Girona’s neighbourhood press
A model of popular communication
and journalism from the
neighbourhoods (1977-2021)

Sixth Rahola Prize Scholarship,
2019-2020

Eloi Camps Durban

Published by:
Ajuntament de Girona. Servei de Gestió Documental,
Arxius i Publicacions (SGDAP)

In collaboration with:
Diputació de Girona Universitat de Girona. Facultat de Lletres
Col·legi de Periodistes de Catalunya. Demarcació de Girona

Author:
Eloi Camps Durban

Translation:
Idiomatic Language Services, SL

Designed by:
Estudi de Comunicació Intus, SL

Printed by:
Grafo, SA

ISBN:
978-84-8496-302-8

Contents

1. Introduction

1. Situating the neighbourhood press model

1. 1. Local and regional press: a genuine model of popular journalism

1. 2. Citizen media: taking the floor

1. 3. The Catalan neighbourhood movement

1. 4. Neighbourhood press in Catalonia

2. Notes on the history
of contemporary Girona

2. 1. Urban transformation

2. 2. Social mobilisation

2. 3. The neighbourhood movement

2. 4. The press

3. Girona’s neighbourhood magazines

4. Characteristics of Girona’s
neighbourhood press

4. 1. Origins and geographical and chronological distribution

4. 1. 1. The emergence of neighbourhood press

4. 1. 2. Chronology

4. 1. 3. Geographical distribution

4. 2. Functions

4. 2. 1. Information

4. 2. 2. Participation

4. 2. 3. Promoting neighbourhood identity

4. 2. 4. Claim

4. 2. 5. Accountability and dissemination of the activities of the neighbourhood associations

4. 3. Content

4. 3. 1. Formats

4. 3. 2. Themes

4. 3. 3. Language

4. 4. Internal functioning

4. 4. 1. Organisation

4. 4. 2. Financing

4. 4. 3. Printing, print runs and distribution

5. Conclusions

References

1. Introduction

Girona has a long and rich tradition of local press, as well as a great deal of research involving its newspapers. However, there are still some gaps to be filled in the history of Girona’s press. The purpose of this book is to contextualise, describe and analyse the city’s “premsa veïnal” (neighbourhood press), a hitherto unknown subject of study. This research has been made possible thanks to the Rahola Prize 2019-2020 Scholarship.

Neighbourhood press can be considered as the most basic form of local press since it is that which focuses on what is closest and involves the daily life of the locals, focusing on the stories that go undetected by the radars of the mainstream media. It is the outcome of the voluntary involvement of groups of citizens who carry it forward, often with exceedingly modest resources yet a great deal of enthusiasm, in order to gather and disseminate the most immediate information. The protagonists of the information are, in turn, those who write it and ensure that it reaches the readers, who find in this information a reflection of their concerns and an open door to express them. In Catalonia, only the neighbourhood press in Barcelona and some cities in the Metropolitan Area has been studied to any extent.

On the other hand, neighbourhood associations have attracted the attention of more researchers, although they are still largely unexplored compared to other contemporary social phenomena. In the Girona context, research into the neighbourhood movement is limited to a few notes and fragments in scattered works, apart from the oral history Girona: 32 veus que fan ciutat, by Cristina Masanés and Cristina Oliver (2011). Thus, the interest of research into Girona’s neighbourhood magazines is not only justified because it enriches the study of the history of local press, but also because it contributes, albeit modestly, to understanding how the city’s residents have organised themselves. As the journalist Josep Maria Huertas Claveria said, it is impossible to write the history of any neighbourhood without considering the press that has been published there.

The initial purpose of the book is broken down into three specific objectives: to explain the defining traits and internal workings of community newspapers, focusing on their content, organisation, and funding, to highlight the social functions of this type of press in Girona’s media landscape, and to situate the role of these publications in the heart of the community movement over time.

The parameters for including a publication in the study are as follows: they must be promoted by a neighbourhood association or similar platform, or have significant participation from a neighbourhood organisation or neighbourhood residents; they must be published within a neighbourhood or group of neighbourhoods in Girona and have public dissemination (newsletters exclusively for association members are not considered); they must be published regularly, at least once a year; and they must be voluntary, non-profit media. The neighbourhood press census is based on the inventory of Girona printed media presented by Lluís Costa in Els mitjans de comunicació a Girona (1787-2003), in which fifteen publications by neighbourhood associations are recorded. With regard to those published after 2003, a search of the websites of Girona’s neighbourhood associations yielded a further five publications. These data are contrasted and completed with the catalogue of the Servei de Gestió Documental, Arxius i Publicacions de l’Ajuntament de Girona (SGDAP), which has seventeen of these periodical publications. The final list includes twenty publications, which are referred to in chapter four.

Two tools are used to obtain the data. The first one, a newspaper index card in order to extract and systematise all the relevant information through the reading of each publication. It is made up of 17 items: name; subhead; publisher; coordinator(s); team; chronology; periodicity; format and columns; usual number of pages; distribution area; circulation; price; printing technique; printer; language; place of conservation of the collection; sections and types of contents. The second research instrument is the interview. We contacted and talked to people linked to Girona’s neighbourhood associations during the periods in which their respective bulletins were published, in order to delve into internal aspects of these journals. Finally, in order to complete and contrast the information, or even to obtain new information, we turned to the consultation of Girona’s historical press, available online on the SGDAP website.

1. Situating the neighbourhood press model

1. 1. Local and regional press: a genuine model of popular journalism

Regional press is “the typical form of local press in Catalonia” and it constitutes a “unique journalistic and cultural phenomenon”, which is not found with the same characteristics or the same intensity in other territories found in Spain or in many European countries, hence it is one of the distinctive features of the country’s communication system (Guillamet, 1983: 25). The close relationship between the media, those who produce it and the geographical, historical and cultural community it reports on, namely a county or group of counties or municipalities, a city, a neighbourhood, or even a village, make local press a direct expression of its local reality, a reflection of the dynamism and the tenor of the territory.

Another distinctive feature of the regional press is that it is based on the “non-professional practice of journalism” (Guillamet, 1983: 231), a fact that makes it an exponent of popular journalism. The voluntary participation of the citizenry, the main protagonist of the information and susceptible creator of contents, is a historical constant of a printed media in which local information, cultural dynamism, political agitation, and the will to differentiate the region, often based on the recovery and dissemination of history and folklore.

Already in the late 19th century, the presence of local media around the Principality was commonplace. Before 1939, Catalonia’s important towns and cities had their own journalistic tradition, based on the sustained existence of various types of publications, which came to an end with the Civil War and the establishment of the dictatorship. The newspapers of the first decades of the Franco regime, totally subordinate to the local authorities or to the Church, were far removed from the popular nature and dynamism of the pre-regime press.

