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Clarín

Clarín is the broadest circulation newspaper in Argentina and is the bedrock of Grupo Clarín, the country’s main multimedia group. It was founded in August 1945 by politician Roberto Noble under the slogan “Un toque de atención para la solución argentina de los problemas argentinos” (Some insight on the Argentinian solution to the Argentinian problems). With a tabloid format that differentiated it from its main competitors, Clarín aimed at reaching the masses with an agile and modern product.

The newspaper changed its editorial line according to the different governments in office, both democratic and dictatorships, obtaining benefits that helped it consolidate overtime. During Juan Domingo Perón’s administration (1946–1955), Clarín expanded its classified ads business after the expropriation of newspaper La Prensa. During Arturo Frondizi’s administration (1958–1962), the newspaper adopted the president’s ideals and received a loan to buy a building for its printing presses and editorial offices. The relationship would last for several years and former officials of Frondizi’s government would hold powerful positions in the newspaper.

After Noble’s death in 1969, the newspaper’s management was overtaken by Noble’s wife, Ernestina Herrera, to whom he married two years before dying.

The 1976 coup and the last dictatorship in the country were an inflection point for the newspaper. The coup was welcomed by Clarín. During the last dictatorship, it gained control of its basic raw material by purchasing newsprint factory Papel Prensa (together with Argentina’s National State and newspapers La Nacion and La Razón). The factory’s owners accepted to sell Papel Prensa under a lot of pressure and threats, which were later materialized when they were kidnapped and tortured in clandestine centers.

In addition, thanks to the Editor-In-Chief Marcos Cytrynblum’s work, Clarín became the broadest circulation newspaper during the 1978 World Cup. It put special emphasis on the sport, tabloid and current affairs sections.

Once the military dictatorship was over, Héctor Magnetto began to play a more prominent role and turned the newspaper into the most powerful multimedia group in Argentina. He is the group’s CEO. First, the newspaper purchased Radio Mitre (1985) and Canal 13 (1989). Then, it expanded to cable TV with the purchase of Multicanal (1992), which later merged with Cablevisión (2007). Finally, Cablevisión merged with telephone company Telecom (2018), thus rounding out the group’s presence in the telecoms sector.

Since 2009, Magnetto opposed Cristina Fernández’s administration in an unprecedented economic and political conflict. The conflict made the newspaper adopt an editorial line opposite to Cristina Fernández’s administration and practice what one of the newspaper’s editors described as “war journalism”.

 

Key facts

Audience Share

205,909 issues

Ownership Type

Private

Geographic Coverage

National

Content Type

Paid content

Active Transparency

company/channel informs proactively and comprehensively about its ownership, data is constantly updated and easily verifiable

4 ♥

Media Companies / Groups

Grupo Clarín

Ownership

Ownership Structure

Clarín belongs to Arte Gráfico Editorial Argentino (AGEA), which, in turn, is owned by Grupo Clarín.

Voting Rights

Grupo Clarín’s board of directors manages the corporation. It is made up of ten regular members, ten alternate members, a president and a vice president, who are all appointed at the Shareholders’ Meeting every year.

Individual Owner

Media Companies / Groups
Facts

General Information

Founding Year

1945

Affiliated Interests Founder

Roberto Noble

Argentinian journalist and politician. He was a congressman for political party Partido Socialista Independiente and served as Minister of Governmental Affairs of the province of Buenos Aires between 1936 and 1939. In 1945, after working in and managing partisan media, he founded Clarín, which he managed until he died, in 1969. Ernestina Herrera, Noble´s couple, inherited the newspaper and managed the company until she died, in 2017.

Affiliated Interests Ceo

Héctor Magnetto

Accountant. He started to work in Clarín in 1972 and became the trusted man of the newspaper’s Director, Ernestina Herrera de Noble, Clarín’s founder’s widow. Soon he was promoted as Clarín’s General Manager. He led the process that turned the broadest circulation newspaper of Argentina into a media conglomerate and one of the largest companies in the country.
Magnetto and his media opposed Cristina Fernández’s administration in an unprecedented conflict that put him at the center of the political landscape for many years.
He was legally accused in the case of the purchase of newsprint factory Papel Prensa (the only newsprint manufacturer in Argentina, owned by Clarín, La Nacion and Argentina’s National State) during the last military dictatorship. His case was later dismissed.
He is one of the wealthiest people of Argentina, according to magazine Forbes.

Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief

Ricardo Kirschbaum

He is Clarín’s Editor-In-Chief since 2003. He was hired by Clarín in 1976, where he worked as news writer, editor, political columnist and deputy editor.

Affiliated Interests other important people

Ernestina Herrera de Noble

She was Roberto Noble’s couple and inherited the newspaper after his death, in 1969. She was the controlling shareholder and Director of Clarín until she died, in 2017. She was behind the newspaper’s expansion and the turning of Clarín into the main media holding in Argentina.
Two controversial events took place over that period of time. One was the partnership between Argentina’s National State, La Nacion and La Razón during the last military dictatorship to purchase Papel Prensa, the only newsprint factory in Argentina. Ernestina Herrera de Noble was prosecuted for this transaction, but her case was later dismissed. She was also prosecuted for the irregular adoption of her children in the first year of the dictatorship, but the case was also dismissed.

Contact

Piedras 1743, city of Buenos Aires

Financial Information

Revenue (in Mill. $)

Missing data

Operating Profit (in Mill. $)

Missing data

Advertising (in % of total funding)

USD 2,472,182 / $69,443,594 (2018 official advertising – Argentinian Government) USD 1,708,798 / $28,314,790 (2017 official advertising – Government of the city of Buenos Aires) USD 120,760 / $2,001,001 (2017 official advertising / Government of the province of Santa Fe)

Market Share

Missing data

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