Pepa Bueno, relieved as editor of 'El País'

BarcelonaNew internal upheaval at Prisa, this time affecting one of the most sensitive areas of the media empire: the newspaper's management.The CountryPepa Bueno will leave the helm of the newspaper in the coming days. Jan Martínez Ahrens, currently director ofThe Country America, as already communicated in the editorial office. This is the latest in a chain of changes implemented by the group's president, Joseph Oughourlian, which have a clear political implication, consisting of distancing himself from the Moncloa government.Bueno had been running the newspaper since July 2021..

The internal balance of Prisa, which has traditionally been close to the PSOE in general and Felipe González's party in particular, was thrown into disarray this spring by the frustrated project to set up a free-to-air television channel. Pedro Sánchez's government plans to put a DTT license out to tender, and a group of executives with ties to the party felt that Prisa should opt for a channel where political talk shows would be prominent and could offset what Spanish socialists consider a media imbalance in the rest of the television and media landscape. Oughourlian, on the other hand, judged the project unviable and, after straightening out the group's complicated finances, scrapped the idea and ousted the two main promoters, Carlos Núñez and José Miguel Contreras.

Since then, several more executive departures have followed, while the group's president has promoted profiles without as many ties to the PSOE. In parallel, a group of shareholders has attempted to form an alternative majority to remove Oughourlian from the group's top executive chair, so far without success. The government has also maintained contacts with Telefónica to explore whether the telecommunications could be a catalyst for this business turnaround.

From TVE to Prisa

Born in Badajoz in 1963, Pepa Bueno spent the bulk of her early career at RNE and later at TVE, where she rose to become director of the state broadcaster's territorial center in Madrid until José María Aznar came to power. During that time, she was also associated with the program.People, until Zapatero's victory put her back on the launch pad, as the then new head of News, Fran Llorente, asked her to take over the morning showTVE's breakfastsHe replaces Lorenzo Milá in the second edition of theNewscastat night and in 2012 she left the house to sign for Prisa and Cadena Ser, where she became co-presenter of the morning showToday, working alongside Gemma Nierga. From there she moved to Hora 25 and in 2021 she was appointed director ofThe Countryby Carlos Núñez, precisely one of those sacrificed by Oughourlian in this reorganization that has swept away other people of confidence of the now ex-executive director.

Martínez Ahrens, for his part, had already been in the hard core of the management of the Prisa newspaper, since he was number 2 to Soledad Gallego Díaz when the journalist commanded the editorial staff between June 2018 and June 2020.

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