As of the mid-1960s, various social, political, and legal changes led to the dawn of a renewal of the local press, which often locked horns with the authorities until the end of the dictatorship. Upon Franco’s death, the local publishing sector in Catalonia regained its vitality, with the continuous appearance of both popular and voluntary initiatives and business and professional projects, several of which managed to consolidate themselves and are now an indisputable reference source of information. Along with the paid newspapers and magazines, the free local press appeared around the seventies and eighties, mostly with advertising content and a secondary presence of information.

At the end of the 20th century, the generalisation of digital technologies posed challenges for the more modest local journalistic projects, while at the same time it brought with it some major innovations. The impact of the 2008 crisis took its toll, with staff cuts and the closure of several journals, but the sector coped better with the economic downturn than other types of media thanks to factors such as their small size and the flexibility of companies and organisations, the close ties to the territory and the social, cultural and identity function (Guillamet, 2010).

1. 2. Citizen media: taking the floor

“Citizen media”, a term proposed by the Colombian researcher Clemencia Rodríguez (2010), is understood to be a media driven by civil society and which, therefore, differ from public and private-commercial media in terms of their informative mission and social purposes. The main function of citizen media is to be tools with which individuals and groups access social communication to express their ideas, concerns, criticisms, and proposals about reality in order to influence everyday policies. With this in mind, the aim is to bring about a transformation of the communication system with a view to it becoming more accessible and representative of social diversity.

Citizen media represent another way of conducting a communication project, a journalistic record that differs from the professional one. They arise from civil society’s need to disseminate information and opinions that are not reflected by the rest of mainstream media, either because they are considered unimportant issues, because of the censorship that may occur in certain situations, or because of the lack of media coverage in relation to the current affairs of a particular region. Citizen media are a global and inherent element of modernity. This omnipresence, however, takes on different forms depending on the geographical and historical context.

In organisational terms, they have more informal, horizontal, and unmanaged structures, with a democratic decision-making process that requires the involvement of citizens in all aspects of any given media. Another notable aspect is that they function as media literacy tools. As they are projects that emerge from civil society, the aim is for the people involved to acquire knowledge about the generation of content, whether written, spoken or recorded.

After having presented the models of the regional press and citizen media, we come across some shared characteristics. In both cases, proximity is an intrinsic element, cause, and consequence of a participatory model in which individuals and groups engage in the making of popular journalism, which shapes and constructs the most immediate geographical, historical, social and cultural reality. Both models can be considered to play their focus on social transformation. Regional press, in the final stages of the Franco dictatorship and the Transition, played the role of eroding the regime, promoting democratic attitudes and the recovery of Catalan culture. On the other hand, citizen media represented an alteration of the traditional scheme of mass communication, not only because they blurred the well-defined roles of transmitter and receiver, but also because they represented an autonomous space of independent management and control. Therefore, the popular aspect of the regional press is nothing more than the realisation in Catalonia of many of the assumptions of the citizen media. Thus, neighbourhood press is an example of citizen press at a local level.

1. 3. The Catalan neighbourhood movement

Before talking about the Catalan neighbourhood press, it would be wise to offer an overview of the country’s community movement. It is a phenomenon typical of 20th-century cities, which gained strength here in the latter period of the dictatorship, arising from the incipient processes of citizen mobilisation in the neighbourhoods most affected by urban planning chaos and economic inequalities. In these circumstances, the neighbourhood movement was “a space where there was room for everything from the demand for what was most necessary and dear to the population (...) to the discussion of the model of democracy that needed to be built collectively” (Bordetas, 2011: 5).

The studies conducted in relation to the Catalan neighbourhood movement - mainly in Barcelona and its Metropolitan Area - brought to light several characteristic elements. Firstly, this is a mobilisation of civil society to resolve shortcomings and problems related to urban planning, housing, and basic services. In this sense, the urban planning issue emerged as the main focus of attention. However, the scope of neighbourhood action is broader. During the Franco regime, it was a pole of struggle for ending the regime and moving towards democracy, starting with that of the town councils, and also a space for debating and proposing alternative models to the typical Franco regime capitalist and overcrowded cities. As far as its social composition is concerned, it is an inter-class movement, but deeply rooted among the working class, which was the most widely affected class due to the impoverished state of many modest neighbourhoods. Finally, the neighbourhood movement has played and continues to play an essential role in recovering, disseminating, and transmitting the collective identity of neighbourhoods (Alabart, 2010).

The dawn of the neighbourhood movement can be traced back to some neighbourhood parishes and ecclesiastical social centres in the late 1950s, which fostered an ideal environment for emergence of the very first neighbourhood associations. These organisations initially played a mainly defensive role and tackled the serious problems of the peripheral neighbourhoods surrounding large cities, whether they were shantytowns and self-built housing or newly built, overcrowded neighbourhoods with no basic services. However, they soon began to play a mobilising and propositional role, while the neighbourhood movement and associations also spread to middle-class neighbourhoods, which were not so affected by the urban development problems.

The end of the dictatorship and the early years of the Transition were years of greatest dynamism, influence and politicisation of the neighbourhood movement, which was intertwined with other anti-Franco struggles. Thus, until the late 1970s, the social movements, with the notable strength of neighbourhood communities, achieved a series of “victories of a democratic, social, cultural, educational, health and urban nature” (Andreu, 2015: 121).

With the gradual consolidation of the democratic order, the leading role of citizens and clandestine organisations diminished in the face of the predominance of political parties and administrations. The 1979 municipal elections had a significant impact on neighbourhood associations: while the victory of progressive forces in many town councils represented a triumph for a few of their demands, it also implied the departure of many of their leaders and members who opted for turning their efforts towards politics and town councils.

From the 1980s onwards, the neighbourhood movement focused on more local issues, attempting to find their place within municipal affairs and leaving aside the general struggles of the late Francoist period and the Transition. On the other hand, developing the facet of providing services to members, from consultancy to cultural and festive events in the neighbourhoods, as well as courses of all kinds. The great demands and the high level of conflict of previous years were therefore left behind, although new situations were also addressed, such as the arrival of international immigration, unemployment, precariousness and ageing population. At present, the neighbourhood movement is tackling problems that have worsened over recent years, such as the privatisation of urban space, rising housing prices, evictions, gentrification and mass tourism.

1. 4. Neighbourhood press in Catalonia

In La premsa a les comarques gironines, written at the height of the Transition, Guillamet observes: “The new press must necessarily be the reflection and tool for building the new democratic society, one in which everyone will regain their voice and, to the extent possible, their press” (Guillamet, 1977: 178). In the highly dynamic scene of Catalan press after the end of the Franco regime, neighbourhood press responded to the need of the mobilised citizenry to publicise life in the country’s neighbourhoods, towns and cities.

