Mass media in Spain

Last updated

Spain is home to the second most spoken language in the world, with approximately 427 million native Spanish speakers across 20 countries. As a result, many Spanish media outlets design content with a global audience in mind, anticipating international reach. Despite this, the national market remains the core focus, with media catering not only to Spanish speakers but also to the country's co-official languages—Catalan, Galician, and Basque. Catalan alone is spoken by over 11 million people, while Galician and Basque are spoken by around two million and one million, respectively. [1]

Contents

The media sector plays a significant role in Spain's economy, which ranks 12th largest globally. In 2014, the culture sector accounted for 2.5% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with book publishing and the press contributing the most economically. The audiovisual and multimedia industries, including television, radio, film, and music, are also major players, collectively accounting for over 27% of the cultural sector's output. [2]

Spanish media ownership is concentrated among a few large corporations, including Atresmedia, Mediaset España, PRISA, and Vocento, which dominate the nationwide market. Additionally, regional media groups such as Grupo Godó, Grupo Zeta, and Corporación Voz de Galicia operate within specific territories, offering a balance between national and regional media representation. [1] [3] This coexistence between large national media conglomerates and smaller regional outlets provides a diverse media landscape.

Despite its broad reach and cultural significance, Spain lags behind other European countries in terms of media regulation and institutional development. Media oversight is predominantly handled by the state and judicial system, which monitors and responds to complaints, often penalizing abusive practices. However, the absence of a robust independent media responsibility framework has been a point of concern when compared to other European nations with more developed media regulation systems.

Mass media groups

Press: [3]

• El Mundo: Madrid-based daily

• El País: Madrid-based daily

• ABC: Madrid-based daily

• La Razón: Madrid-based daily

• La Vanguardia: Barcelona-based daily

• El Periódico de Catalunya: Barcelona-based daily

Television:

• TVE: Public, includes La Primera, La 2, 24 Horas

• Telecinco: National, commercial

• Antena 3: National, commercial

• Cuatro: National, commercial

Radio:

• RNE: Public, includes Radio 1, Radio 3, Radio 5 Todo Noticias

• Cadena SER: Commercial, operates 50+ stations

• Onda Cero: Commercial

• Cadena COPE: Church-controlled

News Agencies:

• EFE: Government-owned

• Europa Press: Private

• Colpisa: Private

Digital Media:

• Webedia Spain: Second-largest publishing group in Spain (2024), managing digital platforms like IGN España, SensaCine, and Trendencias [4]

Note: Many of these media groups operate across multiple mediums and fields, with some, like Prisa and Vocento, holding significant influence in press, television, and digital media. The trend of media convergence is evident, as companies expand their reach across various platforms to cater to a wider audience, such as Webedia Spain’s dominance in digital content [5]

Books

Magazines

Many in Spain read ¡Hola! . [6]

Newspapers

The most widely read newspaper in Spain is El País . [6]

Radio

Television

Internet

Spain has a high level of internet connectivity, with over 90% of the population having access to the internet as of 2020. Fixed broadband coverage is also high, with over 80% of the population having access, and mobile broadband coverage is also relatively high, with over 50% of the population having access. There are several providers of fixed and mobile broadband services, including Movistar, Orange, Vodafone, and MÁSMÓVIL. The government of Spain does not generally restrict access to the internet, but there have been complaints about internet censorship related to the narrowing of the definition of fair use. In general, the government respects freedom of speech and press, but there are laws in place to prohibit the dissemination of certain types of information, such as hate speech.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>El País</i> Spanish newspaper

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesús de Polanco</span> Spanish businessman

Jesús Polanco Gutiérrez, also known as Jesús de Polanco, was a businessman from Spain who built one of the largest media empires in the world. In 2005, he was ranked 3rd richest person in Spain and at number 210 in Forbes World's Richest People list, and was number 258 in 2006.

La Cadena SER is a Spanish radio network established in 1924, with a regular listenership of 4,139,000 reported in 2018. The acronym SER stands for Sociedad Española de Radiodifusión.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PRISA</span> Spanish mass media corporation

Promotora de Informaciones, S.A. (PRISA) is a Spanish media conglomerate headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest media companies in Spain and all of Latin America, producing a wide variety of educational, cultural and informative content. PRISA owns a portfolio of newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and television networks. The majority subsidiaries and brands of the company are El País, Los 40, and Santillana.

