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 El Espectador front page, 18 September 2008 issue | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Founder | Fidel Cano Gutiérrez |
| Publisher | Fidel Cano Correa |
| Editor-in-chief | Élber Gutiérrez Roa |
| Editor | Jorge Cardona |
| Founded | March 22, 1887; 138 years ago (1887-03-22) |
| Political alignment | Centre-left, Liberalism, Social liberalism |
| Language | Spanish |
| Headquarters | Calle 103 69B-43 Bogotá,Colombia |
| Circulation | 50,000 (Mon–Sat)[1] 190,000 (Sun)[1] |
| Price | $2,000(Mon–Sat) $3,700 (Sun) |
| ISSN | 0122-2856 |
| OCLC number | 436626557 |
| Website | elespectador |
El Espectador (lit. 'The Spectator') is a nationally circulated Colombian newspaper founded byFidel Cano Gutiérrez in 1887 inMedellín and published since 1915 inBogotá. It was initially published twice a week, 500 issues each, but some years later became a daily paper.
As the oldest newspaper in Colombia still in circulation, El Espectador is considered anewspaper of record for Colombia and a home for prominent writers,[2] including the1982 Nobel Prize LaureteGabriel García Márquez. It is a member of theInter American Press Association and the Asociación de Diarios Colombianos (ANDIARIOS). It defined itself as a "political, literary, news, and industrial newspaper".
In 2001, during a financial crisis, It transitioned into a weekly release, but reverted to a daily release on May 11, 2008,[3][4] a comeback which had long been rumoured.[5][6] With this change, it now utilized a 28 centimetres (11 in) by 39.5 centimetres (15.6 in)tabloid format. From 1997 to 2011 its main shareholder wasJulio Mario Santo Domingo.[7]
Since 2001, the paper has used the slogan "El Espectador. Opinion is news", implying it now focuses onopinion articles, as opposed tobreaking news. This focus was kept when it regained its daily format on 2008.[8]
According to theEstudio General de Medios,El Espectador had 687,900 weekly readers in 2007.[9]
Since its foundation in 1887,El Espectador acted as a speaker for theColombian Liberal Party, at the time opposed to the administrations of theconservative regime.
Its motto was "El Espectador will work for the good of the country with liberal criteria and for the good of the liberal principles with patriotic criteria."
It was closed by authorities several times:[10]
Since 10 February 1915El Espectador has been simultaneously published in Medellín andBogotá. Its Medellín edition was suspended on 20 July 1923.
In 1948, after themurder of Liberal Party leaderJorge Eliecer Gaitán, its circulation was suspended for three days. Since then,El Espectador has had to deal with thecensorship of the then ruling Conservative Party several times. On 9 November 1949,Luis Cano Villegas, its director, resigned in protest for the seizure of the entire edition by the government, being replaced by his brotherGabriel Cano Villegas. On 6 September 1952, its facilities, then located in downtown Bogotá, as well as the building of competitorEl Tiempo and the houses of Liberal Party leadersEduardo Santos andCarlos Lleras Restrepo, were looted and partially destroyed, apparently with the tacit consent of the government. It reappeared on 16 September.
In 1955 the newspaper, outspokenly opposed to the military government ofGustavo Rojas Pinilla, publishing several articles byAlberto Lleras Camargo, with a substantial effect onpublic opinion. In December, the government accusedEl Espectador of several accounting and tax irregularities, and fined the newspaper $10,000 on 20 December 1955. On 6 January 1956 the National Taxes Direction imposed onEl Espectador a fine of $600,000. Its directors, who were forbidden to respond to the accusations against the paper, suspended its publication that day.
In order to replaceEl Espectador, on 20 February 1956 appearedEl Independiente, directed by Alberto Lleras Camargo, who retired in April when the newspaper was closed for several months. It was published again in 1957 but due to an agreement by the opposition newspapers, it suspended its publication on 5 May. Five days later, Rojas Pinilla was ousted.El Independiente circulated until 31 May 1958. The next day, Jun 1, it was formally replaced byEl Espectador.
In 1964 its headquarters moved from downtown to western Bogotá, on theavenida 68, the area becoming known asAvenida El Espectador. At the inauguration, its then director Gabriel Cano Villegas said:"ifEl Tiempo has the best corner in Bogotá,El Espectador has the best corner in the country."[12]
Throughout the 20th centuryEl Espectador was the main Liberal newspaper, withEl Tiempo, both holding an important political influence. Among its main contributors it had some of the most important Colombian journalists at the time, likeLuis Eduardo Nieto Caballero,Alberto Lleras Camargo,Eduardo Zalamea Borda,Gabriel García Márquez,Eduardo Caballero Calderón,Klim,Antonio Panesso Robledo,Inés de Montaña,Alfonso Castillo Gómez,José Salgar, as well ascartoonistsHernán Merino, Pepón, Consuelo Lago, andOsuna.
