''El Espectador'' (meaning "The Spectator") is a newspaper with national circulation within

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

, founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez on 22 March 1887 in

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

and published since 1915 in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

. It changed from a daily to a weekly edition in 2001, following a financial crisis, and became a daily again on 11 May 2008, a comeback which had been long rumoured, in

tabloid Tabloid may refer to: * Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism * Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size ** Chinese tabloid * Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size * Sopwith Tabloid The Sopwith Tabloid an ...

format (28 x 39.5 cm). From 1997 to 2011 its main shareholder was Julio Mario Santo Domingo. It is the oldest newspaper in Colombia. Since its first issue its motto has been "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 initially published twice a week, 500 issues each. It defined itself as a "political, literary, news and industrial newspaper". Years later it became a daily and in 2001 became a weekly. Since then, the paper uses the slogan "El Espectador. Opinion is news", implying it now focuses in opinion articles, not in

breaking news Breaking news, interchangeably termed late-breaking news and also known as a special report or special coverage or news flash, is a current issue that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming or current news in orde ...

. This focus was kept when it regained its daily format on 11 May 2008. According to the latest ''Estudio General de Medios'' (EGM – Segunda Ola 2007 (II-2007)), ''El Espectador'' has 687,900 readers every week. It is a member of the Inter American Press Association and the Asociación de Diarios Colombianos (ANDIARIOS).

History

Primera edición de El Espectador (22 mar

Since its foundation in 1887, ''El Espectador'' acted as a speaker for the

Colombian Liberal Party The Colombian Liberal Party ( es, Partido Liberal Colombiano; PLC) is a centre to centre-left political party in Colombia. It was founded as a classical liberal party but later developed a more social-democratic tradition, joining the Sociali ...

, at the time opposed to the administrations of the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Regeneration. It was closed by the authorities several times: * 8 July 1887, by the Rafael Núñez administration, 134 days after its first issue, until 10 January 1888. * 27 October 1888, by the then designated Carlos Holguín Sardi, until 12 February 1891; previously, the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

had forbidden its followers to read the newspaper, because of criticism of the ''lavishness of the Catholic Church in public celebrations'' made by its director. * On 26 September 1892 the government fined the newspaper with $200.000 after considering one of its articles "subversive". * 8 August 1893, by Antioquia governor Abraham García, until 14 March 1896. Fidel Cano Gutiérrez was jailed. * On 27 June 1896, until 27 April 1897, due to a press law recently passed by the Congress. * The outbreak of the Thousand Days War made ''El Espectador'' suspend its activities between 19 October 1899 and 16 October 1903 * On 17 December 1904 it was suspended again, after facing difficulties and opposing the

Rafael Reyes Rafael Reyes Prieto (December 5, 1849 – February 18, 1921) was a Colombian politician and soldier who was the Chief of Staff of the Colombian National Army and President of Colombia (1904–1909).Gobernantes Colombianos, Ignacio Arismendi Po ...

administration. It appeared again on 2 January 1913, as an evening daily in

. Since 10 February 1915 ''El Espectador'' has been simultaneously published in Medellín and

. Its Medellín edition was suspended on 20 July 1923. In 1948, after the

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

of Liberal Party leader

Jorge Eliecer Gaitán Jorge is a Spanish and Portuguese given name. It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios'') via Latin ''Georgius''; the former is derived from (''georgos''), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker". The Latin form ''Georgius'' ...

, its circulation was suspended for three days. Since then, ''El Espectador'' has had to deal with the

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

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 brother Gabriel Cano Villegas. On 6 September 1952, its facilities, then located in downtown Bogotá, as well as the building of competitor '' El Tiempo'' and the houses of Liberal Party leaders Eduardo Santos and

Carlos Lleras Restrepo Carlos Alberto Lleras Restrepo (12 April 1908 – 27 September 1994) was a Colombian politician and lawyer who served the 22nd President of Colombia from 1966 to 1970. Biographic data Lleras was born in Bogotá, on 12 April 1908. He was the ...