To speak of the local press in our country is to speak, in essence, of the press in Barcelona and some of the surrounding cities, as it is the only one that has been studied as such. It originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Sarrià, Sant Gervasi, Sants, Sant Martí, Sant Andreu, Gràcia and Horta (Torrent, 1969). These population centres, then independent, generated periodical publications precisely to claim their own personality in the face of the annexationist pretensions of the capital. Although, as is well known, the objective was not achieved and Barcelona integrated the neighbouring municipalities, the seed was sown for the future neighbourhood press as a vehicle for the expression and preservation of the idiosyncrasy of a neighbourhood.

It was in the 1960s, after the worst years of Franco’s dictatorship, that neighbourhood press appeared. At that time, the reality of most neighbourhoods of the big cities was not part of the media’s content offering. This communicative abandonment encouraged the incipient neighbourhood associations to create their own media to express their points of view and at the same time reinforce the associative dynamics. Within regional press, the neighbourhood press raised a more heightened social criticism, as a result of the direct link with “the struggle of the neighbourhoods and towns to overcome the serious social problems caused by the lack of control and the lack of submission to the collective interests” of urban growth (Guillamet, 1975: 27).

López (1994) summarises the characteristics of the neighbourhood press in Barcelona between 1968 and 1977. They are horizontally organised media, following the principles of internal democracy and membership, with the participation of different social profiles, from workers and students to professional journalists and intellectuals. They are distributed by mail among members, and, beyond this circle, they circulate almost clandestinely, as many of them do not appear in the register of authorised publications. The publication is essentially financed by the neighbourhood associations’ own resources, although in some cases they do contain advertising.

The functions of the neighbourhood press at that time were to encourage popular mobilisation and to offer, as a means of communication, a version of reality that countered that of the regime and that of the tolerated press. The denunciation of shortcomings, the demand for urban improvements and neighbourhood dynamism are mixed with democratic clamour and the analysis of general issues that go beyond the geographical limits of the neighbourhoods. The local press exhibits a spontaneous and poignant approach and, as far as editorial orientation is concerned, it is clearly democratic, Catalanist and progressive. At the same time, it plays a very important role in the recovery of ‘the idea of the neighbourhood as the most immediate place of coexistence [sic]’, which makes it, both then and now, ‘a focal point for citizens’ (López, 1994: 11).

In the second half of the 1970s, however, the decline of neighbourhood press began, parallel to that of the movement that brought it to life (Maristany and Musons, 2002). Once the democratic system was established, neighbourhood magazines were no longer necessary to channel the aspirations of political activists, intellectuals, and journalists, who found their space in town councils, political parties, trade unions and professional media. These publications abandoned the coverage of general political and social issues to “focus on their natural space - the defence of the quality of life of the residents, basically”, at the same time as other local magazines appeared in the neighbourhoods, whether they were published by traders’ associations, companies in the communication sector or social and alternative movements (Maristany and Musons, 2002: 83).

2. Notes on the history
of contemporary Girona

2. 1. Urban transformation

Throughout the Franco regime, Girona “was a characteristic victim - and the one we knew best - of some of the endemic evils of the dictatorship: centralism, speculation, social and cultural repression” (Aragó, Guillamet and Pujades, 1999: 10). The city had never “grown so much, in demographic and urban terms, as in the thirty years between 1955 and 1985”, during which time it grew from thirty to seventy thousand inhabitants (Fabre, 1986: 161). However, it was an unplanned and unmeasured growth, incapable of accommodating with a minimum level of dignity the immigration that was arriving or of repairing the degradation of the historic neighbourhoods, the result of the actions of municipal governments that were clearly out of touch and subordinated to Madrid.

Until the mid-1950s, Girona grew on the outskirts, with self-built housing, blocks of flats and houses in neighbouring municipalities and groups of social housing complexes such as Sant Narcís. The first instrument for organising urban planning and planning the future of the city was the General Urban Development Plan for Girona and its area of influence (1955), which led to the expansion of the municipal boundaries with the incorporation of the municipalities of Palau-sacosta, Sant Daniel and Santa Eugènia. Subsequent urban growth did not follow the plan, which was quickly distorted, and the problems became chronic. Then, with the idea of a “Greater Girona” in mind, the Francoist administration promoted the General Urban Development Plan of Girona (1971), which legalised all the deviations and irregularities committed while the previous plan was in force. On the other hand, the municipal territory was enlarged with the annexes of Campdorà, Talaià, Domeny, Salt and Sarrià de Ter; the latter two were reverted years later, once democracy was restored.

Franco’s urban planning left behind a city that expanded “in a chaotic and uncontrolled manner” (Clara, 1991: 88). New neighbourhoods covered with blocks of flats populate the landscape of Girona. Lacking sufficient basic supplies and services, and with no public facilities, they are simply a place where the thousands of newcomers have ended up. Despite being one of the cities with one of the highest per capita incomes in Catalonia and in Spain, social inequalities between neighbourhoods are very evident.

All in all, it constitutes “a burdensome legacy for democratic city councils”, which look to urban planning as the antidote to rebalance the city (Vicente, 1999: 32). The General Plan was in force until 1980, when it was revoked by the Supreme Court, thus reverting to the 1955 plan; the first democratic Girona City Council, led by Joaquim Nadal, asked the Regional Government of Catalonia to draw up Subsidiary Regulations, which were decreed in 1981, to resolve the situation. The provisional situation came to an end in 1986 with the General Urban Development Plan.

During the 1980s, Girona maintained the trend towards demographic expansion, while many other cities in the country were stabilising or losing population, and a transformation of the urban, economic, and productive fabric was taking place in which industry lost ground and the tertiary and services sector gained ground (Oliver, 2001). The construction of new buildings continues at a rapid pace, although not in such an aggressive manner; the growth is, above all, through the development of single-family houses.

By the end of a long decade of democratic city councils, Nadal takes stock of the action taken and the challenges facing the city in the early 1990s. Considerable progress had been made in the creation of essential basic infrastructures, the deployment of public services and facilities and the implementation of services for people. However, problems persisted in terms of traffic and the road network, which was very dense, in territorial articulation and in the correction of social imbalances between neighbourhoods (Nadal, 1991).

2. 2. Social mobilisation

“Every day it becomes more and more difficult to raise the collective consciousness, to turn small solitary calms into flames or to fruitfully channel the energies that are lost in easy protests or in cowardly desertions” (Aragó, Casero, Guillamet and Pujades, 1972: 231). This observation by the authors of Girona grisa i negra is corroborated by subsequent chronicles and historiography: the anti-Francoist struggle and citizen mobilisation did not have the same incidence and intensity in Girona as in other cities while the dictatorship was in force. This dynamic is attributed to the socio-economic structure of the city and the surrounding area, which lacked large companies, which meant little labour conflict and did not foster unity between Girona-born residents and newcomers.

