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Features / Archive
9 February, 2010 12:19:16 | in art, culture, lifestyle
Inside El Comercio: The history and importance of Peru's oldest newspaper
By Emi Peters
Columbia College Chicago
A man dressed in a black, pin-striped suit carefully leads a tour group of Columbia College Chicago students through a noisy construction area inside an aging stone building. The man takes the group up a winding mahogany staircase to a second-floor landing, where the group stops to view and take pictures of an impressive, glass mosaic ceiling. With a thick and husky Spanish accent, Hugo Guerra gives a brief history of how a small newspaper establishment turned into Peru’s premiere source for news and information.
El Comercio, the oldest and most prominent newspaper in Peru, has been the main resource of Peruvian news for 170 years. El Comercio has a rich history and has flourished above 23 other daily newspapers in Lima alone.
Guerra, the executive editor of the paper, continues the tour, leading the group past a large room full of reporters, graphic designers and photographers busy at work on their computers. At the end of a deserted hallway, Guerra stops in front of a large, dark wooden door, arms crossed and legs spread, as if guarding some impressive secret.
“We usually don’t show this, but thanks to our friendship, we’re going to open our treasury,” he quips. After a brief pause, another man arrives with a key to open the forbidden door, allowing everyone inside of a dark, regal-looking room. Inside, ceiling-high shelves are packed with leather-bound books. These books hold the immense archives of every issue of El Comercio ever printed, dating back to the paper’s very first issue, published in 1839.
It was in that year that Peru’s prominent Miró Quesada family established the newspaper. In the seventies, left-wing dictator Juan Velasco Alvarado seized the paper from the family in an attempt to create a socialist revolution. In 1980, democracy was re-established in Peru under the presidency of Fernando Belaunde and El Comercio was returned to the Miró Quesada family. It was President Belaunde’s first official act upon assuming the presidency.
“This is very symbolic for us,” explains Guerra as he points to a hanging glass display of the historic 1980 issue detailing Belaunde’s achievement.
However, in the 1990s, El Comercio was again in danger of being taken over and brutally censored, this time, under the rule of Alberto Fujimori. Fujimori took a repressive stance on the opposition and attempted to crackdown on the free press. Despite this, independently owned newspapers like El Comercio and La República played critical roles in bringing down the Fujimori government. Because of the papers’ journalistic professionalism, the Inter American Press Association honored them with the freedom of expression award for their symbolic labor during difficult times.
Today, El Comercio is operated under the ownership of one main corporation, Empresa Editora El Comercio S.A. In addition to El Comercio, Empresa Editora produces a number of other Spanish-language publications, including Peru 21, Gestión and Trome, a popular tabloid with a daily circulation of 600,000.
El Comercio’s own daily circulation of 80,000 during the week (200,000 on weekends) reaches a broad audience. Newsstands located on almost every block in Lima sell sizable quantities of El Comercio and its sister publications. Newsstands like the one on the corner of Grimaldo Del Solar and Alfredo Benavides in Lima’s Miraflores district receive a shipment of about 70 issues of El Comercio on a daily basis. The woman who sells these papers behind the counter, Analí Escobar, says the reason why El Comercio is so popular is because “it has a history and the most information.”
“It’s the most recognized paper here,” she says.
Unlike in the U.S., where newspapers are a dying breed and cities like Chicago only have two main dailies standing, Lima’s admirable newspaper count of 24 citywide dailies seems to be flourishing.
“The majority of them are tabloids and owners are usually involved in politics or are close to politicians or political parties,” says Virginia Rey-Sánchez, former senior writer of business and economy at El Comercio. “Tabloids are used by the owners as a political tool. Its main objective every day is to have a front page with the political target or objective of the day. Newspaper kiosks are characterized here during the day to show just the front pages, hanging them up, where people stop by and read them,” generating popularity.
Escobar, the kiosk worker, noted that another reason people in Lima read newspapers more is because of the lack of internet in homes, which is where nearly half of all U.S. consumers obtain their news, according to a Zogby Interactive online poll.
“Not everybody can afford the internet here,” says Escobar. “That’s why newspapers are more popular. Here, there are more divisions in culture and not everybody has as much money” to afford that service.
But for struggling journalists in the United States who have dreams of becoming the next Carl Bernstein or Bob Woodward, but fear the demise of print journalism, maybe moving to the Lima would be the next best thing.
“Who knows, maybe you will find yourself working for El Comercio someday,” Guerra tells the group of students with a sly smile. You never know.
Note: During the first two weeks of January, 13 Columbia College Chicago journalism, design and photography students spent time in Peru and Cusco taking a Travel Writing class, led by professors Elio Leturia (former design editor for El Comercio) and Teresa Puente (former Chicago Tribune reporter).
tags : kiosk business economy Peruvian newspapers
Columbia College Chicago
A man dressed in a black, pin-striped suit carefully leads a tour group of Columbia College Chicago students through a noisy construction area inside an aging stone building. The man takes the group up a winding mahogany staircase to a second-floor landing, where the group stops to view and take pictures of an impressive, glass mosaic ceiling. With a thick and husky Spanish accent, Hugo Guerra gives a brief history of how a small newspaper establishment turned into Peru’s premiere source for news and information.