In 2007, its publisher Fidel Cano Correa said he did not agree with former PresidentÁlvaro Uribe Vélez's personal behaviour and government style, but he specified that was his own position and not the newspaper's.[13]
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During the 20th century,El Espectador criticized other massmedia in Colombia, which preferred to remain silent instead of denouncing the atrocities happening in the country.[14] In the early 1980s, the daily published several articles denouncing illegal loans and other irregularities allegedly performed by theGrupo Grancolombiano, one of the most powerful financial groups at the time. As retaliation, several big companies pulled their ads from the paper, which was already facing some financial issues.El Espectador disputed accusations made against it and dedicated an editorial piece to its credibility and the credibility of the financial groups.[15]
El Espectador also demanded in its editorialsfreedom of the press and denounced the political censorship the independent media outlets had to deal with to avoid being closed,[16] stating that"not even in the worst times ofpress censorship or political retaliation, some resorted to crime in order to silence the press, in one of its more noble and higherdemocratic functions." It recognized that in Colombia"thedeath penalty ordered and executed from the lowest social holes has become an habit, as a revenge against the work of social sanity the press is committed to." It concluded saying that"the feeling of siege and danger —on the press— would be negatively reflected on the whole democratic system."[citation needed]
The newspaper rejected being considered as "subversive opposition" and criticized Liberal presidentJulio César Turbay Ayala's government, which by its words wished to"have a totally loyal, extremely pro-government press, not silenced but flattering." To defend itself, the paper published 15 July 1979 a column namedSi eso es opposición... ("If that's opposition...")[17] In the same text, the newspaper declared itself "neutral", considering that a democracy should not bepolarized,[17] "because in the times we are living, newspapers are increasingly more independent from governments, more devoted entirely to report and guide according to their honest knowledge and understanding," adding that the "unanimous, one-way, uniformed, official press is (intended) fordictatorships and not for democracies... and we believe that Colombia is still a democracy."
El Espectador also criticized, openly,drug trafficking:
What this country really needs is not money, metal, purematerialism, but a deep resurgence ofmorals in both public and private sectors. Drug trafficking has corrupted us, the buying and selling of influence has corrupted us, the rush for easy money has corrupted us.
Guillermo Cano Isaza. Libreta de Apuntes. 12 January 1986[11]
Ourmafiosos find that the no-extradition (to United States) is their best life insurance, because they know that if they commit any serious or slight offences in Colombian territory, the generouscheque book or the sinistermachine-gun, or the paidhit man, or the unscrupulousbodyguard willing to kill at the first chance, will keep them free enjoying their dirty, perverse fortune
Guillermo Cano. Libreta de Apuntes. August 1986[11]
As stated before,El Espectador stood firm against drug trafficking and often published articles on related crimes.
On 17 December 1986, the then director ofEl Espectador,Guillermo Cano Isaza, was assassinated in front of the newspaper offices by gunmen paid byPablo Escobar, after publishing several articles critical of Colombia's drug barons. Cano left the headquarters around 19:00 in his family'sSubaru Leone After he made aU-turn on the Avenida El Espectador, one of the hitmen approached the wagon Cano was driving, shot him in the chest four times with anUzi, and then fled on amotorcycle identified with the licence plate FAX84. Cano was 61 years old, and had been a journalist for 44 years. His murder is still considered unpunished.[18][19][20][21] On December 18, 1986, and September 3, 1989El Espectador's mainheadline wasSeguimos adelante ("We are going on").[12]
TheWorld Press Freedom Prize, awarded annually byUNESCO since 1997, is named in his honour, for"his courage, his compromise with independent journalism and the tenacity with which he fought for his country", which"are an example for the rest of the world to follow. Guillermo Cano's fate exemplifies the price paid by journalists the world over in exercising their profession; journalists are imprisoned and ill-treated every day and the fact that these crimes, for the most part, go unpunished is even more alarming."[22]
On 2 September 1989 the paper's offices were bombed by theMedellín Cartel. The blast occurred around 06:30; it blew the building's roof up, destroyed the main entry and affected the newspaper's production. The bomb was hidden in avan parked minutes before it exploded in front of the main entry. The same day, 6 armed men broke into an exclusive island inIslas del Rosario, nearCartagena de Indias, and set fire to the Cano family's summer house.
On 29 May 2000Reporters Without Borders issued aletter of protest toInterior MinisterHumberto de La Calle Lombana, on the kidnapping of journalistJineth Bedoya,[23] at the time working forEl Espectador, allegedly carried out by members of the paramilitaryUnited Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC). Robert Ménard, RWB's secretary general,"stated that he was "scandalised" by this latest attack on Bedoya".[24] She would later joinEl Tiempo.
