''El Correo'' (; ) is a leading

daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

and the Basque Country of northern Spain. It is among best-selling general interest newspapers in Spain.

History and profile

The brothers Ybarra y de la Revilla – Fernando, Gabriel and Emilio – founded ''El Pueblo Vasco'' ("The Basque People") on 1 May 1910, with Juan de la Cruz as founding editor. The paper supported Vizcaya's young Conservative Party and its

editorial An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK), is an article or any other written document, often unsigned, written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper or magazine, that expresses the publication's opinion about ...

line was

clerical Clerical may refer to: * Pertaining to the clergy * Pertaining to a clerical worker * Clerical script, a style of Chinese calligraphy * Clerical People's Party See also

* Cleric (disambiguation) * Clerk (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

, Alfonsist monarchist, free press and Basque regional autonomist. The paper's chief competitor in Bilbao was '' La Gaceta del Norte''. Due to these conservative stances, ''El Pueblo Vasco'' was shut down by the Spanish Republic government on 17 July 1936, just before the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. It was almost a year later, on 6 July 1937, when the paper published again, after the fall of Bilbao; it was joined on newsstands by ''El Correo Español'', the official newspaper of the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS, the Spanish

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

party, using the seized presses of the Basque nationalist daily '' Euzkadi''. By order of

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; , from Latin language, Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of Personalist dictatorship, personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise English translation for the term, though it ...

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

's government on 13 April 1938, the two papers combined as ''El Correo Español-El Pueblo Vasco'', owned by El Pueblo Vasco S.A. but controlled by the Falange. During the first 15 years of

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

, ''El Correo'' acquired its competitors ''El Noticiero Bilbaíno'' (1939) and ''

El Diario Vasco ''El Diario Vasco'' ( English: ''The Basque Daily'') is a Spanish morning daily newspaper based in San Sebastián, Basque Country. History and profile ''El Diario Vasco'' was founded in 1934 by the Sociedad Vascongada de Publicaciones, led by ...

'' (1945). Upon this last purchase, the company's name was changed to Bilbao Editorial S.A. The year 1965 saw ''El Correo'' move to its current offices in Calle Pintor Losada, convert to tabloid format and increase the number of pages. In 1976, ''El Correo'' for the first time surpassed ''La Gaceta del Norte'' in sales, becoming the best-selling newspaper in northern Spain. Also around this time, publisher Javier de Ybarra y Bergé was kidnapped and murdered by rogue elements of the Basque separatist organization

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

had a share in ''El Correo'' until 1989. ''El Correo'' was the promoter of '' La Vuelta'', the yearly bicycle race around Spain, between 1955 and 1978. However, due to

organising attacks on the race from the late 1960s, and increasing disorder around the race in the late 1970s during the

Spanish transition to democracy The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of History of Spain, modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system ...

, the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation banned the race from passing through the Basque Country, resulting in ''El Correos announcement in January 1979 that it would no longer organise the race. It was subsequently promoted by the sports event company Unipublic and did not return to the Basque Country until

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Expansion

The 1980s brought geographic expansion, as ''El Correo'' began to publish editions outside the Bilbao metro area and so it purchased ''

El Diario Montañés ''El Diario Montañés'' is a daily regional newspaper published in Santander, Spain. Founded in 1902, it is one of the oldest publications in Spain. It serves the Cantabria autonomous community. History and profile ''El Diario Montañés'' was ...

'', a newspaper in Santander. The paper now publishes nine local editions: five within the province of Vizcaya, which includes Bilbao, and one each serving the provinces of

Álava Álava () or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a Provinces of Spain, province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, heir of the ancient Basque señoríos#Lords of Álava, Lordship ...

Guipúzcoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantique ...

(sharing territory with ''El Diario Vasco''),

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...

(in the city of

Miranda de Ebro Miranda de Ebro () is a Spanish municipality belonging to the province of Burgos in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Straddling the Ebro river, near its confluence with the Bayas, the city is located on the northern watershed of the ...

) and

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community and provinces of Spain, province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other List of municipalities in La Rioja, cities and towns in the ...

. In April 2014, ''El Correo'' began to be published and distributed in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. ''El Correo'', ''

'' and ''

'' are now owned by

Grupo Vocento Vocento, S.A., also known as Grupo Vocento, is a Spanish mass media group. Its flagship daily newspaper is the conservative and monarchist ''ABC'', also publishing '' El Correo''. Vocento was created in 2001 upon the merger of Grupo Correo with ...

, a nationwide communications company that also owns ''

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

'' in Madrid and ''

Las Provincias ''Las Provincias'' is a regional newspaper published in Valencia, Spain. Founded in 1866, it is one of the oldest publications in the country. History and profile ''Las Provincias'' was first published in Valencia in January 1866.Miguel Lorenci ...

''. The

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of ''El Correo'' is Juan Carlos Martínez Gauna and its publisher is Bilbao Editorial. The paper is published in tabloid format. The daily comic strip '' Don Celes'' (by Luis del Olmo, originally published in ''La Gaceta del Norte'') is now a symbol of the newspaper. In 2012 ''El Correo'' was named as the Newspaper of the Year in the category of regional newspapers by the European Newspapers Congress.

Circulation

The circulation of ''El Correo'' was 134,000 copies in 1993. It rose to 138,000 copies in 1994. Its circulation was 130,042 copies in 2002. It fell to 128,000 copies in 2003. The paper had a circulation of 112,588 copies in 2006. The 2008 circulation of the paper was 118,107 copies.

Notable journalists

* Sara Estévez

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Correo 1910 establishments in Spain Grupo Vocento Mass media in Bilbao Daily newspapers published in Spain Newspapers established in 1910 Spanish-language newspapers Basque companies