El Jueves puts Milei and Trump on its €10 cover

El Jueves and its €10 cover: the absent ones weigh more

The cover of the El Jueves issue, on sale for €10, has achieved something difficult: making the controversy about the absentees rather than the drawn figures. The illustration antiestéticatures Milei, Trump, Ábalos and Errejón, alongside Isabel Díaz Ayuso's boyfriend. The majority reaction has not focused on them, but on those missing: Pedro Sánchez, Begoña, the Attorney General, Mazón and Abascal.

Who is on the cover and who isn't

The selection of characters has been read as a statement of intent. Some argue that the presence of Ábalos and Errejón — according to one participant, expelled from their respective parties — serves to disguise an obvious bias, while the absence of names from the current Government and its closest circles confirms it. The argument is repeated in different ways: if the magazine were truly satirical, there would be no reason to leave out the protagonists of the last political quarter.

On the opposite side, some messages defend that the publication takes aim at all sides and that the controversy is an overreaction. That defense clashes with the memory of what the publication was in its early decades, when the distribution was, according to several readers, more balanced.

The confusion over the right-wing drawing

One of the most commented details has been the identity of one of the characters on the cover. Several people asked who the man at the top right was, and the most repeated answer was that it is Isabel Díaz Ayuso's boyfriend. The confusion — some mistook him for other politicians — added an element of bewilderment to the controversy. It is not the only name that has been discussed: it has also been pointed out that Abascal, leader of Vox, is missing, on a cover that, according to some messages, seems to have carefully selected the representatives of the right.

Subsidies and the business model

One of the most circulated pieces of information is that of public aid. According to a participant, the outlet is part of the publishing group RBA Editores, which bought El Jueves, and has received subsidies via BOE since at least 2011, according to order CUL/3078/2011 (BOE-A-2011-17960), which granted aid for the promotion of book publishing and its distribution in public libraries. The magazine is also available in public libraries, according to several messages, which reinforces the perception that its survival depends, in part, on public funds.

The 2010 bankruptcy is another fact repeated in the thread. According to a forum user, the magazine went bankrupt and survived by reinventing itself. Since then, the model has changed, according to critics: fewer newsstand sales, more dependence on subsidies and a captive audience. The price of €10 per issue does not help expand the readership base, according to those same messages.

From the splendor of the 80s to today's pamphlet

The comparison with the past is constant. Those who bought it in the 80s and 90s remember a publication that shook everyone equally, without taking sides. There was criticism against the government of the day, which was then the PSOE, and the PP was hardly criticized because it was irrelevant, according to those memories. That tone has been lost, according to most critical voices, in favor of an editorial line that only shoots in one direction.

The decline is placed at different moments: some date it to 1994, when they stopped buying it; others, to the arrival of new cartoonists who, according to one message, labeled the old ones as sens and outdated. The irony is that those veterans signed pages like Historias de la Mili or Ivà's cartoons, which today are cited as an example of what the magazine no longer is.

The most repeated criticism is not ideological but aesthetic: the magazine, they say, is no longer funny. The drawings do not reach the level of yesteryear and the jokes are limited to repeating slogans. For a publication that lives on humor, that is the worst possible diagnosis, according to those messages.

The Pablo Motos case as a symptom

Pablo Motos's trajectory is used as an example of the shift. According to a participant, the presenter was considered just another pogre until a part of feminism pointed him out for alleged inappropriate behavior with women. From then on, his figure changed sides in public perception. That mechanism — whoever does not align with the dominant narrative becomes an enemy — applies, according to critics, to the magazine itself: it has ceased to be satirical to become a pamphlet that only laughs at the usual targets.

The audience that remains

The question that hangs in the air is who pays €10 for an issue. The most repeated answer is that almost no one: public libraries, die-hard fans and little else. The magazine that was seen in hair salons and waiting rooms has disappeared from those circuits. Some messages mention Japanese mangakas as a reference for humor.

In the thread, the final doubt is whether anyone will care enough to buy it.