Destination: Spain

No. 87 — Destination: Spain
It is July 25, 2024, and you are reading the newsletter from Médianes.

Hello, everyone,

All summer long, we’ll take Médianesyou on a journey to discover a destination through its innovative media. After enjoying la dolce vita, let’s get into the Spanish spirit!

And you—where are you reading this from? We’d love to hear from you—and, while we’re at it, learn about your media discoveries. Maybe you came across a great magazine or a radio station with a fantastic music lineup while you were on vacation?

Your recommendations could give us ideas for media outlets to follow and share in our upcoming newsletters to broaden our horizons. So please feel free to reply to this email, and vamos.

Enjoy the read,

— MARINE SLAVITCH, JOURNALIST AT MÉDIANES

Why not?

IDEAS FOR YOUR MEDIA

A newsletter that focuses only on the essentials, hyperlocal media outlets popping up in every neighborhood of Madrid, and international relations analyzed for younger generations… Today, we’re introducing you to the Spanish equivalents of innovative French media outlets—worth discovering and drawing inspiration from.

Kloshletter, rigor and precision

It’s the Spanish version of Brief.me. Every morning from Monday through Friday, this free newsletter provides a summary of the day’s news to its 30,000 subscribers. Its value proposition is based on strict journalistic standards: “No machines, no robots, no algorithms—just journalistic criteria applied after reading more than 30 news outlets every day.” The bonus? Their audio version—a five-minute daily podcast that highlights the day’s edition.

Somos Malasaña, hyperlocal media network

This site is a clever blend of Mon Petit 20e and actu.fr. Designed to offer rich, intimate coverage of life in Madrid’s Malasaña neighborhood, this hyperlocal media outlet covers the latest news from the area on its website and uses social media to encourage dialogue with residents and share recommendations. Founded in 2009, Somos Malasaña has since joined forces with the online daily elDiario, enabling it to launch four new editions in other neighborhoods of Madrid.

El Orden Mundial, making international news accessible

Imagine an online media outlet focused on international relations, created by young people for young people, that has managed to attract nearly 4,700 paying subscribers, over one million unique monthly readers, and about 500,000 followers on social media. A HugoDécrypte-style success story, thanks to its ability to make complex topics accessible. In its podcasts, which are also featured on Instagram, the team analyzes current events the way streamers would talk about video games: in a laid-back way, with some neon lights and a microphone turned on.

From the studio's perspective

PROJECT SPOTLIGHT

Work on positioning, emails, the newsletter, creating an online store, topic-specific mentoring… To prepare for the launch of the media outlet, the Fracas team enlisted Médianesto provide strategic, operational, and technical support—a way to gain insight into the various stages of the media outlet’s development. Take a look behind the scenes of the project.

CHRISTELLE PERRIN — MÉDIANES, THE STUDIO

On Our Radar

OUR MARKET RESEARCH TO SUPPORT YOUR PROJECTS

The Success of Book Clubs

HANAA’ TAMEEZ / NIEMAN LAB

To diversify its offerings and build an engaged community beyond traditional journalism, El País, Spain’s leading daily newspaper, launched its book club. The club has attracted more than 1,100 members in five months. Any paying subscriber can join the club, which takes the form of a Facebook group and events where members can discuss topics with El País journalists, authors, and other community members.

Local News on WhatsApp

MADELEINE WHITE / THE AUDIENCERS

A media outlet that publishes exclusively on WhatsApp? That’s the bet Pamplonews is making. Two months after its launch, this hyperlocal media outlet based in Pamplona already had 2,000 subscribers. Its channel features both tips and practical information. This also reminds us of Sahan Journal and Mosaïque magazine, which are experimenting with text messages and other distribution channels as supplementary tools to boost reader engagement.

Over at medianes.org

IT'S HOMEMADE

This month's media: It's Nice That

CHRISTELLE PERRIN / MEDIANES.ORG

Each month, a team member shares their analysis of a media outlet they particularly enjoy. In this edition, we’re taking a closer look at the British visual culture website It’s Nice That. A gem of clarity and best practices, examined in detail by our art director, Christelle Perrin.

In Brief

THAT WAY, YOU'LL KNOW

• Politis, Fisheye, Vert: These media outlets are hiring. Check out their job openings.

• Adaptability, humility, delegation… Management advice from the team at the investigative news site Maldita on how to make the transition from journalist to founder.

• Competition? Not their thing. In Spain, twenty independent media outlets have joined forces to create a one-of-a-kind cooperative: El Salto.

• In Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, the Periplo Festival celebrates travel and adventure literature and journalism every fall.

• Our favorite: “Draw My Life” by La Media Inglesa, a blog about English soccer that has grown into a well-known media outlet with 400,000 YouTube subscribers.

See you on August 22!

Thank you for your messages, which have helped us enrich this newsletter. We’d also like to take this opportunity to welcome the teams at INA, Kessel, Pioche! Magazine, and everyone who has recently subscribed.

Your newsletter is taking a short break so that this author can come back refreshed and inspired, with lots of great ideas to share with you. So do the same. After all, one of the reasons—if not the main reason—we work is to be able to take a vacation.

So we’ll see each other not on the 8th, but on the 22nd of August. Until then, take care and listen to the SummerMédianes Hits.

— THIS NEWSLETTER WAS PREPARED BY MARINE SLAVITCH IN COLLABORATION WITH THE MÉDIANES TEAM.