, 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 of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, publishing several articles by

Alberto Lleras Camargo Alberto Lleras Camargo (3 July 1906 – 4 January 1990) was the 20th President of Colombia (1958–1962), and the 1st Secretary General of the Organization of American States (1948–1954). A journalist and liberal party politician, he also se ...

, with a substantial effect on

public opinion Public opinion is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to a society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. Etymology The term "public opinion" was derived from the French ', which was first use ...

. In December, the government accused ''El 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 on ''El 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 replace ''El Espectador'', on 20 February 1956 appeared ''El 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 by ''El Espectador''. In 1964 its headquarters moved from downtown to western Bogotá, on the avenida 68, the area becoming known as ''Avenida El Espectador''. At the inauguration, its then director Gabriel Cano Villegas said: ''"if ''El Tiempo'' has the best corner in Bogotá, ''El Espectador'' has the best corner in the country."'' Throughout the 20th century ''El Espectador'' was the main Liberal newspaper, with ''El Tiempo'', both holding an important political influence. Among its main contributors it had some of the most important Colombian journalists at the time, like Luis Eduardo Nieto Caballero,

, Eduardo Zalamea Borda,

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...

Eduardo Caballero Calderón Eduardo Caballero Calderón (6 March 1910 – 3 April 1993) was a Colombian journalist and writer. As a journalist, he worked for the main Colombian newspapers, including El Tiempo and El Espectador. Also he was a diplomat from Colombia in Peru ...

, Klim, Antonio Panesso Robledo, Inés de Montaña, Alfonso Castillo Gómez, José Salgar, as well as

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...

ists Hernán Merino, Pepón, Consuelo Lago, and

Osuna Osuna () is a town and municipality in the province of Seville, southern Spain, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. , it has a population of c. 17,800. It is the location of the Andalusian Social Economy School. Among famous people associ ...

. In 2007, its publisher Fidel Cano Correa said he did not agree with former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez's personal behaviour and government style, but he specified that was his own position and not the newspaper's.

Journalism of ideas

During the 20th century ''El Espectador'' criticized other mass media in Colombia, which preferred to remain silent instead of denouncing the atrocities happening in the country. In the early 1980s, the daily published several articles denouncing illegal loans and other irregularities allegedly performed by the Grupo 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. ''El Espectador'' also demanded in its editorials

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

and denounced the political censorship the independent media outlets had to deal with to avoid being closed, stating that ''"not even in the worst times of press censorship or political retaliation, some resorted to crime in order to silence the press, in one of its more noble and higher democratic functions."'' It recognized that in Colombia ''"the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

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."'' The newspaper rejected being considered as "subversive opposition" and criticized Liberal president Julio 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 named ''Si eso es opposición...'' ("If that's opposition...") In the same text, the newspaper declared itself "neutral", considering that a democracy should not be polarized, "''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) for

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...

s and not for democracies... and we believe that Colombia is still a democracy."'' ''El Espectador'' also criticized, openly,

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalati ...

Guillermo Cano's murder

As stated before, ''El Espectador'' stood firm against drug trafficking and often published articles on related crimes. On 17 December 1986, the then director of ''El Espectador'',

Guillermo Cano Isaza Guillermo Cano Isaza (12 August 1925 – 17 December 1986) was a Colombian journalist. Biography Guillermo Cano was the heir of Fidel Cano Gutiérrez, the founder of ''El Espectador''. As a journalist, he had worked on the paper's bullfighti ...

, was assassinated in front of the newspaper offices by gunmen paid by

Pablo Escobar Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal i ...

, after publishing several articles critical of Colombia's drug barons. Cano left the headquarters around 19:00 in his family's

Subaru Leone The Subaru Leone is a compact car produced by the Japanese car manufacturer Subaru from 1971 to 1994. The word ''leone'' is Italian for lion. It was released as a replacement for the Subaru 1000 and was the predecessor of the Subaru Impreza. Al ...

