Diagonal (newspaper)
Biweekly newspaper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Diagonal was a Spanish biweekly alternative newspaper,[1] covering breaking news, culture, political analysis from a grassroots approach. It presents itself as a communication tool for the left-leaning social movements, and as a "critical and independent media, without directors or bosses, resting on the base of thousands of subscribers".[2] In 2017 it was renamed El Salto after its merge with 20 other media, such as Pikara Magazine or El Salmón Contracorriente.[3][4]
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| Type | Alternative biweekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner | Independent (Grassroots) |
| Publisher | Nonprofit "Asociación Punto y Coma Comunicación y Prensa" |
| Founded | March 3, 2005 |
| Ceased publication | December 2016 |
| Political alignment | Left-wing |
| Language | Spanish |
| Headquarters | Plaza de Luca de Tena 13, Madrid, Spain |
| Country | Spain |
| Circulation | 15,000 |
| Website | diagonalperiodico.net |
History
Diagonal can be traced back to 2003, when the grassroots collective editing the monthly newspaper "Molotov" decides to cease publication and start a broader newspaper. This initiative was joined by a wide spectrum of journalists and activists that formed the first promoter group. After two promotional issues, Diagonal started on March 3, 2005,[5] date since it has continued being published regularly.[6][7] Diagonal is considered one of the emerging newspapers in Spain which challenges the traditional newspapers represented by the Spanish Newspaper Publishers' Association, of which Diagonal is not part of.[8]
Diagonal has regularly used crowdfunding as a funding source. He has launched three campaigns, all successful, in 2011,[9] 2014[10] and 2015,[11] receiving 20K€, 70K€ and 12K€ respectively. The first one was considered a successful microfinancing experiment for emerging media in Spain.[12] The second one established a record of funds, collaborations and time of the campaign in the open crowdfunding site Goteo.[13] The third one, the first common publication across two major independent Spanish newspapers, i.e. Diagonal and La Marea.[14]
In 2012, it launched a reduced English version, "Diagonal English" [15] with the help of volunteer translators.[16]
In 2014, Diagonal, as part of the Associated Whistleblowing Press, together with other media, launched the first local whistleblowing platform in Spain, Filtrala (which means "leak it").[17]
In 2016, Diagonal launched a binding enquiry to its subscribers, asking them to decide if Diagonal should perform a merge with 20 other alternative Spanish media in order to build a co-operatively owned online daily newspaper. With the 97.5% of support,[18] Diagonal has opened a 6-month process named "Great Leap Forward" (mocking the 60s Chinese campaign).[19][20] Eventually, this process ended in 2017 with the establishment of the new newspaper El Salto.
Edition and funding
It is edited by the nonprofit Asociación Punto y Coma Comunicación y Prensa, explicitly created for this purpose. Its contents are released under the license Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike.[21] It is funded through reader subscriptions, direct sale, ethical advertisement, donations and commercialization of articles with the newspaper image.