El Mercurio

{{short description|Chilean newspaper}} {{Other uses|Mercurio (disambiguation){{!}}Mercurio}} {{Distinguish|El Mercurio de Valparaíso}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = {{Lang|es|El Mercurio}} | logo = El Mercurio (2019-10-31).svg | image = [[File:El Mercurio, 11 September 2013.jpg|center|260px|border]] | caption = Front page of the main body of the newspaper's 11 September 2013 edition | type = Daily [[newspaper]] | format = [[Broadsheet]] | founded = 12 September 1827 (Valparaíso ed.)<br>1 June 1900 (Santiago ed.) | owners = Cristián Edwards del Río | political_position = [[Right-wing]], [[Conservatism|conservative]], [[Liberal conservatism|liberal conservative]], [[economic liberalism]] | headquarters = Avda. Santa María 5542<br>[[Vitacura]], Chile | editor = Carlos Schaerer | website = {{ubl|{{URL|http://www.emol.com/}}|{{URL|http://www.elmercurio.com/}} (print)}} }} '''{{Lang|es|El Mercurio}}''' (known online as '''''El Mercurio On-Line''''', '''''EMOL''''') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in [[Valparaíso]] and [[Santiago, Chile|Santiago]]. {{Lang|es|El Mercurio}} is owned by El Mercurio S.A.P. (''Sociedad Anónima Periodística'' 'joint stock news company'), which operates a network of 19 regional dailies and 32 radio stations across the country.

==History== [[File:El Mercurio - 28 de mayo de 1908.jpg|left|thumb|Main page of {{Lang|es|El Mercurio}}{{'s}} 28 May 1908 edition (number 24,878)]] The [[Valparaíso]] edition of {{Lang|es|El Mercurio}} was founded by [[Pedro Félix Vicuña]] ([[Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna]]'s father) on 12 September 1827, and was later acquired by [[Agustín Edwards Ross]] in 1880. The Santiago edition was founded by [[Agustín Edwards Mac Clure]], son of Edwards Ross, on 1 June 1900. In 1942 Edwards Mac Clure died and his son [[Agustín Edwards Budge]] took over as president. When Edwards Budge died in 1956, his son, [[Agustín Edwards Eastman]], took control of the company. Edwards Eastman died in 2017, leaving the company in hands of his son Cristián Edwards del río.

During the 1950s, El Mercurio planned to introduce television into Chile, applying for licenses in Santiago and Valparaíso, expected to launch by 1958.<ref name=tvfactbook1958>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-TV-Digest/Factbook-50s/Television-Factbook-1958-Spring-Summer.pdf |title=Television Factbook |date=1958 |accessdate=6 February 2026 |page=286 }}</ref>

El Mercurio SAP owns the Chilean afternoon daily newspaper ''[[La Segunda]]'', which published news with sensationalist and confrontational language that was considered inappropriate for {{Lang|es|El Mercurio}}.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

===CIA funding=== {{Lang|es|El Mercurio}} received funds from the [[CIA]] in the early 1970s to undermine the Socialist government of [[Salvador Allende]], acting as a mouthpiece for anti-Allende [[propaganda]].<ref name="The Pinochet File" />

Declassified documents that detail US interventions in Chile revealed the paper's role,<ref>[http://foia.state.gov/Reports/ChurchReport.asp Covert Action in Chile 1963-1973.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090911173014/http://foia.state.gov/Reports/ChurchReport.asp |date=11 September 2009 }}, released by the [[U.S. Department of State]]; printed version: [[United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities]], Staff Report, ''Covert Action in Chile (1963-1973)'' (Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975).</ref> and the extent of the paper's cooperation with the CIA:

{{blockquote|"Throughout the 1960s, the CIA poured funds into Chile's largest—and staunchly right-wing—newspaper, {{Lang|es|El Mercurio}}, putting reporters and editors on the payroll, writing articles and columns for placement and providing additional funds for operating expenses. After the paper's owner, Agustín Edwards came to Washington in September 1970 to lobby [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] for action against Allende, the CIA used {{Lang|es|El Mercurio}} as a key outlet for a massive propaganda campaign as part of [[United States intervention in Chile#Track I|Track I]] and [[United States intervention in Chile#Track II|Track II]]. Throughout Allende's aborted tenure, the paper continued an unyielding campaign, running countless virulent, inflammatory articles and editorials exhorting opposition against—and at times even calling for the overthrow of—the Popular Unity government. " <ref name="The Pinochet File">{{cite book|last=Kornbluh|first=Peter|title=The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability|year=2003|publisher=The New Press|location=New York|isbn=1-56584-936-1}}</ref> (p. 91-92)}}

Support reached to the highest levels of the US government. When the paper requested significant funds for covert support in September 1971, "...in a rare example of presidential micromanagement of a covert operation, Nixon personally authorized the $700,000—and more if necessary—in covert funds to {{Lang|es|El Mercurio}}."<ref name="The Pinochet File"/> (p. 93)

