The Making of a Modern Newspaper: El Tiempo in Colombia, 1911-1940

Résumé 0

In this article I examine the first three decades of operation of the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo as a critical moment to understand the influential position the newspaper held in the country during a large portion of the twentieth century. In particular, I analyze the history of El Tiempo as a business, a topic usually unexplored by the history of the press and the public sphere in Colombia. In the first part, I explore the revenue and expenses of El Tiempo. I argue that facing the imported paper crisis generated by World War I, El Tiempo developed an effective commercial strategy that led the newspaper to become financially independent. In the second part, I analyze the internal organization of El Tiempo and the state of journalism as a profession in Colombia. I argue that the rationalization of tasks and the creation of a workers’ union at El Tiempo anticipated some aspects of what would characterize the professionalization of national journalism. In the third part, I explore the printing technologies and means of transportation used by El Tiempo to print and distribute newspaper issues. I argue that faster printing technologies and means of transportation enabled El Tiempo to expand its format and enlarge its circulation. In the conclusion, I suggest that the modernization of the press in Colombia led by El Tiempo had as a particularity that newspapers became modern while being the organ of a political party, in contrast to other Latin American countries where modern newspaper were independent from political parties.