The deputy editor of the magazine 'WeatherÁlvaro Nieto, has participated in the IX edition of the Proa Communication Observatory. Nieto stressed that "the situation of journalism in Spain is dramatic". From November 2008 to the present day, a third of journalists have been made redundant: 10,000 of the 30,000 journalists working in the media. "And there are 75,000 journalism graduates.
According to Nieto, "no Spanish general-interest newspaper makes money. And of the radio stations, only 'Onda Cero' makes a profit. Newspapers are no longer bought as they used to be, because of the crisis and the internet. And advertising has fallen to unsuspected limits. Antena3 and Tele5 are doing well, because they share almost all the television advertising. In 'Tiempo', we have had five weeks in a row with only two pages of advertising, something that has never happened before. There is also a lot of dependence on the few advertisers that are left; and that ties your hands". As for other more specific media, such as celebrity magazines, "they do sell very well; they are a money-making machine".
In addition, "companies are laying off senior journalists, and keeping those with lower salaries. There is no more transfer of knowledge and experience, because newsrooms are running out of senior journalists. And because there is no money, special envoys are being cut to the bone. We are moving towards low-cost journalism. But the media are businesses with a very improvable management. It doesn't make sense that leading newspapers like 'El País' are doing an ERE".
Regarding the online editions of newspapers, Nieto believes that, sooner or later, the media will have to apply some kind of "closure"; otherwise, "the situation is not going to be sustainable. The challenge is to create a sustainable business model that allows traditional journalism to exist on the internet. Because media on the internet is not consumed in the same way as in print. In any case, without print, there is no democracy.
In this difficult context, Nieto believes that the corruption cases are giving oxygen to the media: "Bárcenas and Urdangarín help to sell newspapers". However, "there has been a large part of the press that has been very close to politicians; and this has generated a journalism that is too sectarian".
For all these reasons, Nieto believes that communication agencies must offer journalists "very well organised and well written materials, because nowadays, the recipients are more junior and have less time, given that the newsrooms are at a minimum. If this is not done, anything can be published.
Proa Communication Observatory is a forum for analysing new trends in the field of corporate communication. The Observatory is born with the vocation of being a laboratory of ideas where a genuine dialogue is fostered to debate topics such as: corporate reputation, brand and public affairs as important elements for business improvement.