After he made a U-turn on the Avenida El Espectador, one of the hitmen approached the wagon Cano was driving, shot him in the chest four times with an Uzi, and then fled on a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: Long-distance ...

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. On December 18, 1986,and September 3, 1989 ''El Espectadors main headline was ''Seguimos adelante'' ("We are going on"). The World Press Freedom Prize, awarded annually by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

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."'' On 2 September 1989 the paper's offices were bombed by the Medellín 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 a

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

parked minutes before it exploded in front of the main entry. The same day, 6 armed men broke into an exclusive island in

Islas del Rosario The Rosario Islands (Islas del Rosario), also referred to as Corales Islas del Rosario (Coral Islands of Rosario), is an archipelago located off the coast of Colombia, approximately from Cartagena. It is one of the 46 Natural National Parks ...

, near

Cartagena de Indias Cartagena ( , also ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region, bordering the Caribbean sea. Cartagena's past role as a link ...

, and set fire to the Cano family's summer house.

Defence of the freedom of the press

On 29 May 2000

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

issued a letter of protest to

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Humberto de La Calle Lombana Humberto de la Calle Lombana (; born 14 July 1946) is a Colombian lawyer and politician. He served as Vice President of Colombia from 1994 to 1997. De La Calle served in the cabinet as Interior Minister under two Presidents, Andrés Pastrana an ...

, on the kidnapping of journalist Jineth Bedoya, at the time working for ''El Espectador'', allegedly carried out by members of the paramilitary

United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia The United Self-Defences of Colombia (''Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia'', or AUC, in Spanish) was a Colombian far-right paramilitary and drug trafficking group which was an active belligerent in the Colombian armed conflict during the period ...

(AUC). Robert Ménard, RWB's secretary general, ''"stated that he was "scandalised" by this latest attack on Bedoya"''. She would later join ''El Tiempo''. On 23 August 1999, a group called Colombian Rebel Army (ERC) published a communiqué issuing

death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a d ...

s against 21 personalities engaged in the then ongoing peace process, accusing them of ''"promoting war between Colombians"''. Among those personalities two ''El Espectador'' contributors were mentioned, Alfredo Molano y Arturo Alape. 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 by Carlos Castaño, who had referred to Molano as ''"paraguerrilla"''. On 18 September, Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, who had worked for ''El Espectador'' and

RCN Radio RCN Radio (''Radio Cadena Nacional'', "National Radio Network") is one of the main radio networks in Colombia. Founded in 1949 with the integration of ''Radio Pacífico'' ( Cali), ''La Voz de Medellín' and ''Emisora Nueva Granada'' (Bogotá). Ca ...

, went into

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

. Between February and May 2000, journalist Ignacio Gómez received at least 56 threatening letters. In an article published by ''El Espectador'', Gómez had revealed that the Mapiripán Massacre, in which 49 peasants were killed by paramilitary militias, had been supported by members of the

Colombian Army The National Army of Colombia ( es, Ejército Nacional de Colombia) is the land warfare service branch of the Military Forces of Colombia. With over 361,420 active personnel as of 2020, it is the largest and oldest service branch in Colombia, ...

. 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 and become part of '' Noticias Uno'' TV newscast. On 21 March 2003 columnist Fernando 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 candidate Álvaro Uribe Vélez. On 8 February 2003

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

Herminso Ruiz was beaten and had his

camera A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with ...

confiscated by members of the

Colombian National Police The National Police of Colombia (Spanish: ''Policía Nacional de Colombia'') is the national police force of the Republic of Colombia. Although the National Police is not part of the Military Forces of Colombia (Army, Navy, and Air Force), it ...

while he was covering El Nogal club bombing. The incident was contempt by organizations as RWB. In May 2003 the newspaper, through an editorial written by its then director Ricardo Santamaría, reported on "interference" on an investigation it was carrying on the alleged irregularities in Banco 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 Minister Fernando Londoño, who was a chairman of the bank. 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. On 18 November 2004, a Bogotá court sentenced columnist and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

Lisandro Duque to three days in jail and a 470

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s fine, for not publishing a rectification after a sentence for

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

, 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.

