Facing government lawsuits, spiralling costs, diminishing advertising revenue, and the illness of its founder, the 15-year-old newspaper has downsized in a last-ditch effort to survive.
The following is a CPJ Blog post by By John Otis, CPJ Andes Correspondent.
Tal Cual, one of the few remaining Venezuelan newspapers critical of the government, is so shorthanded there’s often no receptionist on hand to let people in. Visitors must bang on the front door until someone in the newsroom notices. That can take a while because there are hardly any editors or journalists left.
Facing government lawsuits, spiralling costs, diminishing advertising revenue, and the illness of its founder, the 15-year-old newspaper has downsized in a last-ditch effort to survive. Tal Cual has scaled back its print edition from six days per week to just a single weekend edition and has laid off most staffers. Although it updates stories on its website, the final daily print edition hit the streets on February 27.
Read the full story on CPJ’s site.
