Spain's Pink Press

As a newly arrived tourist in Spain with a major in communications, I wanted to learn about the press in Spain. The best way I could imagine was visiting a local estanco, or newstand, to flick through the popular press. There are over 150 newspapers in Spain, some that offer regional news and some that offer local news. But what interested me most were the Spanish gossip magazines, or la prensa rosa as known to Spaniards, the pink press. This term alludes to magazines that are solely concerned with gossip, celebrity, and human interest stories. These magazines are very popular with Spanish women. There's the popular Hola!, Hello, Diez Minutos, Ten Minutes, and others such as !Qué me dices¡, roughly translated into No Way!

 

Examples of Spanish pink press magazines.

These magazines are comparable to US gossip mags, except Spain's pink press focuses also on another breed of celebrities that don't exist in the US--the royalty. The royal families, not just of Spain, but of all countries in Europe, are considered celebrities in Spain and are spoken about as such. They are criticized in the press as any other celebrity and their personal lives are printed in the pages of these magazines. The most recent story of royalty taking Spain by storm is that of the daughter of Spain's own king. Her husband has committed fraud and is to stand trial for his criminal acts. His wife, the princess, has chosen to stick by his side which has proved very controversial. The equivalent of Spanish royalty in the US would be the A-listers of Hollywood (ex. Brangelina, George Clooney, etc.). 

In my opinion, the tone in which the pink press in the US and the pink press in Spain speak in is very similar. The headlines are dramatic, sometimes overly-exaggerated and aim at getting the readers attention so they buy their magazine. However, Spain's gossip magazines tend to focus more on celebrity gossip and fashion than on issues such as weight loss, body image, and human interest stories. On the other hand, I feel like American gossip magazines do focus mainly on celebrity gossip and human interest stories, but not as much on fashion as the Spanish ones. US gossip magazines also highlight more Hollywood's weight loss obsession, a topic that seems to not be as popular in Spain.

 

Some examples of US gossip magazines.