Despite this, during the latter part of the dictatorship there were various signs of struggle against the regime. The three conflictive fronts, from the second half of the sixties onwards, were the Church, industry, and students (Clara, 2006). However, the main front of anti-Francoist resistance was the cultural front, through initiatives such as the Cercle Artístic, the Prudenci Bertrana Prize, the Les Voltes bookshop, the Òmnium Cultural delegation and the Presència magazine (Aragó, 2006).

With the beginning of the Transition, new possibilities for civic and political participation and expression were opened up, albeit with some hesitation. Thus, as Selles points out, “there was a progressive activation of the democratic movement and there were significant signs of citizen mobilisation” (Selles, 1996). Beyond the political parties and trade unions, the Democratic Assembly of Girona, set up in 1976, played a key role in representing and channelling the yearning for change. A year later, it was dissolved as the democratic institutions were consolidated and the parties focused on their own particular objectives. In the cultural sphere, the actions of the Assemblea Democràtica d’Artistes de Girona (Democratic Assembly of Artists of Girona) should be highlighted.

In the decades that followed, Girona witnessed a number of high-profile public campaigns. Worthy of mention would be “Salvem Sant Daniel”, promoted by the Coordinadora N-II per l’Autopista to prevent the bypass passing through Girona from being built in the valley of Sant Daniel, and which lasted for seven years; more recently, there have been protests over the delays and non-compliance of the works on the High-Speed Train station and the remodelling of Parc Central, which affect above all the neighbourhood of Sant Narcís, but which have become a city issue thanks, in part, to the mobilisation of the neighbourhood associations.

2. 3. The neighbourhood movement

Batallé (1985) is the first to focus to any extent of detail on the Girona neighbourhood movement. The pioneering associations, which emerged in the sixties in the city centre, were also traders’ associations, with the aim of promoting the establishments through recreational events. In contrast, from the early 1970s onwards, popular organisation crystallised in associations in neighbourhoods far from the historic centre, whether they were the result of the annexation of former municipalities or of uncontrolled building on the edge of the municipal area limits. In the first case, the associations act, in addition to claiming basic needs, as a means of recovering and stimulating their own identity; in the second case, it is a matter of creating a sense of belonging for the newcomers, forged through solidarity and the demand for a minimum infrastructure for living. Finally, neighbourhood associations have also been set up in more recently built housing estates.

After the end of the dictatorship, the neighbourhood associations took on a more prominent role in public life, new ones were created, and the press took notice. Some neighbourhoods - Can Gibert del Pla, Sant Narcís - timidly began to demand improvements during the final period of the dictatorship, but from 1975 onwards, protests and actions experienced a rapid increase. As a note of that effervescence, in Germans Sàbat the neighbourhood association took charge of managing the asphalting of the streets; the Vila-roja association cut the road to Sant Feliu de Guíxols to get an underpass built there and promoted a three-day boycott of city buses to be able to agree on the price of the route. In Can Gibert, the neighbourhood association founds and manages the first nursery school in the neighbourhood for a few years; the Sant Narcís neighbourhood association acts as a mediator in the resolution of the early repayment of the group’s housing.

In the meantime, this neighbourhood movement was not alien to the demands and actions of other groups and organisations. In addition to the campaigns mentioned in the previous section, during the Transition several of Girona’s neighbourhood associations took part in initiatives such as the demand to change the official name of Gerona to Girona, support for a Girona worker arrested during the First of May protest and the tribute to Carles Rahola.

The articulation of the neighbourhood movement had taken place on several occasions, but it had never been successful, and the majority of organisations had never come together. At the end of the 1970s the first attempts were made, but it was not until 1993 that the first Federation of Neighbourhood Associations of Girona (FAVG) became a reality. In the early 2000s, the FAVG was relaunched under new management. At the end of 2019, an internal controversy led to the departure of eleven associations.

2. 4. The press

During a large part of the Franco regime, Girona had to make do with the “journalistic monopoly” exercised by the newspaper Los Sitios, which belonged to the chain of newspapers of the Movimiento (Costa, 2003: 96). Although over the years, local information gained ground to the detriment of regime apology, subordination to the dictatorship’s hierarchy and censorship prevented a minimally normal journalistic coverage. Information had to be obtained through the news of the correspondents working for the newspapers published in Barcelona.

This situation was avoided by the appearance of new publications that anticipated a change of era. One year before the enactment of the 1966 Press Law, which offered a relative informative openness within the limits of the dictatorship, Presència was launched, “the most important of the democratic media” in the counties of Girona and with notable repercussions throughout Catalonia (Guillamet, 1977: 146). It went through several stages, marked by a progressive increase in information relating to Girona and a critical stance towards the regime, which led to its suspension between 1971 and 1974. Also noteworthy is the role of the Church newspapers, such as Vida Catòlica and Hoja Parroquial, which contributed to the revival of the press in the counties thanks to a wider margin of freedom, as they were not subject to the same censorship as the private press.

The most remarkable event in the Girona press in the early days of democracy was the appearance, in February 1979, of Punt Diari, the “independent, Catalan, regional and democratic” newspaper, after a long gestation process. Over the years it has become the most popular of those published in the city and, from the 1990s onwards, it began to launch editions in different parts of the country, as well as changing its name that of El Punt (Costa, 2003). Since 2011, it has been published as El Punt Avui, the result of a merger with the newspaper Avui. Los Sitios was privatised in 1984, after the auction of the Movimiento’s press, and began to be published by Editorial Gironina, which added Diari de Girona to the title. As of 1988, it appeared only under that name, and three years later the Catalanisation of its content was completed.

In addition to the daily press, Girona’s media landscape was enriched in democracy by cultural magazines, free press, news bulletins published by Girona City Council and its departments and sections, the newsletters of organisations and groups of all kinds, fanzines and the bulletins published by the political parties, trade unions and social movements, including the neighbourhood press.

3. Girona’s neighbourhood magazines

The table shows the twenty magazines that are the subject of the study, arranged in order of appearance.

Title

Neighbourhood

Years of activity

Onyar

Carme-Vistalegre

1977 - 1983

Santa Eugènia de Ter

Santa Eugènia de Ter

1980 - 1981 / 1983

Poble

Sarrià de Ter i Pont Major

1980 - 1982

El Dimoni / Eldimoni.com

Santa Eugènia de Ter

1981 / 2003 - 2018

La Inquietud

Germans Sàbat

1980 - 1981

Associació de Veïns Can Gibert del Pla

Can Gibert del Pla

1981 - 1984

El Pont Major

Pont Major

1983 - 1987

Entre Rius i Rieres

Santa Eugènia de Ter and Can Gibert del Pla

1986

El Vaixell

Santa Eugènia de Ter

1987 - ?

