Irekia
The official launch of the news website El Espanol will take a few weeks, but beta is already operating and even has almost 9 thousand of subscribers. Readers interest to this resource is quite understandable, even though the subscription is paid. The founder and chief editor of El Espanol Pedro Ramirez is one of the most famous journalists in Spain, the former founder and chief editor of El Mundo and Diario 16 publications, specializing in investigative journalism. El Espanol edition has already got more than 70 employees, many of whom were invited by the editor in chief from major publications and are considered the best specialists in investigative journalism. The stated goal of Mr. Ramirez’s new information project - to fight the corrupt oligarchy, which, in his opinion, undermine Spanish democracy. Mr. Ramirez told the Financial Times about the new project and the status of the Spanish media.
According to the chief editor of El Espanol, the economic downturn in Spain undermined not only the financial position of the Spanish media, but also their ability to bring to account the political and economic power of the country. " The main people in the Spanish newspapers are not editors and journalists, but owners and managers", - says Mr. Ramirez, noting that now, more than ever, businessmen and politicians have the ability to easily look down journalists. "We believe that the media should play a supervisory role. We must be a counterweight to the concentration of political and economic power" - he said, adding that it is just the Spanish media that are willing to do less, and cited evidence of a variety of publications in which articles or quotes, criticizing the government, pushed rather far off.
- When everyone is losing money, one becomes dependent on large corporations, which are closely linked with the government. The result - censorship or, even worse, self-censorship.
Parliamentary elections in Spain will be held at the end of the year, and not simmering corruption scandals will give much food for investigative journalism. Asked by FT journalists on who should be afraid of El Espanol’s revelations, Mr. Ramirez said: "It depends on what they have done. However, I can say exactly what we will not do under any circumstances. If we find the sensation, we do not hide it in the back pages".
source: ft.com
According to the chief editor of El Espanol, the economic downturn in Spain undermined not only the financial position of the Spanish media, but also their ability to bring to account the political and economic power of the country. " The main people in the Spanish newspapers are not editors and journalists, but owners and managers", - says Mr. Ramirez, noting that now, more than ever, businessmen and politicians have the ability to easily look down journalists. "We believe that the media should play a supervisory role. We must be a counterweight to the concentration of political and economic power" - he said, adding that it is just the Spanish media that are willing to do less, and cited evidence of a variety of publications in which articles or quotes, criticizing the government, pushed rather far off.
- When everyone is losing money, one becomes dependent on large corporations, which are closely linked with the government. The result - censorship or, even worse, self-censorship.
Parliamentary elections in Spain will be held at the end of the year, and not simmering corruption scandals will give much food for investigative journalism. Asked by FT journalists on who should be afraid of El Espanol’s revelations, Mr. Ramirez said: "It depends on what they have done. However, I can say exactly what we will not do under any circumstances. If we find the sensation, we do not hide it in the back pages".
source: ft.com