Vocento, S.A., also known as Grupo Vocento, is a Spanish mass media group. Its flagship daily newspaper is the conservative and monarchist ABC, also publishing El Correo. Vocento was created in 2001 upon the merger of Grupo Correo with Prensa Española, the publisher of ABC. The group is also a player in the regional press sector, mainly owing to former properties of Correo. Through Net TV, the group also owns a DDT license, which is leased to Paramount Network and Disney Channel.

<i>Diario AS</i> Spanish sports newspaper

Diario AS is a Spanish daily sports newspaper that concentrates particularly on football.

<i>Qué!</i>

Qué! is a free weekly newspaper, published by Factoría de Información in Spain. Following the 2008 financial crisis, the newspaper decreased its circulation from being daily and distributed throughout the whole country, to being available only Fridays in Madrid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass media in Colombia</span>

Mass media in Colombia refers to Mass media available in Colombia consisting of several different types of communications media: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based Web sites. Colombia also has a national music industry.

Television in Spain was introduced in 1956, when the national state-owned public service television broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) started regular analog free-to-air terrestrial black and white broadcasts. Colour transmissions started in 1972 after two years of test transmissions, with all programming transmitted in color in 1977, and colour commercials starting in 1978. TVE held a monopoly on television broadcasting until regional public channels were launched during the 1980s and commercial television started nationwide in 1990. Digital terrestrial television was launched on 30 November 2005 with analog service discontinued on 3 April 2010. Currently, television is one of the leading mass media of the country, and by 2008 was in 99.7% of households in Spain according to INE statistics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mediaset España</span> Spanish media company

Grupo Audiovisual Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A.U. is a Spanish media company, controlled by the Italian-based company MFE - MediaForEurope N.V., which is majority-owned by Berlusconi family's Fininvest Group. Its divisions include the generalist free-to-air TV channels Telecinco and Cuatro, thematic channels and a film production subsidiary, Telecinco Cinema.

Canal+ was a Spanish satellite broadcasting platform. It was previously known as Digital+ since its launch in 2003, and from 2011 it was known as Canal+, being named after its main premium channel.

This is a list of Spanish television related events from 2014.

This is a list of Spanish television related events from 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ignacio Escolar</span> Spanish blogger and journalist

Ignacio Escolar García is a Spanish blogger and journalist. He currently leads the digital newspaper eldiario.es and he is also a political analyst in radio and television. He was founder and first director of the newspaper Público.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Broncano</span> Spanish comedian and television host

David Broncano Aguilera is a Spanish comedian and television host. He has also worked in news and advertising agencies.

Carlos Revilla González was a Spanish voice actor and voice director known for his role as Homer Simpson in the Spanish version of The Simpsons, for which he was also the dubbing director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grupo Santillana</span>

Grupo Santillana, formerly Santillana Ediciones Generales, is a Spanish publisher founded in 1959 by Jesús de Polanco and Francisco Pérez González.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prensa Ibérica</span> Spanish media company

Prensa Ibérica Media, S.L., or simply Prensa Ibérica, is a Spanish mass media company owned by Javier Moll. It primarily owns regional newspapers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grupo Godó</span>

Grupo Godó de Comunicación, S. A., doing business as Grupo Godó, is a Spanish media conglomerate based in Barcelona. Its assets include the daily newspapers La Vanguardia and Mundo Deportivo and the Catalan radio station RAC1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Àngels Barceló</span> Spanish radio presenter

María de los Ángeles Barceló Suárez better known as Àngels Barceló is a Spanish journalist, presenter and broadcaster specialized in informative and informative programs and magazines with an extensive career in audiovisual media.

References

  1. 1 2 "Spain". Media Landscapes. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  2. ↑ "Spain Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (MECD)". Nature Index. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  3. 1 2 "Spain media guide". BBC News. 2012-05-03. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  4. ↑ fxwilliamson (2024-01-15). "Webedia Spain becomes the second-largest publishing group in Spain • Webedia Group". Webedia Group. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  5. ↑ Lopezosa, Carlos; Pérez-Montoro, Mario; Gonzalo-Penela, Carlos; Rovira, Cristòfol (2020-09-25). "Transferencia de autoridad en cibermedios mediante hiperenlaces: el efecto de la endogamia en internet de los grupos mediáticos españoles". Cuadernos de Documentación Multimedia (in Spanish). 31: e71632–e71632. doi:10.5209/cdmu.71632. hdl: 10230/45365 . ISSN   1575-9733.
  6. 1 2 "Spain: Media and Publishing". Britannica.com . Retrieved 18 November 2017.

Bibliography

in English
in Spanish
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.