El Pont del Dimoni

Santa Eugènia de Ter

1991 - 1998

Revista de l’Associació de Veïns de Montilivi

Montilivi

1991 - present

El Cul de la Lleona

Barri Vell

1992 - 2001

Xemeneia

Pla de Palau-Sant Pau

1997 - 2001 / 2005

Revista de Montjuïc

Montjuïc

1997 - 2006

El Pou

Germans Sàbat

2000 - 2009

El Dimoni de Santa Eugènia

Santa Eugènia de Ter

2000 - 2001

El Despertador de Sant Narcís

Sant Narcís

2000 - 2013

Butlletí informatiu de la Plataforma Campdorà té veu

Campdorà

2005 - 2013

Les Fulles de la Devesa

Devesa-Güell

2018 - present

La Revista de la Vall

Sant Daniel

2021 - present

Two publications that, despite originating in the neighbourhood movement, do not meet the criteria to be included in the study, have been discarded. Butlletí 1993, published by the Associació de Veïns de la Devesa, is unnumbered, and no further issues have been found; moreover, it is a magazine with a strong advertising component, with very contents and hardly any references to the current affairs of the time. The other is the newsletter published by the Associació de Veïns Girona 2, which, judging by its content and layout, is more like an informative circular for members than a publicly distributed bulletins.

4. Characteristics of Girona’s
neighbourhood press

This chapter describes the main features of Girona’s neighbourhood press. The results of the analysis are structured into four main blocks: the founding, geographical and chronological distribution; the functions and objectives of the local magazines; the proposal of contents, both in terms of formats and, above all, the themes, and approaches; and, last of all, the internal functioning and the different phases of the production of the publications.

4. 1. Origins and geographical and chronological distribution

4. 1. 1. The emergence of neighbourhood press

Onyar, the first publication that could be considered to be a neighbourhood publication, appeared in 1977, at a time when Girona’s neighbourhood associations were still emerging and in the process of being legalised. Thus, Girona’s neighbourhood press emerged in democracy and, therefore, without a role in the anti-Francoist struggle, as its counterparts in other large Catalan cities had experienced.

The emergence of neighbourhood magazines in Girona responds to the need, perceived by the neighbourhood associations, for the organisation to have a body that also functions as a local medium, which not only informs about what the association does, but also provides details of the latest news and is open to the words of members and neighbours. In this sense, they are created spontaneously, without much premeditation and, in the vast majority of cases, without any specific journalistic or communicative reference. Some were simply conceived as a way of going beyond the neighbourhood festivities programme, such as La Revista de l’Associació de Veïns de Montilivi and El Pou. Only a couple of magazines, El Dimoni and Poble, were inspired by local references, such as the local magazine La Farga, from Salt, La Cucarraca, from Calonge, and Punt Diari.

Another reality that has been noted is the practically non-existent acquaintance and relationship between local publications in Girona. There have been no joint initiatives or collaborations, not even a space for exchanging knowledge regarding the publication of the magazines. Therefore, the emergence of neighbourhood press in Girona is, in view of the lack of direct models and the low level of relations and coordination between the different publications, an atomised phenomenon, in which each neighbourhood acts independently.

4. 1. 2. Chronology

In terms of decades, the 1980s was the most prolific decade. Since up to nine magazines were published at some point. Between 1980 and 1983 alone, six were created. The publishing effervescence coincided with the time during which the neighbourhood associations began to consolidate. However, they are very ephemeral. None of them survive until the turn of the decade, and there are three that did not even reach their first anniversary. In the 1990s, fewer new magazines are created, five in total, but they were longer-lived: they all lasted for at least seven years. Throughout the 2000s, as in the 1980s, nine different magazines were published, in addition to the digital reappearance of El Dimoni. In this scenario we can suggest, among the reasons for the growth of press in the neighbourhoods, the revival of the neighbourhood movement, set in a context of general social mobilisation against phenomena such as globalisation and events including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The year with the highest number of publications was 2005, when up to seven neighbourhoods had their own magazine.

Finally, in 2010 and 2020 only one magazine was created per decade. With the implementation of the websites and social media profiles of the neighbourhood associations, which allow immediate communication, some of the informative and service functions of the neighbourhood newsletters became meaningless, and others were promoted: Les Fulles de la Devesa was conceived as a graphic memoir in magazine format, and La Revista de la Vall prioritised historical and informative content.

Graph 1. Time line of Girona’s neighbourhood magazines, 1977 - 2021

Source: Own compilation.

The fact that some of the longest-running magazines are published annually - Revista de l’Associació de Veïns de Montilivi (1991-present), Revista de Montjuïc (1997-2006), El Pou (2000-2009) and Butlletí informatiu de la Plataforma Campdorà té veu (2005-2013) - suggests a correlation between periodicity and longevity; the longer the periodicity, the longer the publication lasts. However, several cases refute this hypothesis: El Cul de la Lleona, with an irregular but more frequent than annual periodicity, is published for nine years (1992-2001) and El Pont del Dimoni, first bimonthly and then half-yearly, lasts for seven years (1991-1998); lastly, Eldimoni.com, being exclusively digital, with much lower production costs and thanks to the digital environment can be updated daily; it is the second longest-running neighbourhood publication (2003-2018) after Montilivi. On the other hand, the only neighbourhood magazine that achieved regular monthly periodicity, Poble, only lasted for two years (1980-1982); its end, however, due to the local political context, given that once Sarrià de Ter regained its independence, it was considered to have achieved a foundational objective.

The case of Poble was exceptional in the neighbourhood press in Girona. In the rest of the magazines, the main reason for the end of the publication is the exhaustion of the team behind it and the lack of leadership in the production of the newspaper. Thus, many journals ceased to be published simply because the person or group that took on the coordination cannot continue the task and no other member of the organisation or outsider wants to take it on. In fact, the difficulties behind the generational succession does not only affect publications, but also neighbourhood associations in general (Masanés and Oliver, 2011).

4. 1. 3. Geographical distribution

The geographical distribution of Girona’s neighbourhood press largely follows the same pattern as that of Barcelona. Thus, a fertile ground for these magazines are the new neighbourhoods resulting from the annexation of an old municipality that is absorbed by the growing city. In Girona, this tendency is particularly noticeable in Santa Eugènia: the former neighbourhood has generated up to six magazines, two of which are shared with Can Gibert del Pla. The other neighbourhoods resulting from the annexation of former municipalities or parts of municipalities bordering Girona in which local newspapers have appeared are Pla de Palau and Campdorà, as well as Sarrià de Ter, which regained its independence in 1983.

