Miguel Barroso Ayats (Zaragoza, 70 years old), member of the board of directors of Grupo Prisa and editorial director, died this Saturday in Madrid of a heart attack. With a degree in Law and Philosophy and Letters (specialising in Modern and Contemporary History) from the University of Barcelona, Barroso had focused his professional activity on the field of communication after working as a journalist in several media, including EL PAÍS.
After hearing the news, the president of Grupo Prisa (publisher of EL PAÍS), Joseph Oughourlian, said: "I am deeply saddened by the death of Miguel Barroso. Right now, we're all in shock at the unexpected news. My relationship with him has been magnificent. He has always brought his extraordinary professional experience to me and to the board of directors of Prisa. I want to convey my deepest condolences to Miguel's family. All the members of the Prisa board are mourning the disappearance of a person of great value."
His career included consulting work on media in Ibero-American countries for the company Hispasat and responsibilities at the Fnac Group, a European distributor of cultural leisure products, where in 1993 he led the launch of the brand in the Iberian Peninsula and served as general manager of the Spanish subsidiary. Subsequently, 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.com, focused on news on solidarity, ecology, music, cinema and literature.
In the last decade he had been linked to WPP, the world's leading communication and marketing group. First as general director of the advertising agency Young & Rubicam in Spain, and later as director of development for Central America and the Caribbean from Havana. Finally, he was appointed director of WPP Spain. In March 2021 he was appointed director of Prisa (the publishing group of EL PAÍS) at the proposal of Amber Capital, a position he currently holds. The group highlighted its professional experience and knowledge of the media and the world of communication, both in Europe and Latin America, and its fit with the objectives of Prisa's strategic plan.
The figure of Miguel Barroso gained political relevance at the beginning of 2003, when the then secretary general of the PSOE, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, incorporated him into his trusted team as a communication advisor for the municipal elections of 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 at some crucial moments in his political life, such as during the 1993 general election campaign, which the socialist leader successfully ended against the PP candidate. José María Aznar.
After the 2003 municipal election campaign, Zapatero asked him to continue collaborating with him in view of the general elections of March 2004. After his electoral success, the socialist leader incorporated him into the team of La Moncloa and appointed him Secretary of State for Communication. Barroso had already told the Prime Minister 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, Barroso focused his activity on internal tasks, especially on enhancing the president's image, but also on the negotiation of the new audiovisual map. In fact, during his time in the Moncloa Palace, the offer of private television was expanded and the law that enshrined the independence of RTVE was approved. Also at that time, digital terrestrial television (DTT) landed in Spain and the date of the analogue switch-off was set, that is, the cessation of broadcasts in this technological format by television operators.
Later, in April 2006, he replaced María Asunción Ansorena as general director of Casa de América, after being appointed by consensus by the three administrations of different stripes that make up the institution's board of trustees: the Government, the Community of Madrid and the City Council of the capital.
In addition to EL PAÍS, he worked as a columnist in other media, such as the Barcelona magazine El Mundo, the Italian agency Quotidiani Associati, the magazine El Viejo Topo or the Diario de Valencia.
Miguel Barroso was co-author of the book Crónicas Caribes (Editorial El País/Aguilar, 2006) and had also published two novels: Amanecer con hormigas en la boca (Debate, 1999), which aroused the admiration of the writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán ("one of the best crime novels I have read and that I have not written", he said) and Un asunto sensible (Random House, 2009). The first was translated into eight languages and made into a film, with Barroso as co-screenwriter, by his brother Mariano in 2005.
Barroso was married to journalist Charo Izquierdo, with whom he had two daughters, Camila and Cristina, and, later, to former socialist minister Carme Chacón – who died in 2017 – with whom he had a son, Miquel. His current partner was Cuban anesthesiologist Dreydi Monduy.