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Newsprint 

Even though newspapers are not as popular as television or radio, they are important sources for news and information for much of urban Nicaragua. A quarter of respondents in the AudienceScapes urban survey said they read a newspaper on a daily basis, and 52 percent said they do so at least weekly.

La Prensa and El Nuevo Diario emerged as the two most popular newspapers among respondents; both run national coverage and have led the newsprint market for a long period of time. In addition, both newspapers are critical of the current administration led by President Daniel Ortega, and both are owned by the Chamorro family, a politically influential family who oppose the Sandinista movement. The third leading newspaper, Hoy, is popular among young adults and the less affluent and tends to be seen as a sensationalist paper.

Chart 1

La Prensa and El Nuevo Diario were listed by survey respondents as two of the top five most important sources for news. La Prensa was ranked second behind Channel 10 and El Nuevo Diario was ranked fourth just behind Channel 2. In an attempt to counter the criticism the two most influential newspapers the Ortega administration in 2008 began to publish a monthly newspaper, El 19. As Chart 1 shows, the reach of El 19 is far below that of its competitors.

Chart 2

Multiple newspapers have begun to publish content on the web, despite low internet penetration. According to our survey, the most visited Nicaraguan newspaper on the internet by urbanites is La Prensa (www.laprensa.com). Approximately 18 percent of internet users surveyed said they visit the online version of La Prensa at least weekly. Similarly, around 13 percent of internet users surveyed said they visited the site of El Nuevo Diario (www.elnuevodiario.com.ni).

Chart 3

Newspaper readership seems to be more closely linked to education rather than income when comparing weekly consumption. There is a 20 percentage point jump in weekly readership from those with a primary education to those with a university education while there is only a slight increase in readership from low-income to high-income consumption.

Interestingly, older urban Nicaraguans are much more likely to read a newspaper on a daily basis. However, the percentage of young adults who read newspapers at least weekly is much higher than older Nicaraguans (45+).