Who Produces World's Best Web Infographics?

Even non-Spanish speakers can appreciate the work of elmundo.es, the Web site of Spain's largest newspaper, El Mundo. Its Madrid-based 10-person online staff has built an international reputation as one of the leaders in multimedia journalism -- and as the worldwide leader when it comes to animated interactive infographics.

For three years running now, elmundo.es has won more awards and finalist spots in the Society for News Design's SND.ies international multimedia competition than anyone else. This year's awards won't be announced till the end of September, but elmundo.es again got more finalist nods than all the competition -- seven (though it was followed closely by NYTimes.com with six).

The site makes for a fascinating case study, because its approach is unique in the news business. While other news organizations take interactive infographics seriously -- crosstown rival El Pais, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, USAToday.com, the BBC and a few others spring to mind -- no one else has put this much effort and resources into the field. Few other sites are capable of publishing a complex Flash package only hours after a breaking news event, much less do it routinely.

And while other multimedia leaders such as MSNBC.com, NYTimes.com, USAToday.com and washingtonpost.com emphasize audio-narrated interactive slide shows and video, elmundo.es has devoted its work almost entirely to infographics.

The Power of Personality

Why has El Mundo gone where other news organizations fear to tread? Jane Ellen Stevens, a teaching fellow at the University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and an SND.ies judge, says most news companies don't place enough emphasis on research and development or training. "Unlike industries that embrace change," she says, "the news industry relies on change coming from individual journalists who are 'change agents.'"

At El Mundo, one of those change agents is Alberto Cairo, who heads