El Comercio, the oldest and most prominent newspaper in Peru, has been the main resource of Peruvian news for 170 years. El Comercio has a rich history and has flourished above 23 other daily newspapers in Lima alone.
Guerra, the executive editor of the paper, continues the tour, leading the group past a large room full of reporters, graphic designers and photographers busy at work on their computers. At the end of a deserted hallway, Guerra stops in front of a large, dark wooden door, arms crossed and legs spread, as if guarding some impressive secret.
“We usually don’t show this, but thanks to our friendship, we’re going to open our treasury,” he quips. After a brief pause, another man arrives with a key to open the forbidden door, allowing everyone inside of a dark, regal-looking room. Inside, ceiling-high shelves are packed with leather-bound books. These books hold the immense archives of every issue of El Comercio ever printed, dating back to the paper’s very first issue, published in 1839.
It was in that year that Peru’s prominent Miró Quesada family established the newspaper. In the seventies, left-wing dictator Juan Velasco Alvarado seized the paper from the family in an attempt to create a socialist revolution. In 1980, democracy was re-established in Peru under the presidency of Fernando Belaunde and El Comercio was returned to the Miró Quesada family. It was President Belaunde’s first official act upon assuming the presidency.
“This is very symbolic for us,” explains Guerra as he points to a hanging glass display of the historic 1980 issue detailing Belaunde’s achievement.
However, in the 1990s, El Comercio was again in danger of being taken over and brutally censored, this time, under the rule of Alberto Fujimori. Fujimori took a repressive stance on the opposition and attempted to crackdown on the free press. Despite this, independently owned newspapers like El Comercio and La República played critical roles in bringing down the Fujimori government. Because of the papers’ journalistic professionalism, the Inter American Press Association honored them with the freedom of expression award for their symbolic labor during difficult times.
Today, El Comercio is operated under the ownership of one main corporation, Empresa Editora El Comercio S.A. In addition to El Comercio, Empresa Editora produces a number of other Spanish-language publications, including Peru 21, Gestión and Trome, a popular tabloid with a daily circulation of 600,000.
El Comercio’s own daily circulation of 80,000 during the week (200,000 on weekends) reaches a broad audience. Newsstands located on almost every block in Lima sell sizable quantities of El Comercio and its sister publications. Newsstands like the one on the corner of Grimaldo Del Solar and Alfredo Benavides in Lima’s Miraflores district receive a shipment of about 70 issues of El Comercio on a daily basis. The woman who sells these papers behind the counter, Analí Escobar, says the reason why El Comercio is so popular is because “it has a history and the most information.”
“It’s the most recognized paper here,” she says.
Unlike in the U.S., where newspapers are a dying breed and cities like Chicago only have two main dailies standing, Lima’s admirable newspaper count of 24 citywide dailies seems to be flourishing.
“The majority of them are tabloids and owners are usually involved in politics or are close to politicians or political parties,” says Virginia Rey-Sánchez, former senior writer of business and economy at El Comercio. “Tabloids are used by the owners as a political tool. Its main objective every day is to have a front page with the political target or objective of the day. Newspaper kiosks are characterized here during the day to show just the front pages, hanging them up, where people stop by and read them,” generating popularity.
Escobar, the kiosk worker, noted that another reason people in Lima read newspapers more is because of the lack of internet in homes, which is where nearly half of all U.S. consumers obtain their news, according to a Zogby Interactive online poll.
“Not everybody can afford the internet here,” says Escobar. “That’s why newspapers are more popular. Here, there are more divisions in culture and not everybody has as much money” to afford that service.
 |
| At a kiosk in Lima. (Brenden Allen photo) |
But for struggling journalists in the United States who have dreams of becoming the next Carl Bernstein or Bob Woodward, but fear the demise of print journalism, maybe moving to the Lima would be the next best thing.
“Who knows, maybe you will find yourself working for El Comercio someday,” Guerra tells the group of students with a sly smile. You never know.
Note: During the first two weeks of January, 13 Columbia College Chicago journalism, design and photography students spent time in Peru and Cusco taking a Travel Writing class, led by professors Elio Leturia (former design editor for El Comercio) and Teresa Puente (former Chicago Tribune reporter).
tags : kiosk business economy Peruvian newspapers
2 Comments
# Jair Zuta La Rosa says :
10 February, 2010 [ 10:00 ]
11 February, 2010 [ 05:57 ]
# Jair Zuta La Rosa says :
10 February, 2010 [ 10:00 ]
Interesting article....but unfortunately it's wrong: the oldest newspaper in Peru is "El Peruano", which was founded on the 22th of October 1825, by Simon Bolivar (184 years old).# V. RÃos says :
11 February, 2010 [ 05:57 ]
I really enjoyed reading this article. However, the author should have checked some facts. It was Manuel Amunátegui who established the newspaper with Alejandro Villota in 1839, not the Miro Quesada family.
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