Instituto Cervantes: How The New York Times Shaped the El País Opinion Page

The opinion section of El País has long been considered the most important shaper of public opinion in post-Franco Spain. Since the paper’s founding in 1976, the section has staged debates over everything from the country’s transition to democracy and its entry into NATO to historical memory and how to understand the depopulation of rural Spain. Its influence has been so significant that some observers have suggested that politicians turned to the opinion section for their policy ideas. Less widely recognized, however, is the fundamental role played by The New York Times in the conception and development of the El País opinion section. This presentation tells the story of how Juan Luis Cebrián, the paper’s founding editor in chief, and other editors looked to the Times as a model for marrying political pugilism, public interest, and profitability in Spain’s newly democratic public sphere.