Miguel Barroso Ayats (Zaragoza, 70 years old), member of the board of directors of Grupo Prisa and editorial advisor, died this Saturday in Madrid, victim of a heart attack. Graduated in Law and Philosophy and Letters (specializing in Modern and Contemporary History) at the University of Barcelona, Barroso had focused his professional activity on the field of communication after practicing journalism in several media, including EL PAÍS.
After hearing the news last night, the president of Grupo Prisa (publisher of EL PAÍS), Joseph Oughourlian, said: “I deeply regret the death of Miguel Barroso. Right now, we are all in a state of shock faced with the unexpected news. My relationship with him has been magnificent. He has always contributed, both to me and to the board of directors of Prisa, his extraordinary professional experience. I want to convey my deepest condolences to Miguel's family. “All members of the Prisa board are mourning the disappearance of a person of great value.”
His career included consulting work on media in Latin American countries for the company Hispasat and responsibilities at the Fnac Group, a European distributor of cultural leisure products, where in 1993 he directed the launch of the brand in the Peninsula and served as general director of the Spanish subsidiary. Later, he was international director of Communication and Marketing at the group's international headquarters in Paris. In 2001, he participated, along with a hundred professionals, especially linked to television and audiovisual production, in the launch of the digital newspaper lacorrientealterna.comfocused on news about solidarity, ecology, music, cinema and literature.
In the last decade he had been linked to WPP, the world's leading communication and marketing. First as general director of the Young & Rubicam advertising agency in Spain, and later as development director for Central America and the Caribbean from Havana. Finally, he was appointed director of WPP Spain. In March 2021 he was appointed director of Grupo Prisa (publisher of EL PAÍS) at the proposal of Amber Capital, a position he currently held. The group highlighted his professional experience and his knowledge of the media and the world of communication, both in Europe and Latin America, and his fit with the objectives of Prisa's strategic plan.
The figure of Miguel Barroso acquired political relevance at the beginning of 2003, when the then general secretary of the PSOE, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, incorporated him into his trusted team as a communication advisor for the municipal elections in May of that year. Barroso had already held positions of trust for the Minister of Education José María Maravall during the first Government of Felipe González, with whom he later collaborated in some crucial moments of his political life, such as during the 1993 general election campaign. that the socialist leader successfully settled against the PP candidate, José María Aznar.
After the 2003 municipal campaign, Zapatero asked him to continue collaborating with him with a view to the general elections of March 2004. After his electoral success, the socialist leader incorporated him into the La Moncloa team and appointed him Secretary of State. Communication. Barroso already told the President of the Government that he would contribute to the “start” of the legislature, but that he would not finish it because he had to attend to personal commitments derived from his literary activity.
During the year and a half in La Moncloa, until September 2005, Barroso took on the task of reforming public television to remove it from the partisan battle and to reorder the audiovisual map. During his time in La Moncloa, the foundations of the law were laid, approved in 2006, which allowed RTVE to be degovernmentalized and a new stage opened, in which the president of state radio and television became elected by Parliament. At that stage, the Efe agency also took a fundamental step with the ratification of the Editorial Statute, which guarantees the independence of journalists.
In the audiovisual field, Barroso contributed to designing a new map, marked by the implementation of digital terrestrial television (DTT) and the birth of new channels. This reform allowed Cuatro to launch free-to-air programming and La Sexta to obtain a broadcast license. Luis Arroyo, who worked with Barroso in La Moncloa in those years, remembers that Zapatero called him to make a change in the sector. “He dedicated his life to the task of modernizing communication. It was very archaic and relations with the media had been greatly affected during Aznar's mandate,” says Arroyo, current president of the Ateneo de Madrid, who highlights “Barroso's broad culture, tireless work and extremely brilliant capacity for analysis.” He also highlights “the impeccable progressive principles” that he always defended.
Later, in April 2006, he replaced María Asunción Ansorena as general director of the Casa de América, after being appointed by consensus by the three different administrations that make up the institution's board of trustees: Government, Community of Madrid and City Council of the capital. In addition to EL PAÍS, he worked as a columnist in other media outlets such as the Italian agency Quotidiani AssociatiMagazine The Old Mole or the Valencia Newspaper.
Miguel Barroso was co-author of the book Caribbean Chronicles (Editorial El País/Aguilar, 2006) and had also published two novels: Dawn with ants in your mouth (Debate, 1999) and A sensitive matter (Random House, 2009), whose plots take place in Cuba, his other great passion. The first was translated into eight languages and made into a film, with Barroso as co-writer, by his brother Mariano in 2005. As a specialist on the Caribbean island, where he lived for long periods, he was preparing a book on linguistic shifts in Latin America, whose notes kept in a leather folder.
Barroso was married to the journalist Charo Izquierdo, with whom he had two daughters, Camila and Cristina, and, later, to the former socialist minister Carme Chacón – who died in 2017 -, with whom he had a son, Miquel. His current partner was the Cuban anesthesiologist Dreydi Monduy.
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