5 lessons in journalism from the case of eldiario.es

“Journalism against all odds.” This phrase defines the fighting spirit of eldiario.es, one of the most successful recent digital journalism ventures in Spain.

The site will close 2018 with revenues exceeding 5.7 million euros. At its peak, it had more than 10 million exclusive users. They started in 2013 with 13 employees. Five years later, they have 83.

What is the reason behind this expansion?  Gumersindo Lafuente, Deputy Director of eldiario.es and teacher at FNPI–Gabriel García Márquez Foundation for the New Ibero-American Journalism–discussed the keys to the news site’s success.

Lafuente participated in the 2018 Seminar of Directors and Economic Editors: the Role of Productivity in Latin America. The event was held in Bogotá, Colombia on November 6 and 7 and gathered around twenty Latin American economic journalists.

Seeking editorial independence

Eldiario.es emerged as a proposal for an independent media outlet. Stories with high social impact and exclusives usually make the headlines. The outlet strives to avoid interference from economic and political powers in its editorial approach. It is a proposal created by journalists who are passionate about their work. The mission is to counterbalance powers, to help society.

Building a loyal following

Eldiario.es created a community of loyal readers. It then designed a program that allows those who believe in its model to make financial contributions in exchange for a series of perks.

The members of this program are called “partners.” “These are people who believe that the content of eldiario.es is beneficial to them,” said Lafuente. Partners pay an annual minimum fee of 60 euros for several benefits: They can browse without advertisements; they are invited to participate in discussions, events or other meetings sponsored by eldiario.es. Also, their feedback is promoted and they receive a preview of the news of the following day the night before.

Eldiario.es already has 34,000 partners, which accounts for income in excess of one million euros a year for the news site. “Freshness, independence and commitment are the keys to maintaining the partner program,” said Lafuente.

Offering useful and innovative content

Back in the day, when he was the lead editor of the now extinct website soitu.es, Lafuente believed that it was critical to invest in technology infrastructure. There were more developers than journalists on his staff. Making an impact with technology was his top priority.

“But I discovered that the journalistic impact is most important,” admitted Lafuente. “We must tell different, useful and innovative stories. We have to help society; we have to build stories with their own identity.”

Analyzing the audience to customize content

Eldiario.es has begun to develop customized pieces based on data analysis. The collection and analysis of data in bulk will allow eldiario.es to discover which stories could be useful and awe-inspiring for readers.

Data allow us to more accurately determine the interests of readers and how they behave when they visit the website. Lafuente hopes that a data-based information model will allow them to have an even larger impact in the long term.

Making decent journalism

According to Lafuente, no media outlet can be successful if it does not have “decent journalism.” “Whenever we make a mistake, we have to rectify it, for example,” said the editor.

Furthermore, Lafuente advocates the creation of simple business models, without too many conflicts of interest. “It is difficult to borrow money from people when your shareholders are banks, government institutions or investment funds. There are few outlets with the attributes required to have a partner model such as ours,” concluded Lafuente.

About the 2018 Seminar of Directors and Economic Editors: the Role of Productivity in Latin America

The seminar was organized by the New Ibero-American Journalism Foundation (FNPI) and CAF–development bank of Latin America–and took place in Bogotá, Colombia on November 6 and 7, 2018. The event gathered a score of Latin American economic journalists and featured FNPI teachers Michael Reid and Gumersindo Lafuente.