Jaume Perelló, new director of the ARA Baleares

PalmARA Baleares opens a new era with the appointment of Jaume Perelló (Palma, 1970) as director, replacing Cristina Ros, who will remain at the helm of the weekly newspaper, the print edition. Both are part of the group of journalists who, with the daily ARA de Catalunya and a good number of members from the Islands, launched the newspaper in 2013, when it became the first digital newspaper in Catalan in the Balearic Islands with a clear commitment to quality and analysis. Ros has been director in two different stages (from 2014 to 2016, and from 2022 to the present), while Perelló was the first deputy director.

A journalist with a broad and diverse career, Perelló has worked at Antena 3 TV, has directed and produced international documentaries, and has held positions of responsibility at TV Mallorca and IB3, where she directed the program Zoom, awarded the City of Palma Journalism Prize. He has also been a columnist for the Balearic Journal and has combined communication with environmental advocacy in foundations and organizations such as Avina, Ibiza Preservation Fund, and GOB. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fundació Marilles.

Upon taking over the direction of a project of which he is an inseparable part, Jaume Perelló highlights the pioneering role that ARA Baleares has played from the beginning: "The newspaper was already a pioneer in the Islands in the model of combining print with a modern, high-quality digital offering that was very different from conventional media. Over time, this commitment to current affairs with rigor and depth, and a digital format that offers the constant heartbeat of everyday life," he said.

The new director claims the need for a journalism that shuns superficiality: "ARA Baleares represents a fundamental project for island society because it starts from a foundation that is the essence of journalism: aspiring to go far beyond a headline, a fact. We try to get to the bottom of the issue, the problems we face and also the solutions that may exist."

Perelló warns that current journalism is more necessary than ever, despite being more complicated amidst the saturation of stimuli and messages: "The time when only a few editors were able to tell people what was happening is over. Now everyone can communicate with us. Therefore, only by providing added value and investigating is appropriate."

An audience that never stops growing

The constant growth of ARA Baleares' digital audience has been one of the factors that motivated the internal reorganization: "The newspaper has experienced significant growth in recent years. This forces us to provide a more and better digital response, increasing content and formats without abandoning our hallmark: rigor and a job well done," explains Perelló.

He also aims to strengthen collaboration with other publications and take a step forward in networks and new formats: "Always with the idea of being a benchmark in information and analysis, but now with a greater presence on the networks and launching platforms that allow us to reach an even wider audience."

Perelló also asserts the founding commitment to the language and society of the Islands: "We are a Catalan-language media outlet because it is our language, but above all we want to be a professional, honest, and independent media outlet. We are not a media outlet against anything, but rather in favor of sustainable, inclusive Islands, a land of opportunity and welcome, where respect is accorded."

And he recalls the spirit with which the newspaper was born more than 12 years ago: "We go out, as the founding manifesto said, to meet the world to come, to anticipate and analyze it. Without arrogance, but with the conviction that by doing our work, journalism, we can contribute to putting.

Jaume Perelló calls for consolidating this collective project: "We need to be many: readers, subscribers, advertisers. In just over ten years, ARA Baleares has managed to become a reference in information. Readers help us to be better, becoming subscribers and sending us their ideas and criticisms."