In the years after General Francisco Franco’s death in 1975, newspapers were finally able to be freely published. Many of today’s major dailies emerged then.

Among Spain’s eight main newspapers, four were established early in the 20th century, or even beforehand (such as ABC and La Vanguardia), two others were created just after Franco’s death (El Pais), and the last remaining two emerged in the last two decades (El Mundo).

Spain’s newspaper industry structure is quite unlike most of its neighbors: there are more than 100 dailies published in Spain, but few of them reach the 100,000 circulation mark. On the other hand, the ownership of these newspapers is very centralized, with Prisa and Zeta dominating the market.

While the main newspapers are based in Madrid, this also means that most of the publications are regional, and that they still carry the regional coverage and influence that other European papers lost in the last decade.

Some regional papers are published in Catalan, Basque, and many newspapers are bilingual, a combination of Spanish and the regional dialect.

The emergence of free papers has also revolutionized the newspaper industry, in a country where the average newspaper-per-inhabitant rate is very low (1 for 10). Freesheets now control 51% of the newspaper market.

Mostly due to one historical figure, the evolution of Spanish newspapers stands far apart from its European neighbors.

Source: BBC