Ramírez, Pedro J.

b. 1952, Logroño

   Journalist

   After a degree in journalism at the University of Navarre, and a period teaching in the US, Ramírez worked initially on the magazine La Actualidad Española, subsequently joining the editorial staff of ABC, and was also the Madrid correspondent of the Barcelona evening paper El Noticiero Universal. Between 1980 and 1989 he was Editor-in-Chief of Diario 16, and succeeded in almost tripling its sales. In 1989, however, he was dismissed after a dispute with the board about editorial style. He immediately co-founded a new paper, El Mundo del Siglo XXI, usually referred to as El Mundo, to which he managed to entice many of his former colleagues, and which by 1993 had reached sales of 200,000, placing it third in importance behind El País and ABC. Ramírez has been determined to turn El Mundo into a lively investigative newspaper with a sharp nose for corruption, and has persistently harassed government figures, notably over the GAL case. He was often presented in other publications as carrying on what amounted to a personal crusade against Felipe González.

   See also: journalism; poderes fácticos; press

   EAMONN RODGERS