ABC (newspaper)

ABC

Front page, 2009-06-02
Type Daily newspaper
Format Compact
Owner Grupo Vocento
Publisher Catalina Luca de Tena
Editor Ángel Expósito
Founded January 1, 1903
Political alignment Conservativism, Monarchism, Centre-Right
Language Spanish
Headquarters Juan Ignacio de Tena 7, Madrid 28027  ESP
Circulation 240,225 daily in 2006[1]
Official website www.abc.es

ABC is a Spanish national daily newspaper founded in Madrid on January 1, 1903, by Torcuato Luca de Tena y Alvarez-Ossorio. ABC started as a weekly newspaper until it turned daily in June 1905. Today, ABC is the third largest general-interest newspaper in Spain, and the oldest newspaper still operating in Madrid. ABC is often referred to as a newspaper of record from Spain, along with El País and El Mundo.

ABC is known for generally supporting conservative political views and defending the Spanish monarchy, and was seized in July 20, 1936 by the Popular Front (Frente Popular) when the Spanish Civil War started.

During the civil war, ABC famously published two different versions, the Madrid edition supporting the Republic and the Seville edition supporting the Nationalist side. When the war was over, ABC in Madrid was given back to its legitimate owners and once again became the largest newspaper in Spain.

It later moved from its historic landmark offices in Madrid by Paseo de la Castellana, which are now a shopping mall.

Today, ABC publishes in compact-sized stapled sheets, noticeably smaller than the loose tabloid format favoured by most Spanish dailies, including El País and El Mundo. Its cover distinctively features a full-size picture contrasting with the assorted selection of news and images of the competition.

After the joint-venture that resulted in Grupo Vocento, it has soothed the hard layout and reading and taken a more moderate stance than other conservative media outlets, including the refusal to second conspiracy theories related to the 2004 Madrid train bombings (locally known as 11-M).

Its former long-time director (since 1983) Luis María Ansón left in 1998 to found another daily, La Razón, which initially catered for a more severe market niche.

On September 25, 2009, ABC made available the whole of its numbers to the public online, since 1903, giving those interested the chance to read news about the Spanish Civil War or Francisco Franco's death.

References

  1. ^ Figures covering January to December 2006 from Oficina de Justificación de la Difusión, accessed April 26, 2007.

External links

s