Pressure of Truth
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Outlet profile

Libertad Digital

Spanish right

Owned byGrupo Libertad Digital, controlled by founder and president Federico Jiménez Losantos
FundingOnline advertising (display and banner ads) and significant institutional advertising from PP-governed regional and local governments, particularly the Madrid regional government (Comunidad de Madrid under Isabel Díaz Ayuso) and Madrid City Hall; in 2024 the group received approximately €1 million in institutional advertising, without which it would have posted a net loss
On the administrationbroadly supportive

Background

Libertad Digital was founded on March 8, 2000, making it one of Spain's first significant online-only news outlets. Its three founders were journalist Federico Jiménez Losantos, economist Alberto Recarte (first board president), and editor Javier Rubio. From its launch the outlet was explicitly partisan: right-leaning, anti-socialist, and pro-market. In 2004 a capital expansion brought in investors connected to the center-right Partido Popular (PP), including then-PP treasurer Álvaro Lapuerta; later allegations surfaced that more than €400,000 came from the PP's undeclared 'Caja B' slush fund. Over time the group expanded beyond the website to include the esRadio radio network, the free-market-focused news site LibreMercado, and the audiovisual company Cronos Multimedia. Alberto Recarte, the outlet's co-founder, was later convicted in Spain's 'Tarjetas Black' scandal, which involved executives using company credit cards for personal expenses. Media watchdog reporting has documented that Libertad Digital and its sister outlets have received institutional advertising from PP-controlled governments for more than two decades; the Madrid regional and city governments together funneled roughly €1 million to the group in 2024 alone, keeping the outlet profitable. Editorially, the outlet is a consistent voice for economic deregulation, defense of Spanish national unity against Catalan and Basque separatism, social conservatism, and sharp criticism of Spain's left-wing PSOE-led national government.

Sources

  1. Libertad Digital — Wikipedia (English)
  2. Federico Jiménez Losantos — Wikipedia (English)
  3. Libertad Digital: 21 años de publicidad institucional y apoyo público — El Salto
  4. Ayuso y Almeida riegan con millones al Grupo Libertad Digital — El Plural
  5. Ayuso y Jiménez Losantos: 1,7 millones de euros en publicidad institucional en cuatro años — El Salto
  6. Grupo Libertad Digital — Libertad Digital (corporate page)
  7. Qué y quién está detrás de Libertad Digital — Profesionales PCM

Profile compiled 2026-08-20; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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