Starting on Thursday, Jan. 17, the Colombian department of Cauca will have a new newspaper in circulation, reported the website Periódico Virtual. The 24-page publication will be a European-style tabloid and will concentrate on opinion, politics and local news, added the website.
The announcement of Diario del Cauca's launch comes on the heels of news of the closure of the department's newspaper, El Liberal, after 74 years in circulation, on Dec. 15, 2012. Cauca is one of the most affected departments in Colombia by unemployment, poverty and armed conflict, according to the Colombian Federation of Journalists.
Word of El Liberal's shutdown prompted worry in the region because it followed the closure of a radio station, leaving El Extra, a newspaper that covers legal and community news, the only remaining newspaper in the region, reported the newspaper El País.
The new newspaper, owned by the same owner as El Extra, aims to "attend to the new needs and diversity of the region," according to a columnist for the website Soy Periodista.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
