El Correo

Infobox Newspaper
name = El Correo


caption =
type = Daily newspaper
format = Tabloid
foundation = May 1, 1910, as "El Pueblo Vasco"
ceased publication =
price =
owners = Grupo Vocento
publisher =
editor = Ángel Arnedo
language = Spanish
political =
circulation = 119,601 daily in 2006 [Figures covering January to December 2006 from [http://www.introl.es/f_alta.htm Oficina de Justificación de la Difusión] , accessed April 26, 2007.]
headquarters = Calle Pintor Losada 7, Bilbao 48004 ESP
ISSN =
website = [http://www.elcorreodigital.com/ elcorreodigital.com]

"El Correo" (Spanish for "The Courier") is the leading daily newspaper in Bilbao and the Basque Country of northern Spain. Its circulation, over 119,000, is the seventh-highest among general interest newspapers in Spain.

History

The brothers Ybarra y de la Revilla -- Fernando, Gabriel and Emilio -- founded founded "El Pueblo Vasco" ("The Basque People") on May 1, 1910, with Juan de la Cruz as founding editor. The paper supported Vizcaya's young Conservative Party and supported the church, Alfonsist monarchists, a free press and Basque regional autonomy. The paper's chief competitor in Bilbao was "La Gaceta del Norte".

"El Pueblo Vasco" was shut down by the Republican government July 17, 1936, just before the Spanish Civil War. It was almost a year later, July 6, 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 party, using the seized presses of the Basque nationalist daily "Euzkadi".

By order of dictator Francisco Franco's government on April 13, 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 Franco's reign, "El Correo" acquired its competitors "El Noticiero Bilbaíno" (1939) and "El Diario Vasco" (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 size 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 ETA, a Basque nationalist armed organisation."El Correo" was the original promoter of "La Vuelta", the yearly bicycle race around Spain.However, due to ETA's threats, it was decades ago that "La Vuelta" passed through the Basque Country.

The 1980s brought geographic expansion, as "El Correo" began to publish editions outside the immediate Bilbao area and purchase "El Diario Montañés", 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, Guipúzcoa (sharing territory with "El Diario Vasco", Burgos (in the city of Miranda de Ebro) and La Rioja.

"El Correo", "El Diario Vasco" and "El Diario Montañés" are now published by Grupo Vocento, a nationwide communications company.Vocento also acquired "ABC" from Madrid.They sometimes share content such as the Iraq invasion "embedded" coverage by Mercedes Gallego.

The daily comic strip "Don Celes" (by Luis del Olmo, originally published in "La Gaceta del Norte") is now a symbol of the newspaper.

References

External links

* [http://www.elcorreodigital.com/ elcorreodigital.com] - official Website