publications issued in installments have also been produced throughout its history:
Ideological stance[edit]
The paper's ideology has been defined by a leaning towards Europeanism, progressivism, and social liberalism.[62] Politically, it was situated in the center-left during most of Spain's transition to democracy.[17] It regularly criticized the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy (2011–2018) over corruption scandals, economic performance, and a "do-nothing" approach to the Catalan crisis.[63]
In the late 1970s and 1980s, El País had close connections with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).[19] The paper 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.[64] 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.