“Babelia” and El País. The literary supplement in the Spanish transition to democracy

Abstract

The artistic renovation that lived Spain during the Democracy arrival caused changes in the cultural press. The increase of artistic events in the country made the newspaper more attentive to the cultural contents. At the end of the 70’s, the newspapers decided to open sections such as, “Culture” or “Shows”, unknown until then. In the 80’s, they attached a special booklet to the newspaper called “supplement”. This fact divided the journalists and experts from others supports. Thanks to the success of this journalistic specialization , the supplements multiplied and at the same time had been divided in different areas: sports, literature, movies, art, until the 90’s when they had been reunited. The paradigmatic case analyzed in this paper is the cultural supplement 'Babelia', published by El Pais.