El Debate is a defunct Spanish Catholic daily newspaper, published in Madrid between 1910 and 1936.[1][2] It was the most important Catholic newspaper of its time in Spain.[3]

History and profile edit

El Debate was founded in 1910 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.[1] Its headquarters was in Madrid.[4]

Ideologically, El Debate was very conservative and clerical, and journalistically it was very modern. The paper 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 Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923–1930) El Debate supported the previous censorship in order to protect religious, moral and juridical values. When the Second Republic was proclaimed, the newspaper declared its compliance to the new regime, although this annoyed of many of its monarchist readers.

During the Second Republic (1931–1936) the government suspended its activity several times. The paper supported the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA), the rightist and possibilist coalition that won election in 1933. After the beginning of the Civil War, the facilities were the newspapers of the ACNdP publishing house, Editorial Católica, were printed, were confiscated by the Communist Party of Spain and Republican Left. While the Communist voice, Mundo Obrero, was printed using the material of Ya, a little pre-war newspaper, Política, the voice of Republican Left took El Debate ones.[5] In 1939 the Francoist government did not give permission for the reestablishment of El Debate,[1] and Editorial Católica re-issued Ya, a newspaper with less political significance, that was the actual heir of El Debate.

Website edit

ElDebate.com, launched in 2021,[6] styles itself as the heir to the newspaper.[7] It is operated by the Catholic Association of Propagandists (the former ACNdP).[6]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Angel Smith (2 January 2009). Historical Dictionary of Spain. Scarecrow Press. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-8108-6267-8. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  2. ^ Francisco Núñez-Romero Olmo; et al. (2010). "Sports and the visual structure of El Debate (1910-1936). The switch to the horizontal layout" (PDF). Revista Latina. 65. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  3. ^ Stanley G. Payne (1993). Spain's First Democracy: The Second Republic, 1931-1936. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-299-13674-1.
  4. ^ Gabriel Jackson (5 May 2012). Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-1939. Princeton University Press. p. 555. ISBN 978-1-4008-2018-4. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  5. ^ Bajo el control obrero. La prensa diaria en Madrid durante la guerra civil, 1936-1939, PhD Thesis, Juan Carlos Mateos Fernández. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1996.
  6. ^ a b "Nace El Debate, el periódico que recupera la Asociación Católica de Propagandistas 111 años después" [El Debate is born, the newspaper that the Catholic Association of Propagandists recovers 111 years later]. Religión Confidencial (in Spanish). 8 October 2021.
  7. ^ "Quienes Somos" [About Us]. ElDebate.com (in Spanish). 30 September 2021.

Bibliography edit

  • Artola, Miguel (ed.): Enciclopedia de Historia de España, Madrid: Alianza, V, pp. 387–388