La República (Spanish: [la reˈpuβlika] ) is a Peruvian newspaper based in Lima, Peru. It is one of the two main national daily newspapers sold all over the country since it was founded on November 16, 1981.

La República
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBerliner
Owner(s)Grupo La República
FoundedNovember 16, 1981
LanguageSpanish
HeadquartersLima
CountryPeru
Websitelarepublica.pe

History

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Founding and early history

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The paper was founded in 1981 by Gustavo Mohme Llona, a former member of the Peruvian Congress. Peruvian journalist Guillermo Thorndike served as the newspaper's founding editor and had previous experience working for many newspapers in Peru.[1][2] Under Mohme's leadership, the newspaper was against the candidacy of Mario Vargas Llosa in the 1990 Peruvian general election.[3]

Fujimori administration

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La República was also the main newspaper in opposition to the government of President Alberto Fujimori, who was in office from 1990 to 2000, reporting on illegal actions performed by the government, Peruvian Armed Forces and intelligence agencies.[4] During his government, journalists from the newspaper faced violence and were placed under surveillance by the National Intelligence Service (SIN), which would reportedly publish "libelous" articles in the chicha press attacking Llona and press workers.[2][4] The newspaper was seized by the military during the 1992 Peruvian self-coup and censored, though once staff regained control of their facilities, they printed a blank edition of the newspaper in protest.[2]

In April 1997, deputy editor of La República Blanca Rosales had two armed men break into her car and held her at gunpoint while they drove her through the streets of Lima, threatening to kill her.[5] The incident occurred at a time when other journalists were violently threatened following controversial reporting, with La República publishing a story that the intelligence group of the Peruvian Army had tortured individuals in the days before Rosales was attacked.[5]

Mohme would die in 2000 and Grupo La República would then be owned by Momhe's son, Gustavo Adolfo Mohme Seminario.[2]

Recent history

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For the 2011 Peruvian general election, the newspaper supported the presidential candidacy of Ollanta Humala and changed to the Berliner newspaper format that year.[2] Vargas Llosa would also write columns for the paper, helping its popularity.[2]

Political stance and editorial opinion

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The newspaper's holding company has a center-right political stance with small socialist opinions,[6] while the editorial staff posture ranges from the center-left to the left-wing, being supportive of progressive stances.[2][7][8] According to Associate Professor Joseph Pozsgai-Alvarez of Osaka University, La República, overall, is "a politically neutral outlet and one of the most important in the country".[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Leading Peruvian Journalist Dies". Latin American Herald Tribune. 2009-03-10. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Diario La República". Media Ownership Monitor. 2016. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  3. ^ Smith, James F. (1990-05-26). "Outsider Not Surprised by Edge in Polls : Peru: His opponent for president is closing the gap. But the Japanese-Peruvian front-runner maintains his backers are a majority". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  4. ^ a b Waisbord, Silvio (2000). Watchdog Journalism in South America: News, Accountability, and Democracy. Columbia University Press. pp. 62–63. ISBN 9780231506540.
  5. ^ a b "Journalists: Peru waging war of fear". The Pantagraph. Associated Press. 29 September 1997. pp. A3.
  6. ^ Alvarez, Javier Perla; Montero, Daniela Freundt; Barrantes, Eduardo Burga; Takahashi, Talía Postigo; Menton, Mary (2014). REDD+ Politics in the Media: A Case Study from Peru. Center for International Forestry Research. pp. 5–8. Grupo República, a center-right and slightly socialist group that owns La República
  7. ^ PERU: Media Politics Oxford Analytica, 25 May 1999 "La Republica, whose editorial line is centre-left, is consistently critical of the government".
  8. ^ Quiroz, María Teresa (1986-07-20). "Perú 1985. Rescate de la memoria colectiva". Revista Latinoamericana de Comunicación (in Spanish) (19). Chasqui: 26–32. doi:10.16921/chasqui.v0i19.1845. ISSN 1390-924X. Retrieved 2024-03-22. ...La República, que expresó el libre juego de posiciones progresistas, de izquierda...
  9. ^ Pozsgai-Alvarez, Joseph (July 2017). "Putting Out the Fire of Anti-Corruption Demands: The Symbolic Adoption of a National Anti-Corruption Office in Peru, 2007-2008". European Quarterly of Political Attitudes and Mentalities. 6 (3). University of Bucharest: 15–31. the newspaper La República, a politically neutral outlet and one of the most important in the country
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