The Republic is here
A new weekly magazine is out at the end of April aiming to consolidate Catalonia’s republican spirit
Catalonia gets a new weekly publication this month when La República hits newsstands. Issue zero of the new weekly will have a test run on April 28, with regular distribution to begin on Saturday May 26. La República will come out every Saturday as a stand-alone magazine or will be available on Sundays with El Punt Avui newspaper.
La República is produced by the worker-owned company Maig 2011 (producer of L’Esportiu de Catalunya and L’Econòmic publications), which has begun with an initial staff of 15 journalists who will share the newsroom of El Punt Avui. The project also has a long list of contributors, pundits, illustrators and critics in different fields, who will add their voices over the coming weeks.
The weekly is headed by journalist and historian Carles Ribera, with another journalist and historian, Pere Bosch, working as his deputy. According to the editors, the new publication aspires to be a meeting point in the media for republicanism. “Catalonia is still not a republic, but the republican Catalonia came into existence the moment more than two million people showed they were comfortable with the concept, and we want to produce a publication that standardises this ideological and civic framework,” says Ribera.
La República will therefore be a weekly publication that puts the focus on politics, but also follows the outlines of a general interest magazine. “We will also focus on other areas, such as culture, society, new technology, young people and leisure, in short everything a normal magazine in a normal republic should cover,” says Bosch. The journalists involved are also keen to do some in-depth reporting, and each issue will contain a central feature, with different reports and interviews on a variety of issues. Among its sections will be pages especially for younger readers.
The weekly costs €2 in newsstands on Saturdays or comes included with Sunday’s El Punt Avui newspaper, at a cost of €2.50. One of the project’s aims is to build a community of readers, so the www.LRP.cat website has been launched, where readers can subscribe and get loyalty card. An annual subscription costs €72 for the paper and digital versions, and €12 for just the digital version.
La República also aims to connect with readers by inviting proposals for certain areas of the publication, such as the design of front covers. A campaign is also being launched under the title “Vols que et vinguem a presentar La República?” (Would you like us to come and present La República to you?), so groups and bodies interested in the project can hold events to learn more about it.
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