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La Cuarta: Chile’s Wildest Newspaper Goes Digital and Stays Loud
If you’ve ever picked up a Chilean tabloid and laughed out loud at a headline, chances are it came from La Cuarta. This isn’t your average news rag—it’s part soap opera, part stand-up set, part front-row seat to Chilean pop culture.
Born Loud and Proud
La Cuarta launched in 1984 during a turbulent time for Chilean media. While traditional papers were buttoned-up and formal, La Cuarta charged in like a party crasher with a megaphone. It wasn’t trying to be respectable. It wanted to be read. By everyone.
Copesa, the media conglomerate behind it, was floundering financially after acquiring La Tercera. La Cuarta was their Hail Mary—a low-cost, high-volume tabloid designed to win over everyday readers. And it worked. Fast.
Its tone? Think streetwise humor, slang-heavy language, and zero tolerance for boring headlines. Readers didn’t just follow the stories—they quoted them.
Headlines That Slapped
La Cuarta didn’t just write the news. It roasted, flirted, exaggerated, and occasionally shocked.
One classic example: “Le hizo el amor a un rodamiento” (“He made love to a ball bearing”). That headline is exactly what you think it is. It became legendary.
Another? When Cecilia Bolocco was crowned Miss Universe in 1987, La Cuarta skipped the usual “Chile Celebrates” narrative and shouted “¡Mijita Rica!” on the front page. That kind of cheeky, irreverent tone set it apart in a sea of traditional journalism.
La Cuarta didn’t aim for balance or depth. It aimed for attention—and it got it. By 1994, it was the most-read paper in the country.
A Deep Love for the “Guachaca” Vibe
What really hooked people was how La Cuarta embraced Chile’s “guachaca” culture. That’s working-class, down-to-earth, proud-to-be-unrefined Chilean identity. You don’t need an English equivalent because there isn’t one. Think beer over wine, cumbia over classical, and heart over polish.
La Cuarta didn’t cover the guachaca. It was guachaca. Its pages were packed with stories about taxi drivers, TV gossip, late-night accidents, and all the messy, funny, tragic stuff that actually makes up daily life.
It understood its readers because it sounded like them. No suit-and-tie editorial board needed.
The Bomba 4: Chile’s Sexiest Supplement
Let’s talk about Bomba 4—La Cuarta’s risqué weekend pullout. It wasn’t subtle. It was glossy, full-color, and loaded with models in minimal clothing. Part pin-up, part pop culture capsule, it became a collector's item.
People didn’t pretend to read it for the articles. It was a cultural event every week. In the pre-Instagram era, Bomba 4 was where glamour lived—raw, cheeky, and proudly lowbrow.
The Digital Pivot: Death of the Print, Not the Paper
In January 2021, La Cuarta printed its final physical edition. After 36 years on newsstands, it went fully digital.
The transition wasn’t just a survival move. It was inevitable. Chile’s print industry was shrinking fast—by 2020, daily newspaper circulation had dropped more than 70% from its early 2000s peak, according to OECD data.
Copesa laid off nearly 200 workers, and La Cuarta was folded into its web operation. It was the end of an era for kiosks but not for readers. Today, lacuarta.com carries the same flavor online, minus the ink stains.
They also spun off niche digital versions: La Cuarta Constructor (for workers in construction) and La Cuarta Comerciante (for small business owners). Same voice, new beats.
Less Sleaze, More Strategy
In 2017, La Cuarta tried a glow-up. It ditched the infamous “diario pop” branding and went with a new slogan: “La Cuarta de todos.” The redesign swapped scandalous covers for sleeker visuals. It even switched to the Berliner format—a mid-size layout that felt more European than guachaca.
The content adjusted too. Less gossip, more trending news. Less cleavage, more commentary. It was still cheeky, but with a slightly straighter face. Think of it as La Cuarta wearing a collared shirt… with the top buttons undone.
A Media Survivor with Street Smarts
La Cuarta didn’t just survive the digital shift—it adapted with surprising agility.
Unlike many legacy newspapers that tried (and failed) to bring print readers online, La Cuarta already spoke fluent internet. Its headline style was made for social sharing. Its voice? Perfect for memes. Its stories? Short, visual, emotional.
They embraced platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where punchlines matter more than paragraphs. They didn’t need to find a new audience. Their original one was already there—just older, swiping on phones instead of flipping through pages.
Why It Still Works
Because it never pretended to be something it wasn’t.
La Cuarta didn’t try to be the New York Times of Chile. It didn’t aim for awards. It aimed for eyeballs. And in doing that, it became something very few media outlets ever do: part of the culture itself.
It was the paper you joked about at the bar, folded under your arm at the bus stop, or read out loud to your friends. You didn’t just consume it. You lived it.
And now, you scroll it.
FAQs
Is La Cuarta still being published?
Yes, La Cuarta stopped printing in 2021 but remains active online through lacuarta.com.
Is La Cuarta a serious news source?
Depends what you mean by serious. It reports real events, but always through an entertainment-heavy, populist lens.
Who owns La Cuarta?
La Cuarta is part of the Copesa media group, which also owns La Tercera and other Chilean outlets.
Why did La Cuarta stop printing?
Mainly due to economic pressures and declining print readership. Digital was cheaper, faster, and more relevant to its audience.
What’s the tone of La Cuarta today?
Still bold and irreverent, but with a cleaner layout and a broader content mix, including trending news and lifestyle.
Was Bomba 4 controversial?
Yes—and proudly so. It leaned into its role as a cheeky, adult-oriented section and gained cult status because of it.
How popular is La Cuarta in 2025?
As of late 2025, it remains one of Chile’s top digital tabloids, especially across social media platforms.
La Cuarta didn’t just report Chilean life—it reflected it, distorted it, and laughed with it. That’s why people read it then. And that’s why they still read it now.
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