Antonio Caño is named Editor-in-Chief of El País

Antonio Caño took over on Sunday as Editor-in-Chief of El País. His appointment, announced by the Board of Directors of the newspaper on February 26, became effective the same day that the PRISA daily -- Spain’s leading newspaper -- celebrated its 38th anniversary. Caño replaces Javier Moreno, who had been at the helm of EL PAÍS since 2006. Moreno will now be in charge of coordinating news content for the newspaper’s parent group, Grupo Prisa, both in the Americas and in Spain.

Caño, aged 57 and born in Martos (Jaén), holds a degree in Journalism from Madrid’s Complutense University. After working at the news agency EFE, he joined EL PAÍS in 1982, where he worked as a correspondent in Mexico and Central America. He was also bureau chief in Washington, a role he held for more than 10 years until last Sunday. Caño becomes the fifth editor-in-chief of EL PAÍS since the paper was founded in 1976, when Juan Luis Cebrián was at the helm of the daily paper. Cebrián was followed byJoaquín Estefanía,Jesús Ceberio and Javier Moreno.

The new editor of EL PAÍS takes on the challenge of combining continuity with change, and of transmitting the publication’s legacy of excellence and quality without losing sight of the importance of innovation, as was explained last Monday byCebrían, the executive chairman of PRISA, during the company’s recent shareholder meeting. The changeover is aimed at furthering the digitization of the newspaper, as well as its international expansion, and to meet the challenge posed by a new generation of readers, as Cebrián explained.

As is established by the newspaper’s statutes, the new appointment was communicated to the Editorial Committee and was subject to a consultative vote cast by the workforce.

The new management team at the paper will be headed byDavid Alandete (Algemesí, Valencia, 1978), who has been named deputy editor. With a degree in Audiovisual Communication from the University of Valencia, a masters in Journalism from the Journalism School at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) / EL PAÍS and in International Relations from George Washington University (studied via a Fulbright scholarship), Alandete has worked at the Cadena Ser radio network and Localia TV. In 2007, he joined the news team at EL PAÍS in Washington, where he was correspondent at the Pentagon, the State Department and Congress. He covered two presidential elections and was special correspondent in Afghanistan, covering the 10^th anniversary of the U.S. military operations in the country. Since January 2013, he has been Middle East correspondent for EL PAÍS, based in Jerusalem.

This new phase will see the structure of EL PAÍS organized around four major areas: digital, print, the American editions and the weekend edition, which will be headed up by assistant editorsBernardo Marín,Eva Saiz,Luis Prados andMaite Rico, respectively. The aim is to develop quality news content for all media (print, internet, smartphones, tablets), boost the presence of EL PAÍS in Latin America – including the edition in Portuguese, aimed at the Brazilian market – and the United States, as well as strengthening the paper’s weekend brands, with Sunday magazine El País Semanal as the flagship publication. Following the provisions of the newspaper’s statutes, the new appointments were subject to a consultative vote cast by the workforce.

Bernardo Marín García (Teruel, 1972) will head up the digital area. After initial studies in Tenerife, he gained a degree in Economic Law at the University of Deusto. After obtaining his masters in Journalism from the Journalism School at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) / EL PAÍS, he began working at the newspaper in 1998, and over the last two years has been in charge of the newsroom in Mexico. He was subsequently appointed head of the Americas edition. He has taught digital journalism at the UAM / EL PAÍS school, the Funglode in Santo Domingo and the Foundation of New Iberoamerican Journalism in Cartagena de Indias.

Eva Saiz Escolano (Almería, 1976) will be in charge of the print edition. She has a degree in Law and a masters in Telecommunications Law from the Pontificia de Comillas ICADE University in Madrid, and a masters in Legal Practice from the Center for Legal Studies and Research, and in Journalism from the UAM / EL PAÍS School. She has worked as a legal advisor as well as carrying out voluntary work for the United Nations in the area of environment. In 2010 she worked at EL PAÍS in the Sports and Politics sections. In March 2012, she joined the paper’s Washington bureau.

Leading the American edition will be Luis Prados (Málaga, 1959). With a degree in Spanish Studies from the Complutense University in Madrid, he is a graduate of the first ever class to study the masters in journalism at UAM / EL PAÍS. He joined the newspaper in 1998, and has worked in the National, Culture, Society, Communication, Sunday and International sections. In 2007, he was appointed editor of the International news desk, and in 2011 he became the paper’s correspondent in Mexico, where he was in charge of setting up the bureau in Mexico City. Two years later he oversaw the launch of EL PAÍS in Brazil.

Maite Rico (Madrid, 1963) has been appointed head of the weekend edition of EL PAÍS, and of El País Semanal magazine. She holds a degree in Geography and History from the Complutense University in Madrid, and studied the masters in journalism at UAM / EL PAÍS. She has been a correspondent in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and has covered conflicts in Bosnia, Somalia and Libya. She is currently a leader writer on international affairs. She is the co-author of the books Marcos, la genial impostura (París, Plon, y Madrid, Aguilar, 1998) and ¿Quién mató al obispo? Autopsia de un crimen político (Madrid, Martínez Roca, 2005).

The newspaper’s editorial team will continue to count onLluís Bassets (deputy editor),José Manuel Calvo (head of Opinion) andFrancesc Valls (editor of the Catalonia edition). Several other former editorial heads will continue to work with the newspaper. Caño has namedVicente Jiménez as correspondent in New York;Carlos Yárnoz will be correspondent in Paris;Jan Martínez Ahrens will head up the bureau in Mexico City;José Manuel Romero, legal correspondent;Goyo Rodríguez, head of special projects; andBerna González Harbour will take over the Babelia supplement.