Special Report: Online Newspapers from Spanish-Speaking Countries

Abstract

Pais Digital (Madrid) http://www.elpais.es/ Pais has recently come on line. With its liberal but objective stance, it was an important source of news during the early years of the Transition. Today it continues to be highly respected and is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Spain. Celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year, it is considered one of the best newspapers in Europe today. Pais Digital requires no fees or registration. It provides daily news coverage and access to the seven preceding days. The menu on the homepage offers the following options: Hoy, 7 dias, Cartas, Debates, Ayuda, and Pasatiempos. In order to play the daily crucigrama and revoltigrama, readers must make a one-time installation of the program on their hard disk. The Debates section could be particularly useful for students and teachers. In this section there is a list of topics such as Nuevo escenario para la izquierda espafiola. For each topic, there are several editorials by journalists and then a link to Colaboraci6n de los lectores, with letters on that topic from readers. The Cartas section (letters to the editor) is also organized by topics, which is convenient for students and teachers. Topics of general interest, for example, Vivir en una gran ciudad, could be used for discussion with less advanced students who may know little about Spanish politics. Clicking Hoy on the Pais homepage takes the reader to a well-designed screen offering extensive coverage of the news of the day. A clickable menu across the top includes: Internacional, Espafia, Opini6n, Sociedad, Cultura, Gente, Deportes, and Economia. When readers click on one of these categories, they next see a list of articles with a brief summary and a photo. If readers wish more information, they can click on the title of an article to get the full text. In addition to this top horizontal menu offering complete news coverage, in the center of the page, readers have quick access to the important information of the day: they can click on four or five headlines from page one, a photo, El tiempo, and Sumario, a list of another four or five important articles for the day. At the bottom of the page is a feature that may also be useful for students and teachers: 'Temas abiertos. A few themes appear, such as Elecciones en Israel or La