''El Universal'' is a Mexican
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 p ...
based in Mexico City.
''El Universal'' was founded by Félix Palavicini and
Emilio Rabasa
José Emilio Rabasa Estebanell (22 May 1856 — 25 April 1930) was a Mexican prominent writer, diplomat, and politician. He wrote extensively on constitutional law, served as Governor of Chiapas, as state congressman, chaired several Mexican A ...
in October 1916, in the city of
Santiago de Queretaro to cover the end of the Mexican Revolution and the creation of the new Mexican Constitution. The circulation of the print edition of ''El Universal'' is more than 300,000 readers.
In 2013 the ''El Universal'' website claimed to have an average of more than 16 million unique visitors each month, with 140 million page views, and 4 million followers on
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
.
''Aviso Oportuno'' is the
classifieds
Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements used ...
service of ''El Universal''. The brand has become widely known in Mexico, and the phrase ''Aviso Oportuno'' is sometimes used as a generic term for the classifieds business. This brand has four sub-sites: ''Inmuebles'', ''Vehículos
'', ''Empleos'' and ''Varios'' (Real Estate, Vehicles, Jobs and Miscellaneous).
News items are open to reader comments through a simple sign-up system which has resulted in many accusations of bias and propaganda. The system also tends towards anonymity and abuse by having questionable users and operators pass as average readers discrediting political and journalistic adversaries.
Controversies
* The publication has been accused by the political left in Mexico of having a cozy relationship with past governments during key periods in the nation's fraught history. The day after the
Tlatelolco massacre
On October 2, 1968 in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City, the Mexican Armed Forces opened fire on a group of unarmed civilians in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas who were protesting the upcoming 1968 Summer Olympics. The Mexican government and ...
on October 3, 1968, at the height of the
Mexican Dirty War, El Universal published misleading headlines such as, ''«Terrorists and Soldiers Sustain Harsh Combat During Several Hours»'' and ''«Tlatelolco: Battle Camp»''. Under pressure, the editorial board gave a statement saying, "With pride, we can say that 'El Universal' adequately covered the facts during those days. Perhaps, like many of the publications of our era, we had too much confidence in the word of our government, but we've been honest."
* On December 3, 2012, political expert and city planner
Andrés Lajous wrote a column in ''
Animal Político
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...
'' justifying his exit from ''El Universal'' as the editorial board had modified the title of his column titled, ''«El robo de vehículos durante el gobierno de Peña Nieto»'' (the theft of cars during the government of Peña Nieto)", referencing President
Enrique Peña Nieto
Enrique Peña Nieto (; born 20 July 1966), commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican politician who served as the 64th president of Mexico from 1 December 2012 to 30 November 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party ...
when he was the governor of the
State of Mexico and his ties to the theft of vehicles. The column was published on April 13, 2012. In his article, Lajous Loaza argues that when he tried to summon a response from the editors for the headline change, he was told that, "the decision was last minute and comes from the highers ups." He stated that he was promised a new headline, but that nothing ever came. Because of this incident, Lajous Loaeza resigned shortly thereafter as he felt he was not guaranteed the freedom to write critical pieces about the government without editorial interference.
* On December 25, 2017, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' published an article titled, ''«Using Billions in Government Cash, Mexico Controls News Media»''
signaling ''El Universal'' as the largest beneficiary of government funds in the form of publicity and, consequently, transforming the newspaper into an attack dog for the government in power during the elections of 2018 against its adversaries.
In response, the Mexican publication ran a story on December 26, 2017
in which they accuse the information obtained by ''The New York Times'' as false and biased.
See also
* ''
La Jornada
''La Jornada'' (''The Working Day'') is one of Mexico City's leading daily newspapers. It was established in 1984 by Carlos Payán Velver. The current editor ''(directora general)'' is Carmen Lira Saade. ''La Jornada'' has presence in eight sta ...
''
* ''
Reforma''
* ''
The Herald Mexico
''The Herald Mexico'' was a daily English language newspaper published in Mexico City, Mexico from 2004 to 2007. It was an international joint venture between ''The Miami Herald'' of Miami, Florida, United States, and '' El Universal'', a widely ...
'' - A joint venture between ''El Universal'' and ''
The Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.[List of newspapers in Mexico
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...]
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Universal
Newspapers published in Mexico City
Publications established in 1916
Spanish-language newspapers
Spanish-language websites
1916 establishments in Mexico