Ara (newspaper)

Ara (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈaɾə], meaning Now in English) is a Catalan daily newspaper that began publication on 28 November 2010, coinciding with the Catalan parliamentary elections. It is the third most read daily newspaper in Catalonia,[1] and the most read daily newspaper written exclusively in the Catalan language.[2] Its regional edition, Ara Balears, is the most popular Catalan language newspaper on the Balearic Islands.[3] ARA's online edition had nearly 3.2M visitors in September 2017, making it the most popular online newspaper in Catalan language.[4]

Ara
TypeDaily newspaper
Founded11 April 2010 (2010-28-11)
Political alignmentCatalanism
Centrism
Catalan right of self-determination
LanguageCatalan
HeadquartersBarcelona
ISSN2014-010X
Websitewww.ara.cat/en

The founding editor was Carles Capdevila and the current editor is Esther Vera. The president is Ferran Rodés and the CEO is Salvador Garcia. The newspaper's advisory council includes journalists Antoni Bassas, Albert Om and Toni Soler, all known for their work with the Catalan public TV broadcaster, TV3. Ara's content includes Catalan translations of reports and articles from the New York Times International Edition.

Ara's founding shareholders were, among others, Ferran Rodés, Fundació Carulla, Víctor Font and the group Cultura 03, which also publishes magazines Sàpiens, TimeOut Barcelona, Descobrir and Cuina. Cultura 03 is no longer a shareholder. In September 2010, Antoni Bassas announced that he would participate as a shareholder.

History and profile

The first issue of Ara came out on 28 November 2010, selling out all 120,000 print copies.

Ara, as 2017, has 40.000 subscribers. Subscriptions are Ara's main source of income (41 per cent), having surpassed advertising revenue in 2015. Revenue from readers is also 2.5 times more significant than income from newsstand sales.[5]

In 2017 ARA grew by 10 per cent and was the only newspaper based in Barcelona or Madrid that managed to grow at all. In March 2018 its readership rose to 129K readers, which represents a 57.3 per cent growth, year-on-year.[6]

Ara has received multiple awards including :

  • 2013 – Premi Nacional de Comunicació (Premi Nacional de Mitjans d’arrel digital category )[7]
  • 2015 – European Newspaper Award, in the regional newspaper category [8]
  • 2015 – Ciutat de Barcelona award, in Media category, for Carles Capdevila, with a reference on his role as one of ARA's founders[9]
  • 2016 – Premi Nacional de Comunicació award for Carles Capdevila, with a reference on his role as one of ARA's founders[10]
  • 2017 – 11 awards in the 19th edition of the European Newspaper Awards, three of which for innovation, thanks to the special issues where drawings or works of art were used instead of photographs.[11]
  • 2017 – ARA received three ÑH newspaper design prizes (awarded by the Society for News Design) for its online reporting work.[12]

Editorial policy and political alignment

Ara's editorial policies are not considered to be supportive of any particular party or specific political ideology. Hence, the newspaper is generally considered as centrist regarding the left-right divide and strongly Catalanist regarding the issue of relations between Spain and Catalonia.[13] Ara aims to cater to the community of socially committed, politically concerned and culturally active citizens.[5]

Expansion

The newspaper is printed in Barcelona and distributed throughout Catalonia. Since 2011, distribution was launched also on the Balearic Islands, soon becoming the most widely-read newspaper in Catalan language in the region.[3] In February 2012, distribution was extended to some areas of the Valencian Community, especially in the Province of Castelló and in the city of Valencia.

Ara offers selected news items in English and Spanish.

Notes
  1. "L'ARA es consolida com el tercer diari més llegit a Catalunya, segons el CEO". Ara.cat (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 19 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  2. "Tres anys de periodisme – Ara.cat". Ara.cat (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 16 November 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  3. "L'ARAbalears.cat supera els 100.000 usuaris únics al mes". Ara.cat (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  4. "Ara.cat sets new all-time readership record for online Catalan language newspapers". Ara.cat (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  5. "Print and online daily Ara is reaching the 'politically concerned' community in Catalonia". Journalism.co.uk. 18 May 2013. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  6. "L'ARA puja a 129.000 lectors i marca el major creixement d'un diari a l'Estat". Ara.cat (in Catalan). 18 April 2018. Archived from the original on 18 April 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  7. "Premis Nacionals 2013". Mitjans de comunicació (in Catalan). Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  8. "21st European Newspaper Award – European Newspapers of the Year – European Newspaper Award" (in German). Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  9. "Mitjans de comunicació – PREMIS CIUTAT DE BARCELONA" (in Catalan). Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  10. "Premis Nacionals 2016". Mitjans de comunicació (in Catalan). Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  11. "ARA wins 11 European Newspaper awards for design and content". Ara.cat (in Catalan). 21 November 2017. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  12. "L' ARA, guardonat amb quatre premis pel seu disseny". Ara.cat (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 10 November 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  13. "Quién es quién en la prensa catalana". lamarea.com (in Spanish). 2015-09-07. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
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