Dominican Republic newspaper El Nacional permanently shut down its printed edition on July 31, 2026, to transition into an exclusively digital news outlet. The decision makes El Nacional the first major national daily newspaper in the country to abandon paper publication for a digital-only format.
Other media outlets in the country previously launched online before adding print editions, such as Clave Digital, which launched the weekly paper Clave. Internationally, The Independent in the United Kingdom switched to a digital-only model in 2016, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced a similar move to digital publishing.
Decades of Dominican Journalism History
El Nacional was founded on September 11, 1966, one year after the April War. For nearly six decades, the publication documented major national transformations and covered the democratic life of the Dominican Republic.
The newspaper featured prominent writers such as Orlando Martínez, whose critical voice remains a benchmark for journalism in the country. It was also the last major national evening newspaper in the Dominican Republic, making its final printed issue the end of an afternoon tradition and the start of a new digital era.
