Spain: newspapers need to adapt to the Web and citizen journalism

Posted by John Burke on June 22, 2005 at 4:02 PM

A meeting of the Asociacion de Editores de Diarios de Espana, reported on by Juan Varela of Periodistas 21, helped open some editors' eyes to the opportunities that lie online. Since 2001, the number of Spanish Internet users has jumped 67% annually, whereas online newspaper readers have skyrocketed 183%. The director of the organization, Ignacio M. Benito summarized the crisis Spanish newspapers are undergoing because of these statistics, citing a loss of quality, the growth of free dailies less advertising efficiency and a readership that demand more interactivity. As for solutions, Benito urged editors to test new business models, invest in the quality of their content and consider reader requests for more participation, primarily via blogs.

Enrique Dans, professor at the Instituto del Empresa, explained the media evolution that newspapers need to follow: Journalism 1.0 (traditional journalism where many newspapers are stuck), Journalism 2.0 (content adapted to the Web) and Journalism 3.0 ("socialization" of information or information as a conversation). The free paper Qu?'s experiment, launched in February, was described by a satisfied Eduardo Bendala, digital director of the group Recoletos. Qu?'s original idea to launch citizen blogs came from a lack of resources necessary for its reporters to cover local events. Although he admits that of the 8,500 blogs on the Qu? site, few are used as sources of information, he believes that that number will improve with time.

Source: Periodistas 21 (threats and blogs)