''El Espectador'' () is a nationally circulated Colombian newspaper founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez in 1887 in

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

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 Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

. 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 a

newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large newspaper circulation, circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and i ...

for Colombia and a home for prominent writers, including the 1982 Nobel Prize Laurete

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...

. It is a member of the

Inter American Press Association The Inter American Press Association (IAPA; Spanish: ''Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa'', SIP) is a press advocacy group representing major media organizations in North America, South America and the Caribbean. It is made up of more than 1,300 ...

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, a comeback which had long been rumoured. With this change, it now utilized a by tabloid format. From 1997 to 2011 its main shareholder was

Julio Mario Santo Domingo Julio Mario Santo Domingo Pumarejo (October 16, 1923 – October 7, 2011) was a Colombian-American billionaire businessman, diplomat and patriarch of the Santo Domingo family who lived in New York City. He controlled more than 100 companies in ...

. Since 2001, the paper has used the slogan "''El Espectador''. Opinion is news", implying it now focuses on opinion articles, as opposed to

breaking news Breaking news, also called late-breaking news, a special report, special coverage, or a news flash, is a current issue that warrants the interruption of a scheduled broadcast in order to report its details. News broadcasters also use the term ...

. This focus was kept when it regained its daily format on 2008. According to the ''Estudio General de Medios'', ''El Espectador'' had 687,900 weekly readers in 2007.

History

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

Colombian Liberal Party The Colombian Liberal Party (; 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 Socialist International in 1999. Th ...

, at the time opposed to the administrations of the

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

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: * 8 July 1887, by the

Rafael Núñez Rafael Wenceslao Núñez Moledo (September 28, 1825 – September 18, 1894) was a Colombian author, lawyer, journalist and politician, who was elected president of Colombia in 1880 and in 1884. Núñez was the leader of the so-called " Regener ...

administration, 134 days after its first issue, until 10 January 1888. * 27 October 1888, by the then designated

Carlos Holguín Sardi Carlos Holguín Sardi (born 16 December 1940) was the List of Governors of the Department of Valle del Cauca, 64th and 54th Governor of Valle del Cauca. A Colombian Conservative Party, Conservative party politician, he served as the 3rd Minister ...

, 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 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

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 Antioquia is the Spanish form of Antioch. Antioquia may also refer to: * Antioquia Department Antioquia () is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders th ...

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 The Thousand Days' War () was a civil war fought in Colombia from 17 October 1899 to 21 November 1902, at first between the Liberal Party and the government led by the National Party, and later – after the Conservative Party had ousted the ...

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 Pos ...

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 (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

of Liberal Party leader

Jorge Eliecer Gaitán Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese . It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios'' ...

, 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 governmen ...

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 Eduardo Santos may refer to: * Eduardo Santos Montejo, Colombian publisher and president of Colombia * Eduardo Santos (judoka) (born 1983), Brazilian judoka * Eduardo Yudy Santos (born 1994), Brazilian judoka * Eduardo Santos (sport shooter), Po ...

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 th ...

, 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 Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (12 March 1900 – 17 January 1975) was a Colombian National Army of Colombia, army general, civil engineer and politician who ruled as List of presidents of Colombia, 19th President of Colombia in a military dictatorship f ...

, publishing several articles by

Alberto Lleras Camargo Alberto Lleras Camargo (3 July 1906 – 4 January 1990) was President of Colombia twice (1945-1946, 1958–1962), and the 1st Secretary General of the Organization of American States (1948–1954). A journalist and liberal party politician, he ...

, with a substantial effect on

public opinion Public opinion, or popular opinion, is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. In the 21st century, public opinion is widely thought to be heavily ...

. 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,

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 Pe ...

, Klim, Antonio Panesso Robledo,

Inés de Montaña Ines, and variants, is a feminine given name related to Agnes. Used alone it may refer to: *Saint Ines (Agnes of Rome; c. 291 – c. 304), virgin–martyr, saint * Ines (''Eda-Ines Etti''; born 1981), Estonian singer As a first name *Inés Albe ...

, Alfonso Castillo Gómez, José Salgar, as well as

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

ists

Hernán Merino Hernán Merino Correa (July 17, 1936 – November 6, 1965) was a lieutenant of Carabineros de Chile, Carabineros of Chile, killed in confusing circumstances in the Del Desierto Lake in a confrontation with a contingent of the Argentine National ...

, 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. Osuna is built on a hill, o ...

. In 2007, its publisher Fidel Cano Correa said he did not agree with former President

Álvaro Uribe Vélez Álvaro or Álvar (, , ) is a Spanish language, Spanish, Galician language, Galician and Portuguese language, Portuguese male given name and surname of Germanic Visigothic origin. The patronymic surname derived from this name is Álvarez (surname), ...

'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 (communication), media, especially publication, published materials, shoul ...

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 Press may refer to: Media * Publisher * News media * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press TV, an Iranian television network Newspapers United States * ''The Press'', a former name of '' The Press-Enterprise'', Riverside, Californi ...

