Philippine Daily Inquirer

The Philippine Daily Inquirer, popularly known as the Inquirer, is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines.

Philippine Daily Inquirer
Front page from December 11, 2019
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc.
Founder(s)Eugenia D. Apostol, Betty Go Belmonte, Max Soliven
PublisherRaul Pangalanan
PresidentAlexandra Rufino Prieto-Romualdez
EditorJoseph Voltaire Contreas
News editorArtemio Engracia Jr.
Opinion editorRosario Garcellano
Sports editorTeddyvic Melendres
Francis Ochoa
FoundedDecember 9, 1985
LanguageEnglish
Headquarters1098 Chino Roces Ave. cor Yague and Mascardo Sts. 1204, Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines
CityMakati
CountryPhilippines
Sister newspapersInquirer Bandera
Inquirer Libre
Cebu Daily News
ISSN0116-0443
Websitewww.inquirer.net

History

The Philippine Daily Inquirer was a daily newspaper founded on 9 December 1985 by publisher Eugenia Apóstol, columnist Max Solivén, together with Betty Go-Belmonte during the last days of the regime of the Philippine dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, becoming one of the first private newspapers to be established under the Marcos regime.[1]

The Inquirer succeeded the weekly Philippine Inquirer,[1] created in 1985 by Apostol to cover the trial of 25 soldiers accused of complicity in the assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. at the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983. Apostol also published the Mr & Ms Special Edition, a weekly tabloid opposed to the Marcos regime.[1]

Beltran years (1985–89)

As the successor to the previous Mr. and Mrs. Special Edition and the weekly Philippine Inquirer, it was founded on a budget of P1 million and enjoyed a daily circulation of 30,000 in its early days. The new daily was housed in the dilapidated one-story Star Building on 13th and Railroad streets in Port Area, Manila. It was put out by 40 editors, reporters, correspondents, photographers and other editorial employees working in a 100 square meter newsroom. Columnist Louie Beltran was named its editor-in-chief.

The newspaper was instrumental then in documenting the campaign of Corazon Aquino during the 1986 presidential elections and, in turn, the 1986 People Power Revolution. Its slogan, Balanced News, Fearless Views, was incorporated to the newspaper in January 1986 after a slogan-making contest held during the first month of the Inquirer's existence.[1] In this period, the newspaper reached a high circulation of 500,000 copies a day.

In July 1986, questions about finances and a divergence of priorities caused a rift among the founders which led Belmonte, Soliven, and Art Borjal's split from the Inquirer to establish The Philippine Star.[2] As Belmonte owned the Star Building where the Inquirer was headquartered, the newspaper amicably transferred to the Soliven-owned BF Condominium in Aduana Street, Intramuros.[2]

Pascual years (1989–91)

In February 1987, Federico D. Pascual, former assistant managing editor of the Daily Express, was named executive editor of Inquirer and was appointed editor-in-chief two years later.[1] It was during his term in 1990 that the Inquirer took the lead from the Manila Bulletin to become the Philippines' largest newspaper in terms of circulation.

However, in July 1990, the Inquirer headquarters in Intramuros was damaged by the 1990 Luzon earthquake. On January 5, 1991, the newspaper transferred to the YIC building along United Nations Avenue and Romualdez Street in Malate.

Jimenez-Magsanoc years (1991–2015)
PDI logo prior to the 2016 relaunch
Letty Jimenez Magsanoc, Inquirer's editor-in-chief from 1991 until her death in 2015.

Inquirer's longest-serving and first woman editor-in-chief, the late Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc,[3] was appointed on June 14, 1991. She was a former columnist and editor of the "Panorama" Sunday magazine of Bulletin Today (now Manila Bulletin) who was sacked for writing articles poking fun at Marcos. She edited Mr & Ms Special Edition until the fall of the Marcos regime. She is also the first editor in chief of Sunday Inquirer Magazine.[4]

Under her term, in 1995, the Inquirer moved to its current headquarters in Makati after transferring headquarters four times.

During the administration of president Joseph Estrada, he criticized the Inquirer for "bias, malice, and fabrication" against him—this charge to the newspaper was denied. In 1999, several government organizations, pro-Estrada businesses, and movie producers simultaneously pulled their advertisements from the Inquirer in a boycott that lasted for five months.[5] Malacañang Palace was widely implicated in the advertising boycott, which was denounced by then publisher Isagani Yambot as an attack on the freedom of the press.[5]

In 2007, according to the survey conducted by AGB Nielsen, the Inquirer was the most widely-read newspaper in the Philippines. The Manila Bulletin and The Philippine Star followed as the second and the third most widely read papers, respectively. Magsanoc died on December 24, 2015 at St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig.[4][6] A month after her death, Jimenez-Magsanoc was recognized as the Filipino of the Year 2015 by the Inquirer.

Nolasco years (2016–present)

On February 2, 2016, the Inquirer appointed its managing editor Jose Ma. Nolasco as the executive editor, the new top position of the newspaper, replacing the traditional editor-in-chief position that used by Inquirer for more than three decades.[7]

Reputation

At least two opinion pieces cite the Daily Inquirer as the Philippines' newspaper of record, but as an opportunity for criticism: the Manila Times criticized it for "publish[ing] ... vapid, unthinking positions" which it called "reprehensible, at best";[8] GMA News, in 2014, noted it as a "de facto paper of record", followed by "This distinguished history only makes it more painful to say that the paper is starting to suck".[9]

See also

References
  1. "History". The Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  2. Yu, Doreen (28 July 2011). "The beginnings of The Philippine Star". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  3. "Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc: Stars of Asia-Opinion Shapers". Sheridan Prasso. 3 July 2000. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  4. Nery, John (25 November 2015). "Magsanoc, who led the Inquirer for 24 years, writes 30". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  5. Balana, Cynthia D. (2012-03-04). "Isagani Yambot: PDI grammar cop, pillar of free press, friend". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
  6. "Inquirer editor in chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc dies".
  7. "Nolasco appointed PDI executive editor". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  8. "Actor-politicians and understanding the vote of the poor". The Manila Times. July 6, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  9. Claudio, Leloy (May 7, 2014). "Reform the country's 'paper of record". GMA News. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
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