Qué Pasa is a Chilean magazine and digital media brand based in Santiago, Chile. Founded in 1971 as a weekly magazine covering current affairs, politics, business, and culture, it was originally associated with a conservative and center-right editorial perspective and opposed the government of Salvador Allende during the Popular Unity period. The print edition ended in May 2018, after which Qué Pasa was relaunched as a digital publication focused primarily on science, technology, the environment, and society. It subsequently became a content section of La Tercera, another publication of Copesa.
History
Founding and early years
Qué Pasa began publication on 23 April 1971, following the election of Salvador Allende in the previous year's presidential election. It was founded by a group that included journalists and intellectuals associated with the Catholic and conservative milieu surrounding the magazine Portada, including Cristián Zegers, Gonzalo Vial Correa, Jaime Martínez Williams, Emilio Sanfuentes, and Hermógenes Pérez de Arce. The group had previously established Portada in 1969 under the intellectual influence of historian Jaime Eyzaguirre. After Allende's victory, they created Qué Pasa as a publication devoted to current political affairs and opposed to the government of the Popular Unity coalition, while Portada continued to appear separately.
The magazine's early contributors included a significant number of lawyers and historians. Historical interpretation was an important component of its editorial project, particularly through the recurring Cuadernos Históricos section. A 2022 study of the magazine's first years found that its use of history was closely connected to its opposition to the ideological and political project of the Popular Unity government.
The magazine was published by several different companies during its first two decades. It was associated with Editorial Portada from 1977 to 1990 and became part of the Consorcio Periodístico de Chile (Copesa) in February 1990.
Editorial profile and journalism
Qué Pasa developed a conservative and center-right editorial profile. Its political orientation was particularly evident during its early years, when it served as an opposition publication to the Popular Unity government. Its coverage subsequently expanded beyond politics to include business, culture, and other areas of public affairs.
The magazine also became known for its annual ranking of Chilean universities. The ranking, established in 1999, measured the perceived quality of universities among employers and incorporated additional indicators relating to areas such as accreditation, students, faculty, and research. It became one of the longest-running university rankings in Chile.
One of the magazine's most prominent investigations came in February 2015, when journalist Juan Pablo Sallaberry published the report Un negocio Caval, which examined a multimillion-peso real-estate transaction involving Caval, a company owned by Natalia Compagnon, the daughter-in-law of President Michelle Bachelet. The report helped bring the affair, subsequently known as the Caval case, to national prominence and contributed to a wider political crisis for the Bachelet administration. Sallaberry's report received the 2015 Universidad Alberto Hurtado Premio Periodismo de Excelencia in the written category.
In May 2016, the magazine faced criticism after publishing transcripts of wiretapped conversations in connection with the Caval investigation that contained unverified allegations concerning Bachelet. The magazine subsequently edited the material and apologized, stating that publishing the allegations did not meet its own journalistic standards. The episode prompted criticism from the Chilean journalists' association and a defamation complaint by Bachelet.
End of the print edition and digital publication
In May 2018, Copesa announced the closure of the print edition of Qué Pasa after 47 years of publication. The company said that the magazine would continue in a digital format rather than as a printed weekly publication.
The digital version was relaunched in October 2018 as a multimedia publication distributed through La Tercera and devoted primarily to science, technology, the environment, and society. The new format included written articles as well as videos, animations, infographics, and other digital content.
The Qué Pasa name subsequently continued as a section of the digital edition of La Tercera. Articles under the Qué Pasa heading continued to be published on subjects including science, technology, environmental issues, history, and society. The section remained part of Copesa's media operation in the 2020s; in April 2025, the Dirección del Trabajo referred to Qué Pasa as one of the company's publications in an agreement covering Copesa employees.
See also
La Tercera Copesa Portada (magazine)
References
External links