Contemporaries of La Solidarida

• Ancient kinds of mass media like Cenaculo, Patores, Pasyon, Awit Corido and Balagtasan flourished in the Philippines

  1521
• Printing


  Introduced in the Philippines and spearheaded by the religious orders
• First printing press

  Introduced in the University of Sto. Tomas and ran by hand
• Colonial policy


  Books must receive the approval of the bishop and the Audiencia, the highest tribunal of justice, before being printed and sold
• Doctrina Christiana


  The first book printed in the Philippines by being chiseled on blocks of wood in 1593, containing teachings of the Roman Catholic church

  
• Sucesos Filices

  Released in 1637, the first Philippine newsletter that reported about the battles won by the Spaniards, printed by Thomas Pinpin, "The Father of Filipino Printing"

  
• Cenaculo, Patores, Pasyon, Awit Corido, Balagtasan


  Ancient kinds of mass media that flourished in the Philippines in 1521
• Printing


  Introduced in the Philippines and spearheaded by the religious orders
• First printing press


  Introduced in the University of Sto. Tomas
• Colonial policy


  Books must receive the approval of the bishop and the Audiencia before being printed and sold
• Doctrina Christiana


  The first book printed in the Philippines in 1593, containing teachings of the Roman Catholic church

  
• Sucesos Filices


  The first Philippine newsletter released in 1637, reporting about the battles won by the Spaniards, printed by Thomas Pinpin

  
• Hojas Volantes


  One-issue newsletter released in 1799 by the Spanish government for news dissemination

  
• Del Superior Govierno


  The first newspaper published by private initiative and distributed free in the Philippines on August 8, 1811, devoted to news of political conditions in Europe
• Noticias Sacadas


  Published on July 4, 1813, narrating the battles of Moros in the south
• Ramillete Patriotica Manilense


  An eight-page monthly newspaper, the first frank newspaper meaning "a collection of choice things"
• La Filantropia


  Published in 1821, closed due to lack of paying subscribers and advertisers
• Registro Mercantil


  Publication established by an economic society, the longest life during the period but was cut due to lack of funds
• La Opinion


  Marked the beginning of political journalism in the Philippines, the first opinion newspaper in the country
• La Estella de Manila


  Published in 1847, devoted to religion, commerce, art and literature, closed due to poor management
• La Esperanza


  First daily newspaper released on December 1, 1846, dealt mostly with non-controversial subjects to avoid trouble due to pre-publication censorship
• Diario de Manila


  Best edited newspaper of the era, had a foreign correspondent in Spain, staffed by "The Ablest Journalist of His Time" Felipe Del Pan, suppressed by a Spanish Governor-General for allegedly inciting Filipinos' hate against Spaniards

  
• El Catolico Filipino


  The first Philippine religious newspaper, published by a priest named Mariano Sevilla

  
• El Pasig


  A bilingual fortnightly in Spanish and Tagalog, signified the advent of native press
• Diariong Tagalog


  The first daily newspaper that lasted from 3-5 months

  
• El Hogar


  The first publication of women that was published
• La Semana Elegante


  The first satire magazine in the country
• El Comercio


  Had the biggest circulation and longest life span of 56 years during the Spanish Era
• La Solidaridad


  The most famous pre-revolutionary newspaper, published in 1888, edited by Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena and Marcelo H. Del Pilar

  
• La Solidaridad was buoyed in no small part by the concurrent reform efforts of Rizal, who was one of the paper's most frequent and potent contributors
• Rizal was wildly popular, and his writings were widely circulated in both Spain and the Philippines
• Threatened by the power of Rizal's influence, the Spanish government sought to undermine him
• In 1892, near the height of La Solidaridad's popularity, Rizal returned to the Philippines and founded the reform-minded society Liga Filipina (Philippine League)
• Soon after this, Rizal was arrested and deported to a remote island of the Philippines
• Without Rizal's involvement, La Solidaridad lost its funding and it went out of business in November 1895
• A year later, its editors, del Pilar and Lopez Jaena, died in poverty in Barcelona
• Reasons for the decline of newspapers

  • Prohibitive price
  • Small potential readership
  • Unappealing content
  • Pressure from authorities
  • Low subscriptions due to cholera epidemic
  • Censorship by Governor-Generals
  • Editors failing to pass copy by censors in advance