The other profile of neighbourhoods where neighbourhood press is most intensely deployed is that of the ones that were built up during the development period. Only three publications have originated in the city’s historic or central neighbourhoods: El Cul de la Lleona, El Pont Major and Onyar. However, the former was aimed at one of the most depressed and degraded areas of the old town, while the latter two were carried by neighbourhoods located at more or less distance from the centre. In short, in Girona, neighbourhood press has been a phenomenon of the outermost neighbourhoods, although not all of them have had their own periodical publication. All these issues can be clearly seen in graph 2.

Graph 2. Geographical distribution of the Girona neighbourhood press

Source: UMAT/ own elaboration.

1. Onyar 2. Santa Eugènia de Ter 3. Poble 4. El Dimoni / eldimoni.com 5. La Inquietud 6. Associació de Veïns Can Gibert del Pla 7. El Pont Major 8. Entre Rius i Rieres 9. El Vaixell 10. El Pont del Dimoni 11. Revista de l’Associació de Veïns de Montilivi 12. El Cul de la Lleona 13. Xemeneia 14. Revista de Montjuïc 15. El Pou 16. El Dimoni de Sta Eugènia 17. El Despertador de Sant Narcís 18. Butlletí informatiu de la Plataforma Campdorà té veu 19. Les Fulles de la Devesa 20. La Revista de la Vall

Of all the neighbourhoods in Girona that have had their own neighbourhood press, three have generated more than one publication: Germans Sàbat, two; Santa Eugènia, six, and Can Gibert del Pla, three –two which were shared with Santa Eugènia–. It is no coincidence that these are the neighbourhoods where the neighbourhood press has generated more than one project. All three share a strong component of identity and differentiation: Santa Eugènia, as an independent town and municipality until 1963, later denaturalised when it was annexed to Girona; Can Gibert and Germans Sàbat, as neighbourhoods that became isolated in the late Franco era and suffered the consequences of the lack of services and facilities, which were made up for by the effort and unity of their neighbours.

4. 2. Functions

Huertas and Vilaseró define neighbourhood publications as the “sounding board for the specific problems of each neighbourhood” (Huertas and Vilaseró, 1982: 10). This metaphor suggests that this type of newspaper is not simply a channel for expression of a neighbourhood association, but that they participate in the life of a neighbourhood or sector in order to provide information coverage. Beyond the journalistic aspect, a neighbourhood magazine performs other functions.

4. 2. 1. Information

All publications aim, first and foremost, to carry out an informative task in the neighbourhood or sector in which they are published. This tendency is shared with the general press, but the approach of the neighbourhood press is different; in fact, the informative function of these newspapers serves to cover the shortcomings and limitations of professional media. In the late Francoist period and during the Transition, “the social life of the neighbourhoods was not included in the coverage provided by newspapers and periodical publications”, and this absence was a stimulus for the local media, including that of local residents (López-García and Maciá-Mercadé, 2007: 40).

The first difference found with professional newspapers and magazines is the level of detail that the neighbourhood press can achieve, thanks to the limitation of the geographical area covered and the scope of its audience, which is limited to a neighbourhood or, at most, to an area made up of several neighbourhoods. Thus, news that would hardly appear on the pages of the daily press or would be granted very little coverage there - the poor state of an infrastructure, the inauguration of a facility, the celebration of a neighbourhood event - receive preferential and extensive treatment in these newspapers. On the other hand, at certain times neighbourhood press acts as a source of information that is then used in the city’s newspapers. It is, therefore, the ground zero of information that will later circulate through more multitudinous channels.

4. 2. 2. Participation

As noted in the second chapter, the participation of civil society is the raison d’être of the Catalan regional press and the citizen media. Thus, the calls from Girona’s neighbourhood associations to become involved in writing articles and sending letters is a constant element. Onyar stresses in an introductory text that “the team that compiles the newspaper hopes that it will be a lively and dynamic one, that it will comprise the collaboration and ideas of all or a good part of the members. In other words, that it should be by everyone and for everyone” (issue 3, May 1977). Although this is a call restricted to members of the organisation, it foreshadows the open agenda that would be followed by publications in the city’s neighbourhoods from the 1980s onwards.

Thus, the Sarrià newspaper Poble aims to be “a true channel for expression and a place open to dialogue and debate” for all the organisations in the Sarrià-Pont Major area (issue 0, January 1980); in Can Gibert, the magazine addresses its readers in the hope “that all of you will collaborate, taking advantage of these pages to help us” (issue 1, November 1981); the Dimoni de Santa Eugènia defines itself as “a platform where the residents can freely express their opinions on the problems of the neighbourhood” (issue 0, spring 2000); the team behind El Pou asks the readers to make “this small means of communication” their own (issue 0, summer 2000).

4. 2. 3. Promoting neighbourhood identity

In Girona’s neighbourhood press, the strengthening of a local identity begins, in some cases, with the title itself. Various neighbourhood associations publish the magazines with the names of relevant elements of their neighbourhoods: Onyar (Carme – Vista Alegre), El Dimoni, El Pont del Dimoni, El Dimoni de Sta. Eugènia i El Vaixell (Santa Eugènia de Ter), Entre rius i rieres (Santa Eugènia de Ter i Can Gibert del Pla), El Cul de la Lleona (Barri Vell), El Pou (Germans Sàbat) and Xemeneia (Pla de Palau-Sant Pau). A somewhat different case is that of Poble, in Sarrià de Ter, which also points to the people of Sarrià’s sense of collectivity that is distinct from that of Girona and the desire to recover municipal sovereignty.

Expressions of affirmation of local identity are also found in some editorials and opinion pieces. El Dimoni is the newspaper that was most clearly committed to preserving and disseminating the feeling of belonging to Santa Eugènia. Almost 20 years after its annexation to Girona, the magazine aims to “represent all those experiences that, as the town that we are, should never have disappeared” (issue 1, February 1981). Among its proposals, Poble directly proposes to issue “a charter open to the unification” of the neighbourhoods of Sarrià de Ter, defined as “a district so vilely neglected” by the town planning of the previous decades (issue 0, January 1980). At Germans Sàbat, El Pou hopes that the magazine will be “a channel for expressing our identity as a neighbourhood” (issue 0, summer 2000).

