Agustí Sala, new deputy director of the ARA specializing in economics

BarcelonaARA is a newspaper that wants to closely follow the productive fabric of the country and, to do so, it strengthens its economic area, made up of the news section and the supplement Companies. With this objective, it has brought in journalist Agustí Sala, who has assumed the role of assistant director.

Esther Vera, director of ARA, emphasises "the vocation of being in contact with the productive fabric, companies, workers and self-employed people, on which the country's economy is based. And we do so with a professional of unquestionable rigour in the sector, personal worth and recognised career, because it rounds it off." For Vera, "now that the newspaper is in a good moment of growth in audience and subscriptions, and that it has achieved its best results in its fifteen years of life, it is the opportunity to optimise the internal functioning to advance in rigour, quality and growth."

Sala explains that the main objective "is to give a push to economic information, which colleagues in the section of the newspaper already disseminate with great professionalism." The company's vision is to "invest even more in information and analysis, which is what provides the greatest value, without neglecting the main news, which, as we all know, is the raw material from which to build good stories." One of the objectives is to "chew up" the data and news to make them available to readers who do not usually follow economic news. "This is the challenge in which we will put all our efforts, starting from day to day, the deeper reflection in the dossiers and the supplement." Companies "The ARA publishes on Sundays, without ruling out other ways and channels that in the future will strengthen the relationship with readers," Sala explains. Another change in the editorial team is the appointment of Xavier Cervantes, until now head of Culture, as the new editor-in-chief of the macro-section. Sunday and the We eat. The change will allow us to work in a much more transversal way and to plan in an optimized way all the content that accompanies the reader, beyond the political, social, economic and sports news, maintaining the seal of rigor and quality that has characterized them until now. On the other hand, the editorial team is also strengthened with the incorporation of Vanesa Carrasquilla as a new community manager. In addition, deputy directors Carla Turró and Enric Borràs have strengthened their responsibility for digital formats and audiences, respectively.

Pablo Casals, new general manager

The newspaper is also strengthening its non-news department and appointing Pablo Casals as its new general manager, having already taken on the role of operations manager in his last stage, which included the areas of marketing and communication, subscriptions, product, data and technology. This reorganisation also includes the sales team and centralises all aspects of the newspaper's management. This move has also involved redesigning the organisational chart to achieve more transversal and horizontal work dynamics.

Casals came to ARA seven years ago, from a strategic consultancy in digital transformation projects, and has accumulated in-depth knowledge of the newspaper and the media sector. After starting as head of product, he took on the role of marketing and product manager, and later operations manager, with which he has been able to acquire a global vision of the newspaper's dynamics.

In terms of the sales area, Víctor Caballé, a director with extensive experience in managing sales teams and an optimal digital vision, is joining the newspaper. He will lead both the commercial area and the new business and events areas, which will continue to be led by Sergi Germán and Oriol Canals, respectively. In addition, three new departments have been created: Marketing and Communication, led by Estel Galí; Subscriptions and Customer, headed by Jennifer Barrera; and Data, Technology and Product, under the direction of David Quiñonero. All of them are professionals who have been working at ARA for years and know each of its areas perfectly, which will be reinforced with new technical profiles to increase its operational capacity.

"This new digitalisation perspective has a clear objective: to ensure the quality and rigour of our journalism – explains Casals –. We will work to get more audiences, but not at any price. We will avoid easy and sterile audiences, and we will focus on analysis and research as the driving forces of our engine. Quality can sustain a subscription-based business."