EuroWeekly News

Company history

Euro Weekly News is Spain's largest group of free English language newspapers and has been operating since 2002. The publication is owned by husband and wife, Steven and Michel Euesden. The group consists of six newspapers that cover Costa Blanca North, Costa Blanca South, Almeria, Axarquia Costa Tropical (east of Málaga), and the Costa del sol and Mallorca.

A total of 134,000 copies are distributed weekly across the region. Its target audience are the English speaking expatriates living in Spain and it offers a traditional British style newspaper concentrating on local news and issues. Its distribution covers most of the main expatriate communities in Spain just south of Valencia along the coast to Gibraltar/La Linea. Its remit is stated as to give the expatriate communities in Spain all their local news and to give them a voice. The EuroWeekly news is a free online medium operating solely on advertising revenue. There is a website which covers not just local news but also national and international events. Another part of the group is an online business directory, Ewngetsit.com.

Layout and format

Each edition is in tabloid formate. Pagination varies with each issue and edition. Currently, the largest edition is the Costa del Sol (128 pages) followed by the Costa Blanca North (104 pages) Costa Blanca South (both 96 pages), Mallorca (64 pages) and Axarquia Costa Tropical (48 pages). The largest edition ever at 200 pages was the Costa del Sol issue published October 2–8, 2014 (Issue 1526).

Each newspaper follows a traditional British newspaper format, starting with news at the front through to a regional news page and European/Russian news. The back starts with a six-page finance section followed by a TV guide and a crosswords/puzzles section called Time Out. There are also Health and Beauty, Homes and Gardens, and Motoring sections before Classified Adverts and sports pages. The emphasis of the papers is on local news with a high story count.

Opinion section

In addition to local news, the EWN is known for the quality and controversial nature of its columnists. Possibly the most controversial columnist is Leapy Lee, who had a hit single with his song Little Arrows in 1968. He has been writing a weekly column in all editions of the EWN since its start. He has forthright views on many subjects, some of which draw heavy criticism as well as much praise.Nora Johnson also contributes a weekly column in some editions. She has also written several novels with profits going to charity.

Relatively new to the EWN is Colin Bird who writes humorous articles on a weekly basis. Cartoonist Peter Maddocks is a Fleet Street stalwart who provides a weekly cartoon in the Timeout section. Peter Fieldman provides irregular features and is a very experienced NUJ journalist with a wide remit. A weekly column on the Spanish political scene is provided by Cassandra Nash.

Newsroom restructuring

The head office of the EWN is in Arroyo de la Miel and Benalmadena, Málaga, where the main production hub is based. This is where all six editions are designed and edited, and where the editor is based. There are another nine regional offices, four of which opened since the start of 2015. These offices are in Benidorm Indoor Market, Calpe, Albir, Albox, Mojacar, Torrevieja, Marbella, Palma de Mallorca and Nerja. The newspapers and website were recently redesigned to update its image.

TV Section

In the larger papers there are seven pages of TV listings which fall to one page in the smallest editions.

Awards

The Euro Weekly News Media Group was nominated in the AEEPP (Asociaciòn Española de Publicaciones Periòdicas) 9th annual awards ceremony held September 30, 2014 in Madrid. EuroWeekly News. President of the Community of Madrid, Ignacio Gonzalez, presented the Diploma of Honour to EWN Operations Manager Nicki Burgess. It was the only English language publication to be honoured.

In The Costa del Sol Business awards by CADE ( Centre for Entrepreneurial Development of Marbella) the EWN was named as Company of the Year 2011.

Popular culture

The Euesdens, in their capacity as owners of the EWN appeared on TV being interviewed by Piers Morgan for an ITV documentary on Marbella in 2010. There have also been appearances on the Jeremy Vine Show and BBC News about benefit fraudsters. The company has also been involved in Benidorm’s Got Talent, a talent show based in the Costa Blanca city. After the opening act, co-presenters Steve Shappelle and David Climent (Entertainment Director for Benidorm Palace) introduced the judges: EWN publishers Michel and Steven Euesden. The EWN has and continues also to sponsor the Marbella International Film Festival which brings ‘independent’ film makers from across the globe together each year. The EWN also continues to support a wide variety of charities. This has been in many forms and for a wide variety of subjects from big UK based charities to individuals and organisations in Spain. These have included the Butterfly Ball in Marbella for the UK’s Rhys Daniels Trust which provides ‘homes from home’ for children who require long periods of hospital care a long way from their homes and their families.

The Positively Pink Ball, based on the Costa del Sol, raises money for Positively Pink charity which offers free breast cancer screening as well as support to cancer suffers. MABS, which offers support to cancer sufferers on the Costa Blanca. Severely disabled children including Tomas Leighton and Keira Alvarez Turner have also been supported in newspaper campaigns.

Columns

According to market research carried out by the EWN, its readers’ favourite pages are the local news pages with 98 per cent listing them as favoured. Second favourite section is letters (83 per cent) followed by Leapy Lee’s column (64.87 per cent) and other columnists ( 63.22 per cent).