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 and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

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 Julio César Turbay Ayala (18 June 1916 – 13 September 2005) was a Colombian lawyer and politician who served as the 25th President of Colombia from 1978 to 1982. He also held the positions of Foreign Minister and Ambassador to the United S ...

'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 an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

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 other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

Murder of Guillermo Cano

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. The editor of ''El Espectador'' from 1952 until 1986, he was assassinated in Bogotá in what was widely seen as an attack related to his criticism of Colombia's ...

, 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, narcoterrorist, and politician who was the founder and leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed the "King of Cocaine", Escobar was one of the wealthie ...

, 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 automaker, 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 Im ...

After he made a

U-turn A U-turn in driving refers to performing a 180° rotation to reverse the direction of travel. It is called a "U-turn" because the maneuver looks like the U, letter U. In some areas, the maneuver is illegal, while in others, it is treated as ...

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 The Uzi (; ; officially cased as UZI) is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns and machine pistols first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the State of Israel. ...

, and then fled on a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

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 The headline is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents. The large type ''front page headline'' did not come into use until the late 19th century when incre ...

was ''Seguimos adelante'' ("We are going on"). The World Press Freedom Prize, awarded annually by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

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 Medellín Cartel () was a powerful and highly organized Colombian drug cartel and terrorist organization originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia, that was founded and led by Pablo Escobar. It is often considered to be the first major ...

. 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. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or ...

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 Islas is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Arturo Islas (1938–1991), professor of English and a novelist from Texas *Daniel Islas (born 1979), Argentine football goalkeeper *Luis Islas (born 1965), former football goalkeeper * ...

, near

Cartagena de Indias Cartagena ( ), 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 Region of Colombia, Caribbean Coast Region, along the Caribbean Sea. Cartagena's past ...

, 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; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...

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 (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

Humberto de La Calle Lombana, on the kidnapping of journalist

Jineth Bedoya Jineth Bedoya Lima (born c. 1974) is a Colombian journalist who was abducted in May 2000 and August 2003. In 2001, she was awarded the Courage In Journalism Award of the International Women's Media Foundation.She also won the Golden Pen of Freed ...

, at the time working for ''El Espectador'', allegedly carried out by members of the paramilitary United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (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 Colombian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Colombia * Colombians, persons from Colombia, or of Colombian descent **For more information about the Colombian people, see: *** Demographics of Colombia *** Indigenous ...

(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 Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza (born march 24, 1931) is a Colombian journalist, writer, and diplomat. Mendoza was named in honour to the Roman authors Pliny the Younger and Apuleius. Career Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza born in Tunja, Boyacá in 1932, son of t ...

, 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). C ...

, went into

exile Exile or banishment 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 ...

. Between February and May 2000, journalist

Ignacio Gómez Ignacio Gómez (born c. 1962; also known as "Nacho") is a Colombian journalist known for his high-risk reporting on organized crime, corruption, and paramilitary groups. In 2000, he received the "Special Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Th ...

received at least 56 threatening letters. In an article published by ''El Espectador'', Gómez had revealed that the

Mapiripán Massacre The Mapiripán massacre was a massacre of civilians that took place in Mapiripán, Meta Department, Colombia. The massacre was carried out from July 15-20, 1997, by the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), an outlawed right-wing parami ...

, in which 49 peasants were killed by paramilitary militias, had been supported by members of the

Colombian Army The National Army of 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, and is the second largest army in the ...

. 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 ''Noticias Uno'' (known from 1992 to 2002 as NTC Noticias) is a nightly Colombian newscast produced by NTC Televisión and Broadcasting, aired weekends and holidays on pay TV channel Cable Noticias, CableNoticias. The program was formerly on sta ...

'' TV

newscast News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or tele ...

. 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

. 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 (suc ...

Herminso Ruiz was beaten and had his

camera A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

confiscated by members of the

Colombian National Police The National Police of 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 Aerospace Force), it constitutes along with them the " ...

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 Banco may refer to: Places * Banc (Barcelona Metro), also called Banco, a closed metro stop on the Barcelona metro * Banco, Virginia, an unincorporated community * Banco, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Banco National Park, a nationa ...

, 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 Fernando Londoño Hoyos (born 27 December 1944) is a Colombian politician, lawyer, and economist. A longtime member of the Colombian Conservative Party, Londoño served as the 1st Minister of the Interior and Justice of Colombia from 2002 to 20 ...

, 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 or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

Lisandro Duque to three days in jail and a 470

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

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

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

, 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 d ...

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 sound ...

, and

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

s taken from ''

Noticias Caracol ''Noticias Caracol'' (until 9 October 2007 ''Caracol Noticias'') is the name for all the national newscast from the news division of Caracol Televisión which carries the same name. It is broadcast four times on weekdays and twice on weekends. In ...

'', newscast from sister network

Caracol TV Caracol is a large ancient Maya archaeological site, located in what is now the Cayo District of Belize. It is situated approximately south of Xunantunich, and the town of San Ignacio, and from the Macal River. It rests on the Vaca Platea ...