On 23 August 1999, a group calledColombian Rebel Army (ERC) published a communiqué issuingdeath threats against 21 personalities engaged in the then ongoing peace process, accusing them of"promoting war between Colombians". Among those personalities twoEl Espectador contributors were mentioned,Alfredo Molano yArturo Alape.[23] On 19 January 1999, Molano left the country (he would return years later). Molano had condemned the massacre of 130 people perpetrated weeks before by members of AUC commanded byCarlos Castaño, who had referred to Molano as"paraguerrilla".[23] On 18 September,Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, who had worked forEl Espectador andRCN Radio, went intoexile.[23]
Between February and May 2000, journalistIgnacio Gómez received at least 56 threatening letters. In an article published byEl Espectador, Gómez had revealed that theMapiripán Massacre, in which 49 peasants were killed by paramilitary militias, had been supported by members of theColombian Army. After escaping a kidnapping attempt in Bogotá on 24 May, Gómez sought refuge in the United States on 1 June 2000. He would return to Colombia one year later[25] and become part ofNoticias UnoTVnewscast.
On 21 March 2003 columnistFernando Garavito left Colombia for the United States, after several death threats. He denounced human rights violations by AUC, as well as the alleged tolerance on drug barons in the past by the then presidential candidateÁlvaro Uribe Vélez.[26] On 8 February 2003photojournalistHerminso Ruiz was beaten and had hiscamera confiscated by members of theColombian National Police while he was coveringEl Nogal club bombing.[27][28] The incident was contempt by organizations as RWB.[27][29]
In May 2003 the newspaper, through an editorial written by its then directorRicardo Santamaría, reported on "interference" on an investigation it was carrying on the alleged irregularities inBanco del Pacífico, claiming that Police intelligence officials had obtained access to a draft of the report and sent it, through the Colombian National Police director, Teodoro Campo, to the then Interior MinisterFernando Londoño, who was a chairman of the bank.[30] Organizations defending freedom of the press expressed their contempt and their "deep concern". Campo denied any involvement, while minister Londoño claimed the draft was sent anonymously to him.[30][31]
On 18 November 2004, a Bogotá court sentenced columnist andfilm directorLisandro Duque to three days in jail and a 470euros fine, for not publishing a rectification after a sentence fordefamation, when in column published 13 April 2003 Duque criticized Claudia Triana de Vargas, manager of a film production company. Instead of rectifying, Duque wrote in a piece published 7 September that he had "no enough evidence" to support his criticism. Duque appealed the court sentence.[28]
On 29 May 1996 the then daily newspaper launched its websiteelespectador.com.[32] Its design format and layout have been changed several times[33][34][35][36][37] In 2006 later added the .com to its logo, comments to the articles and user registration.[38] Access hits to Elespectador.com grew 79% in 2007.[9]
On 7 March 2008 elespectador.com was revamped, setting up four "editions": online, latest news, news map and print version. It also improved the registration system and theRSS feeds, and addedtags,audio, andvideos taken fromNoticias Caracol, newscast from sister networkCaracol TV, uploaded to itsYouTube channel. The website is built withDrupal.Elespectador.com received theColombian Chamber of Computing and Telecommunications'sPremio Colombia en Línea 2008 award to the best online news website in the country.[39][40]
In April 2016,[41] the journalist Maria Paulina Baena and the journal's opinion coordinator Juan Carlos Rincón releasedLa Pulla, apolitical andopinion journalismYouTube channel.[42]
DespiteEl Espectador had been the Colombian newspaper with the second highestcirculation, afterEl Tiempo, the financial difficulties worsened and in 1997 the Cano family sold most of their shares in Comunican S.A.,El Espectador publishing company, toJulio Mario Santo Domingo, who at the time ownedCromos,Caracol Radio (later sold to Spanish groupPRISA) and Caracol TV. Its headquarters moved to theAvenida El Dorado. In September 2001El Espectador became a weekly newspaper.
RWB stated that"media diversity suffered a heavy blow" when the newspaper"downgraded itself to a weekly."[43]
TheCali newspaperEl País said:[44]"El Espectador is a standard in defence of freedom, the fight against drug trafficking and corruption."
Since then, their editorsRodrigo Pardo,Carlos Lleras de la Fuente, Ricardo Santamaría, andFidel Cano Correa tried to recover the financial balance and the newspaper's circulation. As a weekly, it was published on Saturdays, with Sunday's date. Counting with the free time readers have available on weekends,El Espectador focused on opinion, investigation, and analysis pieces, recovering its circulation, influence, and earnings.
In 2007 Fidel Cano Correa stated in an interview withRevista Semana that[13]"[the return to a daily edition] is just a possibility. We have been doing very well during the last three years, especially the last one." The Spanish group PRISA was considered as a strategic partner, but the negotiation failed when Santo Domingo refused to cede the control of the paper to PRISA.[45] On 11 May 2008El Espectador became a daily again, changing frombroadsheet to tabloid format.[3]
Every day of the week, except Sunday,El Espectador devotes around 10 pages to a specific "focus":
It also publishes three magazines, published once in a month each:Autos/Motos,Espacios, andDiscovery Health. On MondaysEl Espectador publishes a 6-page edition ofThe New York Times International Weekly,[46][47] and on Tuesdays a two-pagedFox Sports minisection. It alsosyndicates articles fromHarvard Business Review andEl País.
Since 2004,Lucie Lacava's Lacava Design has been in charge ofEl Espectador's design for its print edition.[48]El Espectador usesHoefler & Frere-Jones'sMercury andGothamtypefaces since then.[49]
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