View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Comment
August 19, 2015

Former El Mundo editor to launch online paper in fight for press freedom in Spain

By Conori Bell-Bhuiyan

Spanish editor Pedro J Ramírez will launch new online paper El Español to fight back against attacks on press freedom in Spain, the Times reports.

The news website claims to be a bid to revive Spain’s media and combat the damage done to press freedom by the “gag-law”, or the citizen’s security law, under which the media can be fined up to €30,000 for “unauthorised” film and images of police officers on duty.

Ramírez has also said that Spain’s economic downturn has left newspapers “financially precarious and vulnerable to political pressure”.

Large numbers of journalists have lost their jobs since the 2008 financial crisis.

“When everyone is losing money, you become dependent on large corporations which in turn are closely linked to the government… the result is censorship and – what is even worse – self-censorship”, Ramírez told the FT.

“We believe the press must play the role of watchdog. We must be the counterweight…against the concentration of political power and the concentration of economic power.”

Ramírez, 63, was fired from his 25-year long role as editor for Spanish right-wing paper El Mundo in 2014. His exit followed a series of reports about Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy allegedly receiving money from a secret slush fund.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Despite being weeks away from officially launching the El Español beta website already claims to have 9,000 subscribers. According to the Financial Times the paper has garnered €118 million from investors and has attracted some of Spain’s most distinguished journalists.

 

Topics in this article : , ,

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network