Major War Erupts Between Expat Newspapers In Spain

It seems the coronavirus doesn’t just wreck lives, as it’s now caused an unpleasant major war between Spain’s two favourite English language media outlets.

As is true for many businesses during this unprecedented threat to both expats and residents all across the world and the economy in general, expat-aimed media outlets have also been hard hit due to a massive loss of advertising revenues. Many are at risk of closure as a result, especially if they’re providing printed copies as well as an online presence. The two papers concerned, Olive Press and the Euro Weekly News, both publish relevant English language news aimed at expats living, working or retiring in Spain, with both running coverage of the pandemic and its effect on their readers.

Unsurprisingly, Olive Press’s online pages have taken a massive 80 per cent advertising revenue hit and it’s now asking for donations in order to keep an online presence. It’s well known for exposing financial fraud as well as other examples of criminality aimed at Spain’s expat communities. Unfortunately, the paper’s decision to introduce a subscription-only service may well hit hard on British expats on state pensions.

As regards its rival, the Euro Weekly News, its reaction to the Olive Press’s Facebook call for financial support doesn’t make easy reading due to its attack on its rival’s content and standards of journalism. Referring to Olive Press as a ‘poisonous newspaper’ and ‘worst on the coast’, accusing it of poaching journalists, ruining the lives of the innocent, making slanderous attacks and publishing poisonous articles, the Euro Weekly News seems to have overstepped the bounds of decency at a time when expats and the businesses which serve them should all be concentrating on accenting the positive and remembering the dead. One way or another, Brits in Spain attempting to cope with the present situation deserve better.