Diario El Fonógrafo

Diario El Fonógrafo (The Daily phonograph) was one of the most prominent Venezuelan newspapers in the later 19th century and early 20th century. It was founded in 1879 by editor and journalist Eduardo López Rivas in Maracaibo, Zulia state, Venezuela.

The first issue of El Fonógrafo was published in May 1879. The newspaper started when the Western World was inspired by the philosophy of Positivism, technological progress, development of modern cities, and innovations like that of Thomas Edison; whose newspaper was named after his invention. Phonograph was a new word, product of the innovation of a machine that reproduced sounds and, overall, the human voice. In giving this name to the newspaper López Rivas, more than to politics, wanted to associate El Fonografo´s content to innovation, progress and civilization.

Eduardo López Rivas had founded several newspapers in Caracas, before he moved to his hometown Maracaibo and started El Fonógrafo. Due to the political content of those newspapers he had been persecuted, imprisoned, exiled and ruined. El Fonógrafo started when it had just ended a period of conflicts in the state of Zulia, caused by the temporary closure of the port of Maracaibo by the central government. With the reopening of the port and the consequent reactivation of the local economy, a new era was starting in that region of Venezuela. Political conflicts of the past seemed to be over and López Rivas tried to create a modern newspaper, associated with a new era of progress.

The newspaper was issued twice a week until 1882, when it became a daily publication. The issue increased then from one page to four pages with news, literature and ads. It was printed in local workshops in Maracaibo until López Rivas created in 1881 his own publishing house, Imprenta Americana. This publishing house had the most advanced techniques of the time and that made possible to issue a modern newspaper of high quality in printing and graphic arts.

When López Rivas founded El Fonógrafo in Maracaibo, the president of Venezuela was General Antonio Guzmán Blanco. Guzmán Blanco was an autocratic ruler who never had a goodwill to the people of Zulia because of their love for freedom. U.S. consul in Maracaibo between 1878 and 1919, Eugene Plumacher, writes in his memoirs that Guzmán Blanco felt animosity toward the people of Zulia state because of their very independent spirit. According to Plumacher they were the most freedom-loving people of all Venezuelans.

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Wikipedia