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''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 poli ...
based in Mexico City.


History

''El Universal'' was founded by and Emilio Rabasa in October 1916, in the city of
Santiago de Querétaro Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, ...
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 a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
. ''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 use ...
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 3, 1968, at the height of the
Mexican Dirty War The Mexican Dirty War () was the Mexican Theater (warfare), theater of the Cold War, an internal conflict from the 1960s to the 1980s between the Mexican Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)-ruled government under the presidencies of Gustav ...
, 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'' 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 former politician and lawyer who was the 64th president of Mexico from 2012 to 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he p ...
when he was the governor of the
State of Mexico The State of Mexico, officially just Mexico, is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Colloquially known as Edomex (from , the abbreviation of , and ), to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is the mo ...
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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' 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. As of 2006 it had approximately 287,000 ...
'' * ''
Reforma Reforma, the Spanish word meaning reform, has the following meanings: Companies and organizations * ''Reforma'' (newspaper), a daily published in Mexico City :* Grupo Reforma, parent company of the newspaper :* Agencia Reforma, news wire agenc ...
'' * ''
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 Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe countie ...
''. *
List of newspapers in Mexico Newspapers in Mexico include: Current newspapers : Defunct newspapers * ' * ''Alkartu (Mexico), Alkartu'', 1942-1947 * ''The American Star'' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ''El Demócrata Sinaloense'', 1919–1999 * ' * ''El Diario de Los Mochis'' * ...


References


Further reading

*


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Universal Newspapers published in Mexico City Newspapers established in 1916 Spanish-language newspapers Spanish-language websites 1916 establishments in Mexico