www.elperiodico.com

Several similarities exist between the online websites for both New York´s
New York Times newspaper and Barcelona´s el Periodico. Although I have never been inside the newsroom of the New York Times or any other prestigious American newspaper, it was a very cool experience to observe the inner workings of a newsroom. By the open set-up of the newsroom, with no division between the two floors and no walls to separate people, the newsroom has a very investigatory feel. The absense of private offices or cubicles makes it so secrets are practically non-existant; rather everyone´s business is everyone elses business. I also thought the openness of the room was cool because it enabled me to observe all the different sections of the paper (confernce room, reporting stations, graphic design area) to see how all the areas differ from each other and yet how they all play an important role in contributing to the newspaper´s success. It was an example of media convergence in action. Although much larger I am assuming, I imagine that the interior set up and mode of operation in the newsroom of any American paper is very similar to the environment I observed in el Periodico.

As for the format of the print newspaper, it also struck me as very similar to the American newspapers I am used to reading. The front page featured an article involving the U.S. Secretary of Treasury, Tim Geithner, whom I recognized, however aside from that I was unfamiliar with the topics of the other articles. This however is not a reflection of the paper, but rather a reflection of my paucity of knowledge on Spanish news.

Although el Periodico is respectful of all viewpoints and reports the facts in an unbiased manner, it is known as a progressive and left side ideologist paper. Additionally, it was the first paper in Catalunya (after Franco´s control) and it is also the first paper to use color. The use of color and the careful attention to headlines and titles is very clearly evident in both the print version of the paper and the online version. Also, the similarities between the Times and el Periodico lead me to believe that both newspapers are familiar with each other and use each other as a guideline for how to produce a successful product.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to el Periodico and learning the history about the 3rd most read paper in Spain. Although my spanish is not proficient enough for me to actually read the paper, I enjoyed flipping through the print version and exploring the online website. I am curious to see what will happen/what changes will occur to el Periodico´s online version as they try to revamp and reorganize in order to combat lost sales from advertising and the struggling economy…