4. 2. 4. Claim

López stresses that neighbourhood press implies a “new critical reading of the city” (López, 1994: 9). Costa, for his part, identifies among the functions of local or proximity communication the “creation of new social realities” (Costa, 2009: 25). We can understand these two actions, protest and proposal, as the two sides of the social demand which, in the case of the neighbourhood movement and its press, focuses on the urban configuration of the city, both in terms of the layout of public space and services and facilities for citizens. Each neighbourhood has demanded improvements such as the construction or restoration of public buildings, the provision of basic services and the maintenance of urban space.

4. 2. 5. Accountability and dissemination of the activities of the neighbourhood associations

Finally, these magazines are also a vehicle for transparency and contact with the neighbourhood associations and, at the same time, they serve to raise awareness of their activities. Many magazines devote a page or two to reviewing the organisation’s accounts, often linked to information on the annual general assembly. Some also provide specific financial data after certain events or celebrations, such as the major festivities in the neighbourhoods. On the other hand, the magazines are a means of publicity for the association itself. As they are generally distributed free of charge and with a considerable circulation, they can serve as a means of attracting new members.

The Girona neighbourhood press is, in short, a vehicle for meeting communication needs in the neighbourhoods and thus plays a complementary role to the city’s local information system. It allows for providing more detailed information than the general media, while it stimulates citizen participation in the creation of content, aside from being a platform for everything that organised citizens criticise and propose, and it maintains a sense of belonging within the neighbourhoods. We will now examine how these functions are defined by means of their content.

4. 3. Content

4. 3. 1. Formats

The popular and amateur nature of the neighbourhood press is expressed not only in the origin of these magazines, but also, and above all, in their content. In order to distance itself from the impersonal informative conditions and neutral position that characterise conventional media, the journalism of the citizen media takes a stance on the subjects it reports on, uses unofficial sources of information, is more open to participation and selects the topics with different criteria from those of professional journalism.

The basic journalistic format, present in all the magazines studied, is the news item itself. As we have just pointed out, these magazines do not pursue the neutrality of information, but rather the current events are always reported on from the point of view of the neighbourhood as an involved party. Many of these magazines often prefer brief items, with a minimal development of the reported event, which was generally already known among the readers.

Interviews are the other most common genre in neighbourhood press. Half of the magazines analysed were published regularly. These texts are the result of conversations with people from the neighbourhood, both well-known and anonymous residents, in which both the past of the area is evoked - especially when they are interviews with elderly neighbours - and a particular view is expressed regarding the current situation of each neighbourhood.

In addition to the information mentioned above, neighbourhood press is also a vehicle for the expression of opinions in the strict sense of the term. First of all, the publishers set out the position of the neighbourhood association on a given issue, usually related to the neighbourhood itself or the city, but in some cases also on debates of a general nature. Normally there are no sections devoted to pure opinion as opposed to information, except for the sections devoted to readers’ letters that some publications provide.

Beyond simple information and commentary, some magazines offer interesting reports on historical or current issues related to a neighbourhood or the city as a whole. They can be reports on a significant historical event or current affairs reports on sociological, political, or demographic issues, based on data and statistics.

Finally, these magazines are, as has been mentioned, a channel open to the opinion of their neighbours, hence not only journalistic contributions or letters of opinion are accepted. Thus, in a number of these magazines we find literary contributions, either in the form of short stories or poetry. Also noteworthy is the publication, in some magazines, of humorous vignettes, a piece somewhere in between an opinion and an artistic collaboration.

4. 3. 2. Themes

Urbanism

One of the most common themes is urban planning and all related issues. This is the main area of action of Girona’s neighbourhood associations, apart from the organisation of activities within the neighbourhoods. In the Girona neighbourhood press it is common for issues related to urban planning and facilities to be dealt with from a critical point of view, as reflected in the numerous cases detected within this study. In general, the magazines do not just report on a problem and the pertinent complaint, but they also incorporate a proposal to improve the situation, sometimes even in the same article.

Local history

This issue is particularly relevant to the function of building and transmitting the collective identity of the neighbourhoods; either in an attempt to not lose the elements that differentiated them before they became part of Girona -El Dimoni, Poble, El Pont Major, Revista de l’Associació de Veïns de Montilivi, Butlletí Plataforma Campdorà té veu-, or so that the new inhabitants who populate the newly built neighbourhoods know what it was like and people lived in the past -El Pou, La Revista de la Vall. The historical perspective is presented both in stories and in texts by guest authors, generally historians and journalists.

Entities

As well as informing on the actions and activities conducted by the neighbourhood associations that promote them, these magazines are often a space for other entities and groups that operate in the neighbourhoods to express their opinions. Thus, the neighbourhood newsletters are a showcase for local associations to explain their day-to-day work and also a vehicle for them to formulate demands from their sector of activity, namely culture, social welfare, charitable events, sport, etc.

Beyond the neighbourhood and the city

The neighbourhood magazines prioritise the most immediate reality, but they are also a platform from which to discuss and reflect on issues of a regional, national and global levels. Issues such as the Catalan language, the 23-F coup, regional policies, solidarity with impoverished countries, immigration and wars have been dealt with in the pages of the Girona neighbourhood press.

4. 3. 3. Language

None of the publications present an explicit criterion on the use of language in their articles. In this sense, it seems that the free expression of each contributor prevails. Of the 20 magazines, 10 are entirely in Catalan, seven combine Catalan and Spanish in varying proportions and two are mainly in Spanish. With regard to language as a theme, Onyar publishes various informative articles on Catalan and El Despertador de Sant Narcís reserves a space in each issue for the “Racó lingüístic” (Linguistic Corner).

4. 4. Internal functioning

4. 4. 1. Organisation

Neighbourhood magazines are the result of numerous collaborations - neighbours who write their own articles, others who contribute information, advertisers who help to finance them - but they are largely made possible thanks to the work of small teams. They often arise from the concern of a member of a neighbourhood association, who proposes to the board or the group of members the creation of a journal for the neighbourhood. This promoter usually ends up being the coordinator of the publication, either alone or with other members. The design and layout are conducted by members with skills in this area, or they are outsourced, usually to the printing company. In some cases, there are people responsible for attracting advertising from advertisers in the neighbourhood.

As far as the internal functioning of the magazine is concerned, decisions on the running of the paper and the preparation of each issue are usually taken at the association board meetings. From then on, it is the coordinator who contacts the contributors, assigns the pages, and spaces and compiles the texts. The articles are generally written by members of the association, although there are also articles from other residents - in the form of letters or columns, for example - and from other neighbourhood associations and groups. The participation of journalists is token, although in one case, El Dimoni and Eldimoni.com, the journalist Manel Mesquita was in charge of coordinating the media.