''El Espectador'' in the 21st century

Presence on the web

On 29 May 1996 the then daily newspaper launched its website ''elespectador.com''. Its design format and layout have been changed several times In 2006 later added the .com to its logo, comments to the articles and user registration. Access hits to Elespectador.com grew 79% in 2007. 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 the

RSS feed RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many ...

s, and added tags,

audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum * Digital audio, representation of sou ...

, and

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) sy ...

s taken from '' Noticias Caracol'', newscast from sister network Caracol TV, uploaded to its

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel. The website is built with

Drupal Drupal () is a free and open-source web content management system (CMS) written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Drupal provides an open-source back-end framework for at least 14% of the top 10,000 websites worldwid ...

. ''Elespectador.com'' received the Colombian Chamber of Computing and Telecommunications's ''Premio Colombia en Línea 2008'' award to the best online news website in the country. In April 2016, the journalist Maria Paulina Baena and the journal's opinion coordinator Juan Carlos Rincón released '' La Pulla'', a

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...

and

opinion journalism Opinion journalism is journalism that makes no claim of objectivity. Although distinguished from advocacy journalism in several ways, both forms feature a subjective viewpoint, usually with some social or political purpose. Common examples inclu ...

channel.

From daily to weekly

Despite ''El Espectador'' had been the Colombian newspaper with the second highest circulation, after ''El Tiempo'', the financial difficulties worsened and in 1997 the Cano family sold most of their shares in Comunican S.A., ''El Espectador'' publishing company, to Julio Mario Santo Domingo, who at the time owned '' Cromos'',

Caracol Radio Caracol Radio (''Cadena Radial Colombiana'', "Colombian Radio Network") is one of the main radio networks in Colombia. Founded in Medellín in 1948 when ''La Voz de Antioquia'' station acquired the 50% of ''Emisoras Nuevo Mundo'', based in Bogotá ...

(later sold to Spanish group PRISA) and Caracol TV. Its headquarters moved to the

Avenida El Dorado Avenue or Avenues may refer to: Roads * Avenue (landscape), traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees, in the shifted sense a tree line itself, or some of boulevards (also without trees) * Avenue Road, Bangalore * Avenue Road, Lon ...

. In September 2001 ''El Espectador'' became a weekly newspaper. RWB stated that ''"media diversity suffered a heavy blow"'' when the newspaper ''"downgraded itself to a weekly."'' The

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

newspaper ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

'' said: ''"''El Espectador'' is a standard in defence of freedom, the fight against drug trafficking and corruption."'' Since then, their editors Rodrigo Pardo, Carlos Lleras de la Fuente, Ricardo Santamaría, and

Fidel Cano Correa Fidel Cano Correa is a Colombian journalist, born 23 November 1965 in Bogotá. Since May 2004 he is the publisher of ''El Espectador'', Colombia's oldest newspaper. Cano is a great-grandson of Fidel Cano Gutiérrez, (founder of ''El Espectador'' ...

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 with '' Revista Semana'' that ''" he return to a daily editionis 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. On 11 May 2008 ''El Espectador'' became a daily again, changing from

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and tabloid–compact formats. Description Many broadsheets measure roughly ...

to tabloid format.

Daily focus, supplements, and alliances

Every day of the week, except Sunday, ''El Espectador'' devotes around 10 pages to a specific "focus": * Monday: ''Negocios'' (Business) * Tuesday: ''Deportes'' (Sports) * Wednesday: ''Internacional'' (World news) * Thursday: ''Vivir'' (Living) * Friday: ''Cultura'' (Culture) * Saturday: ''Gente'' (People) It also publishes three magazines, published once in a month each: ''Autos''/''Motos'', ''Espacios'', and ''Discovery Health''. On Mondays ''El Espectador'' publishes a 6-page edition of '' The New York Times International Weekly'',see sample
/ref> and on Tuesdays a two-paged

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

minisection. It also syndicates articles from ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, M ...

