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.

Social Media Usage in Spain

In class, we talked about how media is increasingly becoming a central part of our lives, specifically, social media. In the United States, nearly half of all Americans are now members of at least one social media network. Out of 79% of American adults that use the Internet, an astonishing 47% use at least one social media site. I wanted to find out if in Spain, the statistics of social media usage are just as high. I found out that statistics are even higher in Spain.

Social media is thriving in Spain. In 2010, the 4 most searched words on Google in Spain were Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and Tuenti. Spaniards spend 22% of their time a day on the Internet on social media networks. Spain is the 7th country in the world in the use of social media. Spain is the 27th largest country in the world, yet it ranks in the Top 10 countries on Twitter. 98% of Spaniards know of Facebook, much higher than the world average of 73%. In the past year, Facebook membership in Spain increased 50% to 12 million users--that's 1/4 of the entire population!

These statistics are proving to be very beneficial to companies in Spain. 84% of users don't mind receiving messages from companies on social media networks and 52% become followers of at least one brand. This means that companies can spend less money on traditional advertisements by advertising on social media networks. Zara has at least 7 million fans on Facebook.

5 out of the top 10 most visited sites in Spain are social media networks. What does this say about contemporary Spanish society?

Here is a video that better explains social media usage in Spain:

Internet Music Laws in Spain

When I first unpacked my luggage when I arrived at Madrid, I realized I had forgotten to bring my iPod. Now that I had a Madrid phone that had cost me just $10, I could no longer listen to music on my smart phone either. How was I going to listen to music for the entire semester I was going to live here? Then I remembered I could always use Pandora.

Pandora is an online music radio that lets you create stations and listen to only music you love. It's like an iTunes only better because you do not have to pay for music (yet it's legal in the US) and it still saves your music stations. The best part is that you can find out about new artists and songs based on your music preferences. But when I typed in "www.pandora.com" this is what I came across:

 

:(

Then I read this, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16391727, and it all made a little more sense. I understand why Spain would want to crack down with Internet anti-piracy laws but I can see how a law such as this one could prevent individuals' freedom of speech by not allowing content to spread freely over the Internet. For now, or until I find the Spanish equivalent of Pandora (if there is such a thing), I will stick to YouTube to listen to music--which thank God has not been blocked.