El Debate

"El Debate" is a defunct Spanish Catholic daily newspaper, published in Madrid between 1910 and 1936. It was the most important Catholic newspaper of its time in Spain.

It was founded by Guillermo de Rivas during the controversy originated by the so-called Padlock Bill, against the establishment of any more religious orders in Spain. It suffered a very unsuccessful management during its first months and it was sold to Ángel Herrera Oria and his Asociación Católica Nacional de Propagandistas (ACNdP). Herrera Oria edited the newspaper from 1911 to 1933. Ideologically, it was very conservative and clerical, and journalistically it was very modern. It imported journalistic techniques from the United States and in 1926 opened the first Journalism School of Spain. It was the first newspaper with specific sport information. During the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923-1930) it supported the previous censorship in order to protect religious, moral and juridical values. When the Second Republic was proclaimed, the newspaper uttered its compliance to the new regime, although the annoyance of many of its Monarchist readers. During the Second Republic (1931-1936) the government suspended its activity several times. It supported CEDA, the rightist and possibilist coalition that won election in 1933. After the beginning of the Civil War, its facilities were confiscated by the Spanish Communist Party. After the war, the Francoist government did not wish its reestablishment and Editorial Católica, the ACNdP publishing house, issued "Ya", a little pre-war newspaper that was the actual heir of "El Debate".

Bibliography

*Artola, Miguel (ed.): "Enciclopedia de Historia de España", Madrid: Alianza, V, pp. 387-388