'' and ''

''.

Design

Since 2004, Lucie Lacava's Lacava Design has been in charge of ''El Espectadors design for its print edition. ''El Espectador'' uses

Hoefler & Frere-Jones Hoefler&Co. (H&Co) is a digital type foundry (font design studio) in Woburn, Massachusetts (formerly New York City), founded by type designer Jonathan Hoefler. H&Co designs typefaces for clients and for retail on its website. The company was fo ...

's Mercury and Gotham

typeface A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are thousands o ...

s since then.

Current management and employees

President

* Gonzalo Córdoba Mallarino

Publisher

(2004–present)

Editorial board

* Héctor Abad Faciolince * Ramiro Bejarano *

Alejandro Gaviria Alejandro Gaviria Uribe (born 25 June 1965) is a Colombian economist and engineer, serving as the Minister of National Education of Colombia since 7 August 2022, replacing María Victoria Angulo. He also served as Minister of Health and Socia ...

* Armando Montenegro * Pilar Reyes

Editors

* Jorge Cardona, editor-in-chief * Fernando Araújo, Arts and People. * Olga Lucía Barona, Sports. * Angélica Lagos, International. * Leonardo Rodríguez, elespectador.com * Norbey Quevedo, Investigations. * Juan David Laverde, Crime and Law * Hugo García Segura, Politics * Edwin Bohórquez, Business * Alex Marín, Bogotá

Regular columnists

=Sunday

=Monday

=Tuesday

=Wednesday

= *

Danilo Arbilla Danilo Arbilla (born 1943 in Casupá) is a Uruguayan journalist and entrepreneur. He was a former President of the Inter American Press Association who had shared the 1992 Maria Moors Cabot prize The Maria Moors Cabot Prizes are the oldest interna ...

* :es:Fernando Carrillo Flórez * Pascual Gaviria * Hernán González Rodríguez * Andrés Hoyos * José Fernando Isaza * Patricia Lara Salive * Cecilia Orozco Tascón * Hernando Roa Suárez * Juan Pablo Ruiz Soto * Arlene B. Tickner

=Thursday

= * Rodolfo Arango *

Luis Eduardo Garzón Luis Eduardo Garzón (nicknamed "Lucho") (born February 11, 1951 in Bogotá) is the former Mayor of Bogotá (2004–2007), a left-wing Colombian political activist and a former union leader. He is a former member of the Alternative Democratic P ...

* Gustavo Gómez Córdoba * María Teresa Herrán * Ana Milena Muñoz de Gaviria * Rafael Orduz * Ángela María Orozco * Uriel Ortiz Soto * Elisabeth Ungar Bleier * Klaus Ziegler

=Friday

=Saturday

Blog writers

* Tim Buendía * Julián Andres Rivera Sulez * Nicolas Acosta * Julia Londoño * Juan Herrera * Gonzalo gGuerrero * Joseph Aldemar Casañas Angulo

Syndicated columnists

Paulo Coelho Paulo Coelho de Souza (, ; born 24 August 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002. His novel ''The Alchemist'' became an international best-seller and he has published 28 more book ...

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel ''The Name of th ...

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...

* Nicholas D. Kristof * Tomás Eloy Martínez

Former Publishers

* Ricardo Santamaría (2003) * Carlos Lleras de la Fuente (1999–2002) * Rodrigo Pardo (1998–1999) * Juan Guillermo Cano and Fernando Cano (1986–1997) *

(1952–1986) *

Gabriel Cano Gabriel Cano de Aponte (or Gabriel Cano y Aponte) was a Spanish soldier who served as Royal Governor of Chile from 1717 to 1733. His administration was the longest of all Colonial Governors and the second longest in the history of Chile after the ...

(1919 - 1923: Medellín edition; 1949 - 1958 Bogotá edition) * Luis Cano (1919–1949) * Fidel Cano Gutiérrez (1887–1919)