4. 4. 2. Financing

The amateur, non-profit approach of the majority of local press and citizen media is matched by a minimal, otherwise non-existent, business structure. Even so, the fact that it is based on an already established entity, the neighbourhood association, guarantees a priori a minimum level of economic resources for neighbourhood press. In Girona there are four sources of funding: advertising, sales, contributions from neighbourhood associations and public subsidies. In general, each magazine has used one or two sources to obtain the money needed to be able to print, hence they have largely not needed to diversify their income.

The most commonly used formula is advertising, which is the sole source of income in ten of the magazines. Advertisers are generally local shops and businesses, although in some cases there is generic advertising from savings banks and large stores in the city. The advertising costs are low, designed to recoup the investment required for printing the newspapers. Only El Dimoni - in its desire to present itself as a publication comparable to the general press - and El Pont del Dimoni maintained a sale price throughout their existence. El Cul de la Lleona was initially sold, but from the fourth issue onwards it became free of charge; El Pou, for its part, only had a price for the initial issue. Finally, some associations decided to finance the magazines with their own funds and, therefore, not to resort, or to do so to a lesser extent, to advertising. The pioneering Onyar and El Despertador de Sant Narcís do not include advertising on their pages. On the other hand, Les Fulles de la Devesa does, but only on one page. The only magazine financed entirely through public subsidy, specifically from Girona City Council, is La Revista de la Vall.

4. 4. 3. Printing, print runs and distribution

The vast majority of Girona’s local magazines have opted for professional printing. The most requested were Pagès, in Anglès, where six magazines were printed, and FIBE, from Santa Eugènia, where four were printed. Sant Narcís, Curbet and Juper, from Girona; Grafis/Sant, from Riudellots de la Selva; Montserrat, from Amer and Cantalozella, from Santa Coloma de Farners have each printed a neighbourhood publication. In this list, it should be considered that some of the magazines have changed their printing company during the course of their history. Onyar is the only magazine that was clearly printed using the cyclostyle technique, which was widely used in the early neighbourhood magazines in Barcelona and, in general, in the clandestine press during the Franco regime. Perhaps also La Inquietud and the bulletin of the Associació de Veïns de Can Gibert del Pla (Can Gibert del Pla Neighbourhood Association, based onto their invoicing.

The circulation figures are very diverse. With the exception of Onyar, which had a very limited distribution, the rest print a minimum of 200-300 copies, while the maximum is between 1,200 and 1,500. One variable to bear in mind is the number of inhabitants of the neighbourhood or sector to which each magazine is addressed. In more densely populated areas, such as Santa Eugènia de Ter, Sant Narcís, Montilivi and Germans Sàbat, the number of copies per issue have usually stood at around 1,000 or slightly above. In contrast, in more sparsely populated areas, such as Campdorà or Montjuïc, the number of copies is remarkably lower. Another factor that affects the print run is its frequency. As a general rule, annual publications have much higher print runs. Finally, the print run is also related to the dissemination that the association wants the magazine to achieve. In some cases, these publications are mainly aimed for members and therefore less copies are printed. Whereas others aim to reach the whole neighbourhood by passing them one neighbour to the next.

In most cases, distribution is conducted by the members of the neighbourhood associations, who distribute them to their members’ mailboxes and also leave them in the neighbourhood shops for them to be picked by their customers. However, the Revista de Montjuïc -after the first few issues- and Les Fulles de la Devesa choose to send the magazine by post. El Dimoni and El Pont del Dimoni, which had a sale price, could be purchased in bookshops and newsagents.

5. Conclusions

This book is the first systematic and in-depth approach to Girona’s neighbourhood press. The general objective is to detect, describe and analyse the characteristics of these newspapers throughout their history, from the early 1970s to the present day. In particular, we characterise neighbourhood press in terms of content, organisation, and funding; describe the social functions it performs within Girona’s communication system; and highlight the role it has played in the city’s community movement.

Girona’s neighbourhood magazines came into existence in democratic times, unlike those of Barcelona, which played a prominent role from the end of the Franco regime. At that time, Girona was still suffering the consequences of the urban planning policies that originated during the dictatorship, which had given rise to a city that had grown rapidly and without any kind of planning, with an array of shortcomings. Neighbourhood associations appeared in the political and social effervescence of the time when it was urgent to act in the neighbourhoods to advise them and make them inhabitable. The local press of the time was becoming normalised and began to develop its function as a watchdog that was independent of the authorities and a forum for social pluralism. In this scenario, neighbourhood press was created as an instrument at the service of the citizens. This local press became particularly active in former municipalities that had been annexed, which aimed to reclaim their historical personality, and in newly built neighbourhoods, which originally lacked basic infrastructures and services.

Girona’s neighbourhood press has two main focuses in its proposed content: on the one hand, local information and, on the other, dissemination. From an informative stance, the neighbourhood press deals with news that the daily press can hardly reach or offer in detail, given that the reduced scope of coverage allows for a much more in-depth treatment. Beyond the current news, local newspapers are responsible for disseminating elements of local heritage and the past of their surroundings, in such a way that they help to preserve and transmit what makes each neighbourhood unique. As far as organisational matters are concerned, one person or a small team often takes on the coordination of the contents and the steps required to make the magazine a reality. Everyone participates on a voluntary basis. In terms of funding, four sources of income are used: advertising, the resources of the neighbourhood associations, direct sales, and public subsidies.

Based on the analysis of the publications and the comparison of the results of the field work with the theoretical framework, five functions of the Girona neighbourhood press are defined: information, participation, identity, vindication, and accountability. Thus, they complement the general media with local information, they are open to citizen participation either as individuals or entities and group, they preserve and disseminate the uniqueness of the neighbourhoods by raising awareness regarding their history; they act as a spokesperson for the demands of the local citizens in order to achieve improvements, especially in terms of urban planning and public facilities, and they are a mechanism of transparency for the associations that promote them.

The publications studied in this document have played a significant role in the heart of the neighbourhood movement. Firstly, they have been and continue to be an important instrument of dissemination, both for making themselves known among the neighbours and for conveying proposals or encouraging them to become involved in neighbourhood associations. Through their editorials, the neighbourhood organisations take a position in numerous debates, both local and national. They also use the magazines to find out the opinion of local residents in relation to current local issues. Finally, these magazines serve as a means of communication for many organisations, which publish reports pertaining to general assemblies, annual financial statements and lists of incoming and outgoing members.

The Girona neighbourhood press is a model of popular, participatory, voluntary, and not-for-profit local press. It contributes to the construction of the local public sphere with detailed information, often from a critical point of view, about what is happening in the different neighbourhoods. Beyond this task, it represents an element of cohesion, linking communities around a historical legacy and common experiences and problems. It is not only a significant part of Girona’s contemporary journalistic tradition but is also a first-rate documentary source for understanding the urban, economic, and social transformations of the city in recent decades.

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