Challenges and International Alliances of the Specialized Press in Spain in the Second Decade of the 21st Century

Abstract

Specialized journalism, where the daily economic and sports press are inserted, erupted in the middle of the 20th century: a time in which profound transformations took place in journalistic companies, which not only responded to the change in models, but also to strong competition. Today, in Spain, the specialized press, mainly the sport press and the economic one, is going through the same decline in spreading and sales of newspapers as the so-called “reference press”. As in the case of the whole Spanish press, it does not seem to have been immune –despite its increased brand building– to the difficulties of digitization, the economic crisis as well as the changing habits of readers. According to this initial hypothesis, this research is methodologically based on a multiple case study along with quantitative correlation. It can be concluded that a feasible solution for the sports press could only be possible if leaders are able to reformulate their business model and, at the same time, to build strategic alliances with the media from different geographical areas. Meanwhile, the economic press will have (to continue) to leverage its value for making business and investment decisions to ensure qualitatively important audiences.