El Nacional (Venezuela)

El Nacional
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Miguel Henrique Otero
PublisherC.A. Editorial El Nacional
Founded3 August 1943 (1943-08-03)
Ceased publication14 December 2018 (2018-12-14) (print edition)
HeadquartersCaracas, Venezuela
Circulation20,000 (daily)
Websitewww.elnacional.com

El Nacional is a Venezuelan publishing company under the name C.A. Editorial El Nacional, most widely known for its El Nacional newspaper and website. It, along with Últimas Noticias and El Universal, are the most widely read and circulated daily national newspapers in the country. In 2010, it had an average of 83,000 papers distributed daily and 170,000 copies on weekends.[1] It has been called Venezuela's newspaper of record.[2]

Since the increase of censorship in Venezuela during the presidencies of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, El Nacional has been described as one of the last independent newspapers in Venezuela.[3] El Nacional published its final print edition on 14 December 2018 (after having been cut to five print editions per week back in August), joining in the dozens of anti-government newspapers in the nation that have stopped printing due to paper and toner shortages. It became an exclusively online newspaper after the date,[4][5] and has been blocked by internet providers since early 2022.[6]

  1. ^ (in Spanish) Producto, De Caracas para Venezuela Archived 2012-04-25 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Johnston, Donald H. (2003). "Chapter: Freedom of the Press in Latin America". Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications. Vol. 2. Academic Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0123876706. Retrieved 9 May 2022. ...the newspaper of record in any country is compulsory reading for political, business, and cultural leaders and the most prestigious such papers in the region, organized into the Grupo de Diarios America, are La Nacion (Buenos Aires, Argentina), O Globo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), El Tiempo (Bogota, Colombia), El Mercurio (Santiago, Chile), El Comercio (Ecuador), Reforma (Mexico), El Nuevo Dia Interactivo (Puerto Rico), El Comercio (Lima, Peru), El Pais (Montevideo, Uruguay), and El Nacional (Caracas, Venezuela)
  3. ^ "As it slides toward authoritarianism, Venezuela targets one of its last independent newspapers". The Washington Post. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-06.
  4. ^ "Venezuela's El Nacional newspaper to cease print edition". AP NEWS. 2018-12-13. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
  5. ^ "Venezuela's biggest daily, El Nacional, latest casualty of newsprint restrictions". Committee to Protect Journalists. 2018-12-17. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
  6. ^ "Denuncian bloqueo a El Nacional tras entrega de sede a número dos de chavismo". Infobae (in European Spanish). 12 February 2022. Retrieved 2023-08-09.