===Role in 1973 coup d'état=== The paper played "a significant role in setting the stage for the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|military coup]]" which took place on 11 September 1973, bringing General [[Augusto Pinochet]] to power. It mobilised opponents of President [[Salvador Allende]] and the [[Gremialismo|gremialismo movement]] to be active in destabilisation from the street, while also advocating the [[neoliberal]] policies of the yet-to-come [[Chicago Boys]].<ref>O'Brien, Phil and Jackie Roddick. Chile: The Pinochet Decade: The Rise and Fall of the Chicago Boys. London: Latin American Bureau (Research and Action) Ltd, 1983.</ref>

===1988 to the present=== Former journalists of {{Lang|es|El Mercurio}} have been crucial in the creation of various new newspapers in Chile including ''[[Diario Financiero]]'' in 1988,<ref>Meza Antognoni, Roberto (2012). History of El Diario Financiero de Chile. Santiago de Chile: Ediciones Radio Universidad de Chile. {{ISBN|978-956-351-576-3}}</ref> ''[[El Líbero]]'' in 2014,<ref name="PuroPeriodismo">{{Cite web|url=http://www.puroperiodismo.cl/eduardo-sepulveda-director-de-el-libero-no-somos-defensores-de-ningun-partido/|title=Eduardo Sepúlveda, director de "El Líbero": "No somos defensores de ningún partido"|publisher=Puro Periodismo|date=30 October 2014|accessdate=9 September 2021|archive-date=7 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907195520/http://www.puroperiodismo.cl/eduardo-sepulveda-director-de-el-libero-no-somos-defensores-de-ningun-partido/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="UC">{{Cite web|url=http://comunicaciones.uc.cl/eduardo-sepulveda-director-de-el-libero-hay-una-situacion-muy-anomala-en-chile-los-medios-se-ignoran-entre-si/|title=Eduardo Sepúlveda, director de El Líbero: "Hay una situación muy anómala en Chile: los medios se ignoran entre sí"|publisher=[[Pontifical Catholic University of Chile]]|date=2 October 2014|accessdate=8 September 2021|archive-date=8 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908164059/http://comunicaciones.uc.cl/eduardo-sepulveda-director-de-el-libero-hay-una-situacion-muy-anomala-en-chile-los-medios-se-ignoran-entre-si/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="T13">{{Cite web|url=https://www.13.cl/c/programas/persona-personaje/capitulos/el-desarrollo-profesional-del-periodista-eduardo-sepulveda|title=El desarrollo profesional del periodista Eduardo Sepúlveda|publisher=[[Canal 13 (Chile)|Canal 13]]|date=26 November 2019|accessdate=8 September 2021|archive-date=8 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908164107/https://www.13.cl/c/programas/persona-personaje/capitulos/el-desarrollo-profesional-del-periodista-eduardo-sepulveda|url-status=live}}</ref> and ''[[Ex-Ante (online newspaper)|Ex-Ante]]'' in 2020.<ref name=DFexan>{{Cite news |title=Ex-ante, el nuevo medio de Cristián Bofill que verá luz en los próximos días|url=https://www.df.cl/capital/coffee-break/ex-ante-el-nuevo-medio-de-cristian-bofill-que-vera-la-luz-en-los |last=Navas |first=Mateo |date=7 October 2020 |work=[[Diario Financiero]] |language=Spanish}}</ref><ref name=illustrado>22 January 2021. [https://www.ilustrado.cl/2021/01/22/quienes-estan-detras-del-medio-digital-ex-ante/ ¿Quiénes están detrás del medio digital Ex-Ante?] ''ilustrado.cl''</ref>

{{Lang|es|El Mercurio}}'s building in Valparaíso was set on fire by protesters in October 2019 during the [[2019 Chilean protests]] sparked by rise in transportation cost.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.trtworld.com/americas/chile-orders-santiago-curfew-for-third-day-in-row-30739|title=Chile orders Santiago curfew for third day in row|website=TRT World|access-date= 5 December 2019}}</ref>

== See also== * ''[[El Mercurio de Valparaíso]]'' * [[Project FUBELT]] * [[List of newspapers in Chile]]

==References== {{Reflist}} *CIA article ''"Report of CIA Chilean Task Force Activities, 15 September to 3 November 1970"'' (18 November 1970). [http://www.namebase.org/foia/ch01.html Report from CIA's 1970 Anti-Allende Task Force] ([https://archive.today/20130905211530/http://www.namebase.org/foia/ch01.html Archive])

==External links== {{Commons category|El Mercurio}} *''El Mercurio de Santiago'' (printed editions from 27 October 2007 to present): [http://www.mer.cl/ Flash version], [http://diario.elmercurio.com/ Text version] *[http://www.emol.cl/ ''El Mercurio en Internet''] (online edition) *[http://www.mercuriovalpo.cl/ ''El Mercurio de Valparaíso'']

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercurio}} [[Category:1900 establishments in Chile]] [[Category:Newspapers published in Chile]] [[Category:Spanish-language newspapers]] [[Category:Newspapers established in 1900]] [[Category:Conservatism in Chile]] [[Category:Mass media in Santiago, Chile]] [[Category:CIA activities in the Americas]]