El Espectador (meaning "The Spectator") is a newspaper with national circulation within Colombia, founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez on 22 March 1887 in Medellín and published since 1915 in Bogotá. It changed from a daily to a weekly edition in 2001, following a financial crisis, and became a daily again on 11 May 2008, a comeback which had been long rumoured, in tabloid format (28 x 39.5 cm). Since 1997 its main shareholder is Julio Mario Santo Domingo.
It is the oldest newspaper in Colombia. Since its first issue its motto has been "El Espectador will work for the good of the country with liberal criteria and for the good of the liberal principles with patriotic criteria". It was initially published twice a week, 500 issues each. It defined itself as a "political, literary, news and industrial newspaper". Years later it became a daily and in 2001 became a weekly. Since then, the paper uses the slogan "El Espectador. Opinion is news", implying it now focuses in opinion articles, not in breaking news. This focus was kept when it regained its daily format on 11 May 2008.
According to the latest Estudio General de Medios (EGM – Segunda Ola 2007 (II-2007)), El Espectador has 687,900 readers every week. It is a member of the Inter American Press Association and the Asociación de Diarios Colombianos (ANDIARIOS).
In 2007, its publisher Fidel Cano Correa said he did not agree with current President Álvaro Uribe Vélez's personal behaviour and government style, but he specified that was his own position and not the newspaper's.
Read more about El Espectador: History, Journalism of Ideas, Guillermo Cano's Murder, Defence of The Freedom of The Press, Former Publishers