Spain: A new digital newspaper is born

I always raise a glass of bubbly when a new newspaper is born—regardless of which platform it may appear in.

This time it is NIUS, in Spain, which premiered Monday, September 16.

NIUS is a totally digital product. I found out about it in a note from one of the founding editors, Juan Pedro Valentin, who wrote a column to explain the why and how of NIUS.

First what NIUS means.

It is interesting that if one reads it in English, the word NEWS comes to mind. The Spanish acronym, however, is as follows:

N=New

I=Information

U=Useful

S=Simple

In the words of the editor:

“Our intention is to do good journalism. But we don’t want to sell you the concept of ‘journalism like you have never see it before’. We are aware that many media already practice excellent journalism. In fact, we plan to learn from some of them, and we would like to reach their levels of excellence (we will try). These are our intentions. From now on we are in your hands. You now have NIUS available to you and you will be the ones telling us how we are doing. Let our project speak for itself.”

The goals of the new newspaper include:

Let it become a daily newspaper that you trust.

NIUS will not try to attract an audience based on ideology.

NIUS will attempt to present information, more than opinion.

NIUS will attempt to explain what is necessary to understand about the news of the day.

NIUS will attempt to present visual images and videos that will help you understand the news of the day.

Taking a look at NIUS

NIUS displays a clean, easy to follow design, although there is nothing here that we have not seen before. Take a look at the home page for Monday, Sept. 14

When compared to the home page of its competitors in Spain–as seen below–, NIUS chooses one lead story that it displays across the screen, while its main competitors, El Pais, El Mando and La Vanguardia opt for multi story treatment, without the prominence given by NIUS to one subject.

It will be up to the audience to determine, in due time, what NIUS contributes that others don’t. Digital reading is a matter of habit, and NIUS comes to a table that is already quite a banquet of offerings. What will make the difference, in addition to effective all-inclusive marketing, will be how much NIUS can differentiate itself in its content offerings, and how essential it can be become in the life of its news-oriented audience. NIUS will succeed if it adds to what is there already, not an easy task. They present a good beginning if they curate content to highlight ONE major news of the day as they have done in their Volume 1, Number 1 edition!

We wish NIUS the best and, again, it is always good news to see that a new newspaper is born.

Bienvenido, NIUS, and “suerte”.

Good luck!

The Story is here!

You can now download my new mobile storytelling book, The Story, from Apple Books at $6.99
This is Book 1 of a Trilogy! The other two books coming soon.
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-i/id1480169411

The newspaper remains the most powerful source of storytelling on the planet. But technology threatens its very existence. To survive, the Editor must transform, adapt, and manage the newsroom in a new way. Order The Story by Mario Garcia, chief strategist for the redesign of over 700 newspapers around the world.

Mario’s speaking engagements

Presentation of The Story at the Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa (SIP) in Miami, as the organization celebrates its 75th anniversary serving the Latin American Press, Miami.

October 4, 2019