WHO IS WHO: ANGEL ARNEDO

Angel Arnedo is one of the best Spanish newspaper editors.

In the next few hours, according to Periodistas 21, he will be appointed as the new editorial director of Vocento, the largest Spanish newspaper chain with 13 dailies, a total circulation of 810.000 copies and more than 3.5 million readers.

Arnedo was a great innovator and his newspaper, El Correo in Bilbao (Spain) has been one of the most successful papers in the world adopting new editorial ways to interact with readers and advertisers (the "enlace project").

You can read about this project in my chapter on the INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS Global Report that INNOVATION produces every year for the World Association of Newspapers (WAN).

Arnedo said a few years ago:

"In my 30 years as a journalist in the Basque country, I have never lived through such a difficult situation as this.

The Basque society has become so polarized there is no longer room for an independent newspaper like ours. We are branded as traitors because we defend the Basque country's ties to Spain, but we also support the region's autonomy. That apparently is no longer enough."

Arnedo, who has received ETA (the terrorist group that wants an independent Basque Country) death threats, was constantly accompanied by at least two bodyguards.

He used to travel everywhere in two cars (one is a decoy), and he had to book flights and restaurants using pseudonyms, and simple pleasures like going to the cinema were out of bounds because of the security risks involved.

Now that ETA is involved in a permanent peace process with the Spanish government, Mr. Arnedo is moving to Madrid.

The Vocento Group is very lucky to get such a respected editor to lead a Group whose CEO is Jose Maria Bergareche, another first class newspaper publisher, former President of the IFRA Board of Directors.

What Angel Arnedo leaves in Bilbao is an example of how to run a quality and profitable regional newspaper.