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 ...
, founded by the journalist
Jacobo Timerman
Jacobo Timerman (6 January 1923 – 11 November 1999), was a Soviet-born Argentine publisher, journalist, and author, who is most noted for his confronting and reporting the atrocities of the Argentine military regime's Dirty War during a perio ...
in 1971. Its ideology was broadly
centrist
Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to Left-w ...
, inspired partly by the
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
daily ''
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, had previously launched numerous successful news publications in Argentina, notably ''
Primera Plana
''Primera Plana'' was a weekly glossy political, cultural and current affairs magazine published in Buenos Aires, Argentina, between 1962 and 1973. The magazine was very influential in shaping the journalism tradition in the country.
History and ...
news magazine
A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or n ...
s. Billed as "the news daily for the great minority" in an initial publicity campaign written by a friend of Timerman, author
Pedro Orgambide
Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter.
The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...
, ''La Opinión'' adopted an editorial line described by Timerman as "rightist economically, centrist politically and leftist culturally."
The newspaper was created by a team led by Jacobo Timerman (editor), Julio Algañaraz, Horacio Verbitsky and Juan Carlos Algañaraz, as managing editors. Editors: Tomás Eloy Martínez, Jose Maria Pasquini Durán, Felisa Pinto, Roberto Cossa and Julio Nudler.
Its editorial board was led by Timerman, Julio Algañaraz,
Horacio Verbitsky
Horacio Verbitsky (born February 11, 1942) is an Argentine investigative journalist and author with a history as a leftist guerrilla in the Montoneros. In the early 1990s, he reported on a series corruption scandals in the administration of Pre ...
and Juan Carlos Algañaraz. Its pages would subsequently include bylines by
Juan Gelman
Juan Gelman (3 May 1930 – 14 January 2014) was an Argentine poet. He published more than twenty books of poetry between 1956 and his death in early 2014. He was a naturalized citizen of Mexico, country where he arrived as a political exile of th ...
Carlos Ulanovsky
Carlos may refer to:
Places
;Canada
* Carlos, Alberta, a locality
;United States
* Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community
* Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County
* Carlos, Minnesota, a small city
* Carlos, West Virginia
;Elsewhere ...
,
Tomás Eloy Martínez
Tomás Eloy Martínez (July 16, 1934January 31, 2010) was an Argentine journalist and writer.
Life and work
He was born on July 16, 1934 in San Miguel de Tucumán and is generally considered an influential and innovative figure in Latin America ...
,
Ernesto Sábato
Ernesto Sabato (June 24, 1911 – April 30, 2011) was an Argentine novelist, essayist, painter and physicist. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary wo ...
Roberto Cossa
Roberto Cossa (born November 30, 1934) is a prominent Argentinian playwright and theatre director.
Life and work
Roberto Cossa was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and raised in the quiet residential borough of Villa del Parque. He first acted i ...
, Victoria Walsh, María Esther Giglio, Raúl Vera Ocampo, Pablo Urbanyi, Gerardo Fernández, José Agustín Mahieu, Hugo Gambini, Luis Aubele, Bernardo Verbitsky and other noted figures in Argentine journalism and the arts. Instead of photos, the paper illustrated articles with caricatures by Hermenegildo Sábat. ''La Opinión'' grew rapidly, and by 1974, averaged a daily circulation of 150,000, becoming Buenos Aires' fourth-largest news daily.
Silent partner
Planning to purchase a larger printing plant, Timerman sold a 45% stake in 1974 to David Graiver. Graiver, a
real estate developer
Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to othe ...
, became the
investment banker
Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...
for the Montonerosguerrilla group. He reportedly laundered us$17 million in funds obtained by the Montoneros from their frequent kidnappings in a variety of interests in both Argentina and overseas, including ''La Opinión''. Graiver died in an aviation crash on August 7, 1976.
''La Opinión'' devoted extensive coverage to
Third World
The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
issues, as well as to the ongoing
Arab–Israeli conflict
The Arab–Israeli conflict is an ongoing intercommunal phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between Arab countries and Israel, which escalated during the 20th century, but had mostly faded out by the ...
. Timerman and other ''La Opinión'' staff had already suffered death threats by the
Argentine Anticommunist Alliance
The Argentine Anticommunist Alliance ( es, Alianza Anticomunista Argentina, links=no, usually known as Triple A or AAA) was an Argentine Peronist political action group operated by a sector of the Federal Police and the Argentine Armed Forces, ...
as early as 1973. The paper was supportive of the Marxist government of President
Salvador Allende
Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...
in neighboring
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, and was labeled "Enemy Number One" by the subsequent Chilean dictatorship of General
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
. The publication was, however, generally supportive of the March 1976 coup that toppled President Isabel Perón in Argentina, describing the nation (referring to left-wing violence) as "helpless before the slaughter."
Suppression
The paper gradually distanced itself from the
dictatorship
A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...
as mounting evidence of the
Dirty War
The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 as ...
appeared. A number of its staff would be abducted by the regime throughout 1976, and Timerman responded to these events (as well as to death threats) with critical editorials. The paper also published correspondence between Timerman and Congressman Donald M. Fraser of
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
in which the publisher offered to testify in the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
regarding the Dirty War. The daily's opposition to the dictatorship intensified, and on January 30, 1977, its circulation was confiscated, as well as the corresponding color magazine insert, on the charge of "offending the Argentine government and military."
The technical manager of ''La Opinión'', Edgardo Sajón, was abducted on April 1, and ''La Opinión'' placed under
Federal intervention
Federal intervention () is a power attributed to the federal government of Argentina, by which it takes control of a province in certain extreme cases. Intervention is declared by the President with the assent of the National Congress. Article 6 o ...
. Urged to leave the country by friends and family, Timerman refused, and on April 15, he was abducted by a paramilitary group under the orders of Buenos Aires Province Police Chief
Ramón Camps
Ramón Juan Alberto Camps (25 January 1927 – 22 August 1994) was an Argentine general and the head of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police during the National Reorganization Process (1976–1983). Although he was found guilty of multiple crim ...
; the publishing house was expropriated in November. Timerman was kept in detention for a period of two and a half years, and was subjected to torture during the early days of his detention; he was ultimately released in September 1979, and sought exile in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. ''La Opinión'' remained in print under military ownership until its last remaining assets were sold at auction in December 1980.
He returned to Argentina in January 1984, and edited '' La Razón'' until 1987. Timerman died in 1999.
A controversy revisited
The long-defunct ''La Opinión'' became one of numerous points of contention during a series of political controversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism from 2008 onward. David Graiver's widow, Lidia Papaleo, testified in 2010 to having been intimidated by
Clarín Group
Grupo Clarín S.A. is the largest media conglomerate in Argentina.
Overview
Established as such in 1999, it includes the '' Clarín'' newspaper (the most-widely circulated in Latin America), Papel Prensa (the nation's principal newsprint manufa ...
executive Héctor Magnetto, and subsequently tortured by the police, to forfeit further payment in 1977 for her inherited shares in ''La Opinión'' and the nation's leading newsprint maker,
Papel Prensa
Papel Prensa S.A. is an Argentine manufacturing company, being the largest producer of newsprint in the country. The company furnishes 58% of the local market in the staple. The public–private partnership became the focus of one of a series of ...
. She later recanted her testimony, affirming simply that she had been pressured to sell her shares, though never under duress.