Another of Spain's recently created internet news platforms has suffered a major crisis. Factual, a site that was launched only a couple of months ago, sought to try out a new model by inviting to readers to pay a subscription for some of the content. The "star" name used to attract readers prepared to pay for content on the site was the Catalan journalist Arcadi Espada, who was director of Factual....until yesterday. Espada has abruptly parted company with Factual amidst rumours that the owners want to turn the site into a more belligerently right wing platform. These rumours seem to have been confirmed by the replacement brought in for Espada. Juan Carlos Girauta has worked with a variety of right wing media organisations, and it seems that Barcelona can now proudly claim to have its own version of Libertad Digital. The name of the site is now likely to be a reflection of its content in the same way that La Razón instinctively makes you expect the opposite. True to their principles I gather from some things I've seen on Twitter that the owners of Factual have been very busy today sacking journalists.
Una visita irresponsable
1 day ago
2 comments:
This Factual nonsense never had any chance of surviving long and it is only being financed in order to play a role in the Catalan elections.
There is no appetite for this kind of thing in Catalonia for a start and the whole business model is flawed.
Paying for content in Spain? No chance.
I give Factual until year end before it's toast. Money down the drain unless they remove the paywall. And even then, why bother with something like Factual when the original (LD) is so much better?
Worth reading - the account of what happened by one of the journalists who were sacked. http://bit.ly/a7hdUG
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