, uploaded to its

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

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 worldwide ...

. ''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 () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

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

, who at the time owned ''

Cromos ''Cromos'' is a Colombian variety and photojournalism magazine, known for widely covering the Miss Colombia pageant on editions called ''Mini Cromos''. The magazine was founded in 1916 by Miguel Santiago Valencia and Abelardo Arboleda, both fro ...

'',

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 Bogot� ...

(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, Lo ...

. 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 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

newspaper ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. 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 . is the most read newspaper in ...

'' 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 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 ''Semana'' (Spanish: ''Week'') is a weekly magazine in Colombia. History ''Semana'' was founded in 1946 by Alberto Lleras Camargo (who would become president of Colombia in 1958) and that folded in 1961. It was relaunched by journalist in 1 ...

'' that ''"

he return to a daily edition He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

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. 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 and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

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 ''The New York Times International Edition'' is an English-language Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper distributed internationally by the New York Times Company. It has been published in two separate periods, one from 1943 to 1967 and one from ...

'',see sample
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 name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

minisection. It also

syndicates A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Fren ...

articles from ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a not-for-profit, independent corporation that is an affiliate of Harvard Business School. ''HBR'' is published six times a year ...

'' 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 fou ...

's Mercury and Gotham

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

s since then.

Current management and employees

President

* Gonzalo Córdoba Mallarino

Publisher

* Fidel Cano Correa (2004–present)

Editorial board

Héctor Abad Faciolince Héctor Abad Faciolince (born 1958) is a Colombian novelist, essayist, journalist, and editor. Abad is considered one of the most talented post-Latin American Boom writers in Latin American literature. Abad is best known for his bestselling nov ...

* 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 Pilar, Portuguese and Spanish for pillar, may refer to: People * Pilar (given name), a common abbreviation of ''María del Pilar'', including a list of people so named * Pilar (surname), a list of people surnamed Pilar or del Pilar Places Argent ...

Editors

* Jorge Cardona, editor-in-chief * Fernando Araújo, Arts and People. * Olga Lucía Barona, Sports. * Angélica Lagos, International. *

Leonardo Rodríguez Leonardo ("Leo") Adrián Rodríguez Iacobitti (born 27 August 1966) is an Argentine former professional football midfielder. He played for nine different club sides in his career, and represented the Argentina national team between 1991 and 19 ...

, elespectador.com * Norbey Quevedo, Investigations. * Juan David Laverde, Crime and Law * Hugo García Segura, Politics *

Edwin Bohórquez The name Edwin means "wealth-friend". It comes from (wealth, good fortune) and (friend). Thus the Old English form is Ēadwine, a name widely attested in early medieval England. Edwina is the feminine form of the name. Notable people and char ...

, 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 inter ...

* :es:Fernando Carrillo Flórez *

Pascual Gaviria Pascual is a Spanish given name and surname, cognate of Italian name Pasquale, Portuguese name Pascoal and French name Pascal. In Catalan-speaking area (including Andorra, Valencia, and Balearic islands) Pascual has the variant Pasqual. Pascu ...

Hernán González Rodríguez Hernán is a Spanish masculine given name, originating from Germanic Hernan in the Visigoth culture in Spain. It is the Latinized version of the compound name ''Fard-nanth'', which seems to mean "gentle traveler" or "spiritual traveler". The House ...

* Andrés Hoyos * José Fernando Isaza *

Patricia Lara Salive Patricia is a feminine given name of Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word '' patrician'', meaning 'noble', it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick. Another well-known variant is Patrice. According to the US Social Secu ...

* 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 Gustavo Ernesto Gómez Córdoba (Medellín, 1967) is a Colombian journalist and writer, whose work has been recognized with awards including ''Journalist of the Year'' in 2010. He began working in ''Cromos (magazine), Cromos'' magazine in the 19 ...

María Teresa Herrán Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, d ...

Ana Milena Muñoz de Gaviria Ana Milena Muñoz de Gaviria (born Ana Milena Muñoz Gómez January 27, 1956) is a Colombian politician, economist, architect, columnist and diplomat who currently serves as Colombian Ambassador to Egypt since 2019. She previously as First Lady ...

* Rafael Orduz *

Ángela María Orozco Angela may refer to: People * Angela (given name), a feminine name, includes a list of people with the name * Angela (surname), an Italian surname, includes a list of people with the name * Angela (enslaved woman) (fl. 1619–1625), an African ...

* 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 1988 novel '' The Alchemist'' became an international best-seller. Early life Paulo Coelho ...

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...

Nicholas D. Kristof Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959) is an American journalist and political commentator. A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and an op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times''. Born in Chicago, Kristof was ...

Tomás Eloy Martínez Tomás Eloy Martínez (July 16, 1934January 31, 2010) was an Argentine journalist and writer. Life and work He was born on July 16, 1934 in San Miguel de Tucumán and is generally considered an influential and innovative figure in Latin America ...

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)