El País is a Spanish-language newspaper published in Madrid. It has five territorial editions (Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia, the Basque Country and the Valencian Country), each with a specific section on local information.
It is a newspaper with a European and Social Democratic leaning and is known for the excellent way in which it deals with international, cultural and economic news, as well as its reporting on Spain. It has occasional columnists and collaborators from various social spheres, who tend to foster the newspaper’s progressive editorial approach. It is the most widely read newspaper in Spain and belongs to the Prisa Group, which in turn has been acquired (57%) by a US investment fund.
In its formal aspect, El País is characterised by its expressive sobriety, both in its handling of information and its aesthetic appearance: five-column pages in which order and a clear distribution of the different journalistic sub-types predominate. Photography and graphics play a secondary role in supporting the written information. From its foundation until 2007 it maintained the same design, evolving very little and using same typeface, Times New Roman.