La Tribuna newspaper

Tribunito

Tribunito

La Tribuna is one of the main newspapers in Honduras. Published in Tegucigalpa, with more than 100,000 daily copies, is known for its bias in favor of the Liberal Party of Honduras (Honduran “Liberal Party” tends to be conservative). Its founder, Oscar A. Flores, was a known liberal politician, and his son —former President Carlos Roberto Flores— is one of its major shareholders, and one who oversees and write the editorials.

La Tribuna, a conservative-leaning newspaper, took side with those who adverse Manuel Zelaya Rosales in the political crisis that led to his ouster, crisis that threatened to destroy democracy in Honduras. However, in order to maintain a balance of information, La Tribuna also published the views of the followers of Zelaya, and published the international news that branded as “de facto government” the interim administration of Roberto Micheletti.

La Tribuna newspaper has traditionally been the favorite of the capital city its neighboring cities, so El Heraldo —its closest competitor— has had to work hard to win the preference of readers.

In the city of Danli, for example, La Tribuna has traditionally been the favorite, because it has published more content about this eastern part of the country, with the outstanding collaboration of the journalist Luis Alonso Gomez.

Having the backing of tradition, La Tribuna has been neglected in several respects. El Heraldo beats it on presentation and layout, as well as in investigative journalism and innovation. La Tribuna was the last major newspaper in Honduras to have a website. Its website has also been lagging behind with respect to El Heraldo.

But La Tribuna newspaper has its own strengths. With the collaboration of renowned columnists, like the well-known politician and former presidential candidate, the versatile Ramon Villeda Bermudez, son of the recalled President Ramon Villeda Morales. Also political analyst Juan Ramon Martinez has an influential column in this newspaper. The humorous column “Let me tell you …” (“Déjenme Decirles Que..” by Jorge Montenegro has many followers.

La Tribuna newspaper offers a channel of expression to his readers through the column “The People’s Tribune” (“La Tribuna del Pueblo”) and the inner section of “Popular Corner” (“Rincón Popular”).

The section of juicy gossip, known as “Pildoritas” (“Little Pills”) is very successful and has imitators in other newspapers.

On Saturdays there is a special section with interviews with various celebrities of Honduras known as “Day 7” (“Día 7”). This section includes the column of “The Log” (“La Bitácora”), in which an anonymous author makes a critique of the work of different Honduran media. The column “Idiomatic Peccadilloes” (“Pecadillos Idiomáticos”) makes a critique of language errors committed by the media, and occasionally sneaks a religious message. In “The Beauty of Day 7” (“La Belleza del Día 7”) us men can delight with the image of a sexy woman in bikini every week.

On the cover of La Tribuna newspaper, the Tribunito figure presents us with a funny daily phrase, making puns with current issues.

One of the benefits of La Tribuna is that important documents of general interest are published in their entirety in its physical publication, such as the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Agreement and the inauguration speech of President Porfirio Lobo Sosa.

3 thoughts on “La Tribuna newspaper

  1. La Gringa

    Thanks for the review. Very informative. I try to read all of the newspapers on an important issue and at least scan all of them occasionally.

    For breaking news, you just can't beat El Heraldo and La Prensa which often have articles within minutes of something happening. I think the delay in posting online hurts La Tribuna.

    I'd love to see you write reviews of all of the online newspapers. Thanks!

  2. Stephanie

    Thanks for the informative review! I'm only starting to read Spanish (and just learning to use Google Translator) so will keep working my way through the information they provide. Please, if possible, review the other newspapers in Honduras – information is power, no matter what country we live in.

  3. juaquinramirez99

    No doubt: each newspaper has its own strengths and weaknesses. However, the key point in journalism is how much it can remain as an objective media. This seems to be a weak drawback in almost all the Honduran journals. As you pointed in your review, La Tribuna tried to cover both sides of the story. El Heraldo and La Prensa have been radical taking part in favor of one group. Another thing I like about La Tribuna is its approach to reach the reader with up-to-date news.

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