WE are all reading (sadly for us!) fewer and fewer newspapers as the months go by.
Television was the first real blow to hit paper circulation, but the internet has had a much more drastic impact on the way we consume news.
YouTube, TikTok, endless apps and social media feed us with clickbait headlines around the clock.
‘Imitation,’ they say, ‘is the sincerest form of flattery’.
Have you noticed how the newspaper, once the media king, is now trying hard to resemble the podcast?
It’s too soon to say, but newspaper cartoons may be disappearing. It’s a format which doesn’t seem to suit online news.
But it would be a shame.
Cartoons have the ability to make us smile. More than that, they sum up the issues of the day neatly – and, to boot, they are often deliciously sarcastic.
Spain has a strong tradition of press cartoons. We thought we’d take 1 May – Labour Day, and quite a big deal for Spanish people – as a case study and examine a few of the cartoons appearing in the dailies.
1. El Pais is Spain’s premier left-of-centre newspaper.
It’s a bit like The Guardian. It covers everything fairly, but it has the preoccupations which go with its political position.
Stories focus on the environment, women’s issues and trade unions.
In this cartoon, the natural landscape has been obliterated by housing projects.
The only variety amid the relentless blocks of flats is the occasional TV aerial or washing-line.
A child is saying, presumably to a grandparent: “So these trees you’re always talking about … do you plug them in, or do they run on batteries?”
2. When these newspaper went to print, Spain was going through one of its regular scandals. Two men – Koldo Garcia and Jose Luis Abalos – were on trial for criminal corruption.
Abalos was a member of Pedro Sanchez’s cabinet, and Garcia was his advisor.
It was all rather embarrassing for the PSOE government, to have close associates accused of being ‘on the take’.
Garcia was asked if he’d handed €500 notes to Abalos. He said, “Yes, but they were chistorras.” Not a good answer.
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Chistorras are thin sausages typical of Andorra cuisine. He was trying to say, ‘they were nothing’. But “chorizo” (blood sausage) is also a slang word for a bent politician.
The cartoon from El Mundo shows Abalos yelling “Charge!”
He is relying on Aldama, the businessman who allegedly bribed him, to carry him into battle.
The implication is, the PSOE’s bluster rests on politicians and ‘friends’ who are all corrupt (notice Aldama’s chistorra necktie!)
3. The media of the Western world is obsessed with the threat posed to our future employment prospects by AI (in Spanish, ‘IA’).
The cartoon in the Diario de Sevilla shows a robot, begging in the street.
His sign says: “A bit of help, please – I’m on the dole”.
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The displaced human beggar says, “That’s the problem with AI – it’ll end up replacing us all!”
The joke has, of course, a Labour Day theme.
4. More west Andalucia humour in 20 Minutos. “It’s falser than a Sevilla coin,” says the young man.
Centuries ago, the Madrid government was driven crazy by regions, particularly Sevilla, issuing their own currency.
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The standard of workmanship was often questionable, and counterfeit money was a serious problem.
5. The boy in the Villanueva cartoon is a little confused.
He knows that the football season is now reaching its climax, and he’s vaguely aware that 1 May has something to do with workers’ street marches.
He is asking his father: “If the trade unions win, will they play Real Madrid next?”
Dad, clearly not enthusiastic about mass demonstrations, answers: “I hope not!”
6. Finally, back to the corruption case.
Abalos and Garcia were cross-examined that week. The Court is depicted as a swimming-pool, and they are both plunging in gracefully.
The clear (but not quite libellous) implication is that they will put on a show, like Olympic divers trying to impress the judges.
Click here to read